Lord Byron Bad Boy – Byronic Hero

“An Irresistible Bad Boy: The Byronic Hero” Pg. 615 Recognizing Archetypes: What do all four figures (Cain, Faust, Prometheus, and Napoleon) have in common? How does each one of them fit the archetype of the Byronic Hero?

Beauty No matter how often we hear that beauty is only skin deep, we all know the undeniable allure of an extremely good-looking person. Beauty moves us. Often, we want to believe that outer appearances express inner qualities of goodness and beauty of character as well. Can a person’s inward nature be accurately judged by his or her outward appearance?

Background: “She Walks in Beauty” “She Walks in Beauty,” one of Byron’s most famous poems, was supposedly inspired by Lady Wilmot Horton, a beautiful woman whom Bryon saw at a ball, perhaps in the spring of 1814. Lady Horton was in mourn – wearing a black dress decorated with glittering spangles.

She Walks in Beauty                                       1     She walks in beauty, like the night         Of cloudless climes and starry skies;     And all that's best of dark and bright         Meet in her aspect and her eyes:     Thus mellowed to that tender light         Which heaven to gaudy day denies.                                       2     One shade the more, one ray the less,         Had half impaired the nameless grace     Which waves in every raven tress,         Or softly lightens o'er her face;     Where thoughts serenely sweet express,         How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.                                       3     And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,         So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,     The smiles that win, the tints that glow,         But tell of days in goodness spent,     A mind at peace with all below,         A heart whose love is innocent!

She Walks in Beauty Similes: Comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’ What is being compared in this poem? A woman’s beauty and a starry night. What is the justification for linking them? Each combines balanced extremes of brightness and darkness. Finding the main idea: What is the main idea expressed here? The woman’s external beauty reflects a kind of virtuous soul.                                       1     She walks in beauty, like the night         Of cloudless climes and starry skies;     And all that's best of dark and bright         Meet in her aspect and her eyes:     Thus mellowed to that tender light         Which heaven to gaudy day denies.                                       2     One shade the more, one ray the less,         Had half impaired the nameless grace     Which waves in every raven tress,         Or softly lightens o'er her face;     Where thoughts serenely sweet express,         How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.                                       3     And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,         So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,     The smiles that win, the tints that glow,         But tell of days in goodness spent,     A mind at peace with all below,         A heart whose love is innocent!

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Quick Write All human beings and all human beauty must perish, but can’t our works survive us? We pass away, but isn’t what we leave behind proof that our passage through life mattered? What do you think?

Background: Ozymandias Shelley wrote few sonnets an this one is among his best. It was written for an informal poetry competition in 1817. The poetic topic was Egypt inspired by some extraordinary Egyptian fragments recently displayed at the British Museum in London. Ozymandias is the Greek name for Ramses II. The Great Hall at Karnak is the greatest colonnaded hall ever constructed. It was so huge that one hundred men could stand on the capital of each column.

Ozymandias He was cruel, proud, and concerned that he be remembered. Why do you think the first speaker never names the traveler? A name is irrelevant to the poem’s message. Anonymity matches the idea that nothing lasts. What inference can you make about Ozymandias, based on the statue’s expression and inscription? He was cruel, proud, and concerned that he be remembered. How does the setting described in lines 12-14 add to the irony of this inscription? The barren desert reinforces the idea that the king’s works have vanished. I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: `My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away".