Byron: A Life In Ten Letters, Andrew Stauffer, c. 2024

 

Lord Byron
an inherited title
b. 1788
d. 1824 (36 years old)

Goethe
b. 1749
d. 1832 (83 years old)

Reminder: Goethe is considered the exact contemporary of the Romantic Era

So,
Goethe 39 years old when Lord Bryon born
Sorrow of Young Werther: 1774, and then re-issued/revision, 1787
Lord Byron, 1774, not yet born 1787, one. year before Lord Byron born
so, Lord Byron certainly read that "letter" and was probably greatly affected by it
in 1832, when Goethe died, Lord Byron had died eight years earlier

 

The ten letters:
To "my dear Elizabeth"
Trinity College, Cambridge
October 26, 1807

To "my dear Drury"
Salsette frigate
in the Dardanelles off Abydos
May 3, 1810

Abydos: narrowest point in the Dardanelles (Hellespont)
archaeologically a destination

To "my dear Ly. M[elbourne-e --
Aston Hall, Rotherham, Yorkshire
October 8, 1813

To "Lady Bryon"
13 Piccadiily Terrace, London
February 8, 1816

Chapter 5: Haunted Summer

To "my dearest Augusta"
Diodati -- Geneva
September 8, 1816

Byron and his doctor-friend Polidor leave for Geneva
leaves behind his wife Annabelle and daughter Ada
ménage a trois: Byron, his wife Annabelle, his half-sister Augusta

To Geneva to meet another, ménage a trois:
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 25 y/o +/-
Mary Godwin Shelley, 18 y/o
Claire Clairmont, half-sister, 18 y/o

The story of political philosopher, William Godwin
months-long marriage to Mary Wollstonecroft; dies soon after Mary born
William re-marries
two step-daughters
Claire who also goes to Switzerland
and Fanny, rejected, left in England, commits suicide two years later

So, Byron and his doctor-friend Polidor (sounds like a Shakespearean play) to meet with trio, Percy, Mary, and Clair -- similar "homes" in same neighborhood

The men in their mid-20's; the women in late teens.

To "John Murray"
Ravenna
August 1, 1819

To the Countess Teresa Guiccioli
To "Amor Mio"
Venice
December 7, 1819

To "Thomas Moore"
Pisa
August 27, 1822

To John Cam Hobhouse
To "my dear H. --
Genoa
April 7, 1823

To "John Murray"
Messolonghi
February 25, 1824