![]() ![]() The various methods that humans have crafted to seek a temporary reprieve from everyday life are well-represented in artistic traditions around the world, and examples of renditions abound among Harvard’s collections. And if social interaction is ever insufficient in helping us withstand the monotony of the workweek, we can always briefly go full Byron: venturing literally into the “pathless woods” to seek Nature herself. After all, the conversations we have every day, from Sunday brunch gossip to water cooler talk and barista banter, represent some of the most potent social glues holding communities together in America. Of course, we do not only find escape in following the lives of fictional others. Whether it’s Ross Geller or Superman, these are figures whose desires and destinies are more limited by the screenwriter’s pen than traffic or bounced checks. For instance, we watch movies and television sitcoms, melding ourselves into the characters onscreen who seemingly never have to pay rent or file a W-4. Lucia?Īs escaping to the Caribbean is rarely a viable course of action - at least for those of us who wish to maintain our obligations, livelihoods, and grade point averages - we naturally drift to less ambitious ways to abscond from the diktats of reality. To put it another way: How many of you have ever had the desire, however fleeting, to drop everything and take a two-week sojourn to St. Even so, there certainly lies in all of us to some degree, a tiny Mephistophelian voice that, rather than tempt with material pleasures, goads us to gleefully abandon the present. It comes to no surprise then that we often use our brief moments of respite to mentally teleport to a fantastical world, where all is forgiven and life is a lot more simple and serene.įor those more burdened than others by the drudgery of daily life, this escapist itch is predictably stronger. Defined by motion and unforgiving of sloth, the demands of modernity offer but few opportunities to stop and catch one’s breath. ![]() So waxed Lord Byron’s “Childe Harold” about what surely has been the unspoken sentiment of many. I love not man the less, but Nature more…” ![]() Byron's illegitimate children include Allegra Byron, who died in childhood, and possibly Elizabeth Medora Leigh.“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, His only legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as a foundational figure in the field of computer programming based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted after the First and Second Siege of Missolonghi. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died of disease leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. During his stay in Italy he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. He travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years in the cities of Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular. He is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and remains widely read and influential. George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |