LORD BYRON:Poetic Craftsman

As an aspiring poet, I am interested in the works of the master poets. I particularly like the British poets of the Victorian and late romantic periods. Among my favorites are Tennyson, Browning, Shelley, Keats, and Lord Byron.


George Gordon,Lord Byron is one of the most influentual poets of the late "Romantic" period. He achieved instant fame in England with his epic poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." He also authored many love poems and elegies.

Lord Byron was born in London England on January 22, 1788, to Captain John, (Mad Jack) Byron and Mrs. Byron (The former Catherine Gordon of Gight). (Trueblood, Paul G. "Lord Byron" G.K. Hall & Co. Boston, Mass. 1977). He attended Cambridge University from 1805-1807.(Marchand, Leslie A. "Byron: a Portrait" Alfred A. Knopf, New York, New York 1970).George Gordon Lord Byron died in 1824 at the young age of thirty-six

The poem entitled "Epitath For Joseph Blacket" was written in Malta on May 16, 1811. Byron wrote the poem as an elegy for his late friend, Blacket, who was a shoemaker and a poet in his own right. The poem was first published in 1832.

Publication Information

Web page designed by Gary Shortt.
Text transcribed by Gary Shortt.
Text of "Epitaph For Joseph Blacket" was transcribed from The Complete Poetical Works Of Byron Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass. 1905. 1.
"Epitaph For Joseph Blacket" was originally published in 1832 All original spelling, punctuation, indentation, and spacing have been preserved.
Spell-check and verification made using WordPerfect 6.1 spell checkers.
Web Page last revised October 30, 1998.

Epitaph For Joseph Blacket

Late Poet and Shoemaker

Stranger! behold, interr'd together,
The souls of learning and of leather.
Poor Joe is gone, but left his all:
You'll find his relics in a stall.
His works were neat, and often found
Well stitch'd, and with morocco bound.
Tread lightly-where the bard is laid
He cannot mend the shoe he made;
Yet is he happy in his hole,
With verse immortal as his sole.
But still to business he held fast,
And stuck to phoebus to the last.
Then who shall say so good a fellow
Was only 'leather and prunella?'
For character-he did not lack it;
And if he did, 't were shame to 'Black-it'

Bibliography

Byron, George Gordon Lord. "Epitaph For Joseph Blacket" The Complete Poetical Works Of Byron Ed.
Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, Mass. Cambridge Edition: The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1905. 1

Ralph, Randy D. "Stone Backgrounds" (Background stbk098.jpg) IconBazaar.
http://www.iconbazaar.com/backgr/stone/stbk098.jpg

---. "Books" Iconbazaar http://www.iconbazaar.com/misc/books01.gif

Walker, Janice K. "wwwsites." Mla-Style Citations of Electronic Sources.
http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html (30 October 1998).

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