Myth of Arrival

I am probably the wrong person to be picked as a TV Reviewer, since I have not owned a TV set since 2001 and the urge to actually watch television is, at best, rare. However, once in blue moon I hear about a show or program and think: "gosh, wouldn't that be interesting to see?" Alessandra Stanley has written a sharp review of BBC America's Byron: The Dissolute Lifestyle of a Charmer and a Poet. Too bad it is over.

The Exotic Byron, the Brooding Byron, the Foreign Byron, the Ottoman Byron. I love this painting by Thomas Phillips, (1813); though it highlights one major problem with Byronmania. As usual, Byron's poems get shunt to one side whenever any mention of the poet is made — it is his wild life we love. But why should this be so? Byron dealt with metaphysics like his fellow Romantics. Even if I didn't end up working in the Lord Byron English School in Gumri, Armenia (a gift of the British Government after the earthquake)¹, how could I not love a poet who wrote: "Roll on, deep and dark blue ocean, roll. Ten/ thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. Man/ marks the earth with ruin, but his control/ stops with the shore"? Indeed, what modern critic has praised the camp humor found in much of Don Juan? The brilliant, bitter plays like Manfred, never meant to be performed? Why has Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which sparked Pop Art as we know it, dropped off the poetry map?

I would have asked if I could come over and watch Byron with you. Who knows? A night of Jonny Lee Miller as Byron, absinthe, and The Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart² on the stereo might conjure up some interesting poetry. Instead I will go down to my library and see what their Book Nook/ Sale Shelf might hold. Poetry at 50 cents a pop is always interesting. Three books of poems I wish my local library carried: The Keepsake Storm by Gina Franco; Sabrina Orah Mark's The Babies; and Vitriolica … if only Vitriolica had a book out. You rock, my dears!

1. Byron had a hand in constructing the first English-Armenian dictionary; one day upon hearing I had been to London several years before, a student of mine in 9th Form came up to me and told me to say "thank you" to Mr. Byron next time I saw him for the school: "he is very nice man." [back]
2. May 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 The Chicago Opera Theatre will be performing this, Shelby. (hint, hint) [back]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005 at 11:45 am and is filed under Scantily Clad Info Dump, Writing Poetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.