Timeless Truths

I've been studying Lord Byron for this unit of my class, and he's purely fascinating.

I love his writing -- so beautifully written, yet full of so many thought-provoking and deeply true sentiments. His characters in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Manfred are both on a search for comfort, for relief from their past. They've lost the women they loved, and they've lost the acceptance and joy they once knew.

And his life, wow. He became popular immediately after his first piece was released, and he was the first author to embrace fame like that. He was virtually the first-ever celebrity, complete with people following him around and everything. Rumors flew about him, and this led to his separation from his wife. He even had to flee the country to escape all of the negativity. He ended up settling in Greece and got caught up in their war for independence before he died.

Fascinating.

The thing I love most about reading classics like this is seeing the timeless truths of emotions and experiences. The ideas of losing love, seeking acceptance and joy again, and lesson-filled journeys still surround us today and even make up a bulk of our thoughts, stresses, and life in general. How awesome to be able to pick up a piece written nearly 200 years ago and find words that still speak for our hearts and minds today.

I leave you today with a stanza from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 3.

Could I embody and unbosom now

That which is most within me, -- could I wreak

My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw

Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak,

All that I would have sought, and all I seek,

Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe -- into one word,

And that one word were Lightning, I would speak;

(lines 905-911)