Lord Byron

January 22

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On this date in 1788, poet George Gordon, Lord Byron was born in London. Byron became the toast of London after writing Childe Harold. He also wrote Don Juan, The Prisoner of Chillon and Cain, which was denounced from the pulpits. A classical Deist, Byron refused to take the oath when seated in Parliament. He died of malaria, fighting for Greek freedom. Eulogized as a "soldier-poet of freedom," the tempestuous Byron had so scandalized society that he was refused burial at Westminster Abbey. D. 1824.

Even Gods must yield -
      Religions take their turn:
'Twas Jove's - 'tis Mahomet's -
      and other Creeds
Will rise with other years, till
      Man shall learn
Vainly his incense soars, his
      victim bleeds;
Poor child of Doubt and Death,
      whose hope is built on reeds.

—Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto Two (1811)