Only one British author matched Shakespeare's worldwide reputation in the early nineteenth century: Lord Byron (1788-1824). Highly controversial in England, his life and work fascinated continental Europe and especially German poets after the fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (1815) with its anti-revolutionary agenda. As a consequence, the hopes of a generation of young people, who had taken up arms for individual and political freedom (Wars of Liberation, 1813-15), ended in disillusionment. At this very point, Byron, the incarnation of social rebellion, sexual emancipation, and the fight for liberty, appeared on the scene and filled the vacuum. During the declining years of romanticism, Byron gave a second wind to the European movement and even occupied its center for the next…
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Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Byron in German Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 June 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=13854, accessed 23 November 2024.]
