The Works of George Gordon Byron - Lord George Gordon Byron

Essays on literary works - 2023

The Works of George Gordon Byron
Lord George Gordon Byron

All the work of George Gordon Byron is imbued with a love of freedom. He was very freedom-loving and hated those who oppress other people. This can be seen especially well in his works devoted to the liberation war of the Greek people against the Turkish yoke. In those years, at the beginning of the 19th century, Greece was under the rule of the Turkish Sultan. The Greeks often revolted to become independent, but they were brutally suppressed. Byron sympathized with the Greeks and really wanted them to finally become free. This was reflected in the poem "The Song of the Greek Rebels". It begins with a call:

* O Greece, arise! The radiance of ancient glory Calls the fighters to battle, To a majestic feat. To arms! To victories! Heroes don't know fear. Let the blood of tyrants flow after us. George Byron says that real heroes are not afraid of death. After all, they die for their homeland, protecting their loved ones and relatives. Their death will set free the entire Greek people.

Byron calls on the Greeks to "throw off with contempt" the yoke of the Turkish yoke, wash off the "slave stigma" and become forever free people. He says that the Greeks should be worthy of their great ancestors: May the valiant shadows of Heroes and leaders See the revival of Hellas of former days. Ancient Greece was often invaded by foreigners. Especially often she fought with the Persian tyrant kings. Persia was then a very large country, but was never able to defeat small Greece. I could not, because the Greeks were a very freedom-loving and strong-willed people.

And so Byron calls on the Greeks to remember their great ancestors, the exploits of the great Spartans and Athenians:

Sparta, Sparta, to a new life Rise from the ruins And call to the harsh fight Free inhabitants of Athens. Let it rise in our hearts And we will be united by the Hero of the immortal song Spartan Leonid. Leonidas was one of the leaders of the Spartans when the Persian king Xerxes attacked Greece. There were a lot of Persians, but the mountains blocked the passage to Greece. One road only led through the pass. She passed through the Thermopylae Gorge. And there Leonid, along with his soldiers, took up defense.

They swore not to let the Persians through while they were alive. There were three hundred people in all. They defended the gorge for a long time, and only betrayal helped the Persians. One local resident showed them a bypass path, and they surrounded the Spartans:

* Om accepted an unequal battle

* In the gorge of Thermopylae

* And with a glorious handful

* He blocked the Fatherland.

* And, blocking the gorge,

* Three hundred brave men

* Washed with the blood of the lion's

Road to the land of the fathers. The Spartans died one and all. But they killed many enemies and, most importantly, detained their army. And during this time, the Greeks gathered their strength and were able to win the war in the end. So the feat of only three hundred Spartans helped the Greeks to defend their independence.

It is about such glorious times that Byron reminds those who live in his time. He encourages them to be as brave and strong as their famous ancestors. He tells them that the descendants of such freedom-loving people should not remain slaves, they should be free. Yes, freedom doesn't come easy. For it often have to fight and die. But such a death will not be in vain, it will make many people free and happy.

And Byron himself did not just call the Greeks to fight. He supported them with his personal example. With his own money, he equipped a ship with weapons and himself went to the aid of the Greek rebels. There he died fighting for the freedom of Greece. I think that his fate turned out to be similar to the fate of the great ancient Greek heroes: he died for freedom. And his calls to fight for freedom were not empty words. It seems to me that every self-respecting person should do this: not only speak beautiful words, but also do what you are talking about yourself.