1. Last Heroic Adventure
   1. In 1823 a restless Byron accepted an invitation to support Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire
   2. Byron spent 4,000 pounds of his own money to refit the Greek naval fleet and took personal command of a Greek unit of elite fighters
2. BIRTH DATE
   1. George Gordon Byron (he later added "Noel" to his name) born on January 22, 1788, on Holles Street in London
3. EARLY LIFE
   1. In 1798, at age 10, George inherited the title of his great-uncle, William Byron, and was officially recognized as Lord Byron
   2. In 1780, he attended Harrow School in London, where he experienced his first sexual encounters with males and females
   3. In 1803, Byron fell deeply in love with his distant cousin, Mary Chaworth, and this unrequited passion found expression in several poems, including "Hills of Annesley" and "The Adieu"
   4. From 1805 to 1808, Byron attended Trinity College intermittently
   5. In June 1807, he formed an enduring friendship with John Cam Hobhouse and was initiated into liberal politics, joining the Cambridge Whig Club
4. POEMS
   1. English Bards and Scotch Reviewers
      1. The poem attacked the literary community with wit and satire
      2. The poem gained him his first literary recognition
   2. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
      1. In 1810, with John Hobhouse, he embarked on a grand tour through the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, visiting Portugal, Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece and Turkey
      2. A poem of a young man's reflections on travel in foreign lands
5. DEATH
   1. On February 15, 1824, he fell ill
   2. Doctors bled him, which weakened his condition further
   3. Byron died on April 19, 1824, at age 36
   4. He was buried in the family vault near Newstead
6. LOVE AFFAIRS
   1. In July 1811, Byron returned to London after the death of his mother, her passing plunged him into a deep mourning
   2. First love affair was with the passionate and eccentric Lady Caroline Lamb
      1. She described Byron as "mad, bad and dangerous to know"
   3. Second love affair was with Lady Oxford
      1. She encouraged Byron's radicalism
   4. In the summer of 1813, Byron entered into an intimate relationship with his half sister, Augusta, now married
      1. A result of these love affairs were reflected in a series of dark and repentant poems, "The Giaour," "The Bride of Abydos" and "The Corsair."
   5. In September 1814, he proposed to Anne Isabella Milbanke (also known as Annabella Milbanke)
      1. They married in January 1815
      2. In December, 1815, their daughter, Augusta Ada, better known as Ada Lovelace, was born
      3. By January the ill-fated union crumbled, and Annabella left Byron
7. EXILE
   1. In April 1816, Byron left England, never to return
   2. He traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, befriending Percy Bysshe Shelley, his wife Mary and her stepsister, Claire Clairmont
   3. On a trip to the Bernese Oberland, Byron was inspired to write the Faustian poetic-drama Manfred
   4. Claire gave birth to Byron's daughter Allegra in January 1817