Byron and Greek Love: Homophobia in 19th Century England

Rating:
Summary: A sullied legend
Review: For the reader wishing to acquire a realistic and balanced portrayal of Lord Byron's life and work, 'Byron and Greek Love' would be a poor choice. This most Romantic of poets, arguably an archetypal heroic figure of great literary and political influence, did undoubtedly have a darker side. It is however questionable whether biographical or literary truth is well served by highlighting, largely through speculative enquiry, lesser-known aspects of the poet's personal life. Furthermore, it is quite irresponsible to assume a wider context and significance from what appears to be isolated and particular events in that life, and to 'modernise' the hero to the extent of articulating a cause and a consciousness in language more applicable to our age than Georgian England. The author - in the Introduction - pleads a special case as to how he arrived at placing Byron in the context of a study which deals primarily with 'Georgian Homophobia', admitting that his original scheme was a 'history of attitudes towards homosexuality in Western civilization'. His reading of Jeremy Bentham's remarkably forward-thinking writings on homosexuality together with G. Wilson Knight's 'Lord Byron's Marriage' (1957) confirmed the direction and choice of protagonist for his own study.

While this informative book contains vivid descriptions of the period and circumstances of Byron's extraordinary life with its many dramas and conflicts, and quite appropriately discusses little-known aspects of the poet's private life and thought, namely his sexual attraction to adolescent boys - a subject either avoided or treated with restraint by earlier biographers - the study is fundamentally flawed. Its concentration on the persecution of homosexuals in England as compared with Mediterranean and Islamic countries is relevant only inasmuch as Byron was able to feel less under threat when employing his 'pages' and youthful attendants abroad. This overweight treatment inevitably leaves an abiding impression that the author is more concerned with presenting a general historical picture of the inequities of social life and attitudes in England, together with an appeal to the prevalence of homosexual references among classical Greek and Roman writers, than an even-handed portrayal of his subject, the 'homophobia' sub-title notwithstanding. Some readers may suspect that the figure of Byron is being used as a kind of literary gloss to lend respectability to a partisan discourse on the subject of homosexuality.

Then there is the question of 'Greek Love' itself, a term which is too often conflated with adult male relationships. Crompton does indicate that Byron's homosexuality reflected the classical Greek pederastic model, yet there are copious pages devoted to 'gay' history, politics, consciousness and the like. This makes for uncomfortable reading in view of the frequent application of modern jargon in spite of the author's introductory avowal that the adjective 'gay' was too startlingly anachronistic in this context. Byron cannot be described as 'gay' anymore than the Shakespeare of the sonnets. Nor is the term 'bisexual' any less misleading. The unfortunate tendency of 'gay' commentators (Crompton describes himself as a 'gay scholar') to hijack great historical and literary figures to their cause does much to alienate public support. The problem is an apparent obsession with the need to categorise according to 'orientation', to create a community of like minds. The ancient Greeks thought quite the opposite: they believed that to do something did not mean that one formed an identity as a result of doing it. Fortunately the author chose to use the term, 'Greek Love', in the title (an expression which, as he says, Byron and his contemporaries would have understood), but as we have seen, his viewpoint on male love clearly reflects a late twentieth century perspective.

In similar vein, Crompton treats the encounter with Lord Grey at Newstead Abbey, who was 24 (and Byron 15) at the time as an 'initiation', when the (quoted) evidence strongly suggests that the youthful Byron vigorously repulsed the supposed sexual advances of the older man. Grey's (written) reference to their parting 'as the best of Friends' must be regarded as less reliable than Byron's own account - to his sister, and apparently to Hobhouse, his close friend and associate. The latter's comment on how the incident affected the poet's 'future morals' could be a natural reaction on the part of a protective friend seeking a scapegoat, rather than evidence suggesting that Byron was 'a willing participant'.

In any case, it is not clear from surviving letters, poems - including the love poems addressed to the Cambridge chorister, John Edlestone - or other documents, the extent to which Byron's intense friendship with young boys involved sexual contact. Crompton's lengthy discussion of the anonymous, 'revealing' Don Leon poem in the final chapter stops short of any commitment on the matter of actual physical pederasty. Of course, Byron's life-long friend and confidant, John Cam Hobhouse, was instrumental in destroying much material including manuscript poems and Byron's early autobiographical Cambridge journals, which he considered as a threat to the poet's safety. Byron's love for Edlestone seems to have been 'both chaste and clandestine', that for Robert Rushton protective, and the relationship with Lukas Chalandritsanos, the inspiration for Love and Death, tragically one-sided.

The author does of course acknowledge Byron's many love affairs with women - with a number of notable omissions - from the time of his adolescent infatuation with Mary Chaworth, his 'harlotry' during the Cambridge years, his grande affaire with the colourful and vindictive Lady Caroline Lamb, the controversial relationship with his half-sister, Augusta, the 'pre-Victorian' Annabella Milbanke who was to become his wife, and Constance Spencer Smith at Malta who allegedly 'deflected' him from pursuing boys. While he was passionate about women, he felt he had suffered abuse at their hands (beginning with his early seduction by a nurse as a child): a footnote indicates the author's frank observation that an adequate treatment of Byron's views on women would require a separate book. After Byron left England in 1816, his passion for women predominated until the time of his meeting with Lukas in 1823. His relations with women 'were often strained or stormy', a contrast with the 'unclouded' nature of his boy-friendships.

The general reader may benefit from exploring this lengthy thesis selectively, beginning for example with the chapter entitled 'Perspectives', rather than launching into the intimidating opening treatise, 'Georgian Homophobia'. With careful evaluation, one can penetrate some way into an understanding of Byron's psychological make-up: it will be necessary, however, to counterbalance the author's slanted approach by reference to more widely-based biographical sources.

Rating:
Summary: Reviewed Reviewers
Review: For the reader wishing to acquire a realistic and balanced portrayal of Lord Byron's life and work, `Byron and Greek Love' would be a poor choice. This most Romantic of poets, arguably an archetypal heroic figure of great literary and political influence, did undoubtedly have a darker side. It is however questionable whether biographical or literary truth is well served by highlighting, largely through speculative enquiry, lesser-known aspects of the poet's personal life. Furthermore, it is quite irresponsible to assume a wider context and significance from what appears to be isolated and particular events in that life, and to `modernise' the hero to the extent of articulating a cause and a consciousness in language more applicable to our age than Georgian England. The author - in the Introduction - pleads a special case as to how he arrived at placing Byron in the context of a study which deals primarily with `Georgian Homophobia', admitting that his original scheme was a `history of attitudes towards homosexuality in Western civilization'. His reading of Jeremy Bentham's remarkably forward-thinking writings on homosexuality together with G. Wilson Knight's `Lord Byron's Marriage' (1957) confirmed the direction and choice of protagonist for his own study.

While this informative book contains vivid descriptions of the period and circumstances of Byron's extraordinary life with its many dramas and conflicts, and quite appropriately discusses little-known aspects of the poet's private life and thought, namely his supposed sexual attraction to adolescent boys - a subject either avoided or treated with restraint by earlier biographers - the study is fundamentally flawed. Its concentration on the persecution of homosexuals in England as compared with Mediterranean and Islamic countries is relevant only inasmuch as Byron was able to feel less under threat when employing his `pages' and youthful attendants abroad. This overweight treatment inevitably leaves an abiding impression that the author is more concerned with presenting a general historical picture of the inequities of social life and attitudes in England, together with an appeal to the prevalence of homosexual references among classical Greek and Roman writers, than an even-handed portrayal of his subject, the `homophobia' sub-title notwithstanding. Some readers may suspect that the figure of Byron is being used as a kind of literary gloss to lend respectability to a partisan discourse on the subject of homosexuality.

Then there is the question of `Greek Love' itself, a term which is too often conflated with adult male relationships. Crompton does indicate that Byron's intimate male friendships reflected the classical Greek pederastic model, yet there are copious pages devoted to `gay' history, politics, consciousness and the like. This makes for uncomfortable reading in view of the frequent application of modern jargon in spite of the author's introductory avowal that the adjective `gay' was too startlingly anachronistic in this context. Byron cannot be described as `gay' anymore than the Shakespeare of the sonnets. Nor is the term `bisexual' any less misleading. The unfortunate tendency of `gay' commentators (Crompton describes himself as a `gay scholar') to hijack great historical and literary figures to their cause does much to alienate public support. The problem is an apparent obsession with the need to categorise according to `orientation', to create a community of like minds. The ancient Greeks thought quite the opposite: they believed that to do something did not mean that one formed an identity as a result of doing it. Fortunately the author chose to use the term, `Greek Love', in the title (an expression which, as he says, Byron and his contemporaries would have understood), but as we have seen, his viewpoint on male love clearly reflects a late twentieth century perspective.

In similar vein, Crompton treats the encounter with Lord Grey at Newstead Abbey, who was 24 (and Byron 15) at the time as an `initiation', when the (quoted) evidence strongly suggests that the youthful Byron vigorously repulsed the supposed sexual advances of the older man. Grey's (written) reference to their parting `as the best of Friends' must be regarded as less reliable than Byron's own account - to his sister, and apparently to Hobhouse, his close friend and associate. The latter's comment on how the incident affected the poet's `future morals' could be a natural reaction on the part of a protective friend seeking a scapegoat, rather than evidence suggesting that Byron was `a willing participant'.

In any case, it is not clear from surviving letters, poems - including the love poems addressed to the Cambridge chorister, John Edlestone - or other documents, whether Byron's emotionally-charged relationships with young boys involved overt sexual contact. Crompton's lengthy discussion of the anonymous, `revealing' Don Leon poem in the final chapter stops short of any commitment on the matter of actual physical pederasty. Of course, Byron's life-long friend and confidant, John Cam Hobhouse, was instrumental in destroying much material including manuscript poems and Byron's early autobiographical Cambridge journals, which he considered as a threat to the poet's safety. Byron's love for Edlestone seems to have been `both chaste and clandestine', that for Robert Rushton protective, and the relationship with Lukas Chalandritsanos, the inspiration for Love and Death, tragically one-sided.

The author does of course acknowledge Byron's many love affairs with women - with a number of notable omissions - from the time of his adolescent infatuation with Mary Chaworth, his `harlotry' during the Cambridge years, his grande affaire with the colourful and vindictive Lady Caroline Lamb, the controversial relationship with his half-sister, Augusta, the `pre-Victorian' Annabella Milbanke who was to become his wife, and Constance Spencer Smith at Malta who allegedly `deflected' him from pursuing boys. While he was passionate about women, he felt he had suffered abuse at their hands (beginning with his early seduction by a nurse as a child): a footnote indicates the author's frank observation that an adequate treatment of Byron's views on women would require a separate book. After Byron left England in 1816, his passion for women predominated until the time of his meeting with Lukas in 1823. His relations with women `were often strained or stormy', a contrast with the `unclouded' nature of his boy-friendships.

The general reader may benefit from exploring this lengthy thesis selectively, beginning for example with the chapter entitled `Perspectives', rather than launching into the intimidating opening treatise, `Georgian Homophobia'. With careful evaluation, one can penetrate some way into an understanding of Byron's psychological make-up: it will be necessary, however, to counterbalance the author's slanted approach by reference to more widely-based biographical sources.

Rating:
Summary: Reviewed Reviewers
Review: Louis Crompton's *Byron and Greek Love* sullied the reputations of many reviewers attempting
to dismiss it as impugning the reputation of a major poet. In 1985 it was still improprietous to
recognize the homophilic tradition - as if homosexuals would claim more biographical
pedestals and historical niches than they were entitled to. Crompton's *Byron* was held to be improprietous in the extreme.

Curiously, few objected to calling Adolf Hitler (...) even though he was blatantly heterosexual
and overtly homophobic - except, perhaps, those who objected to the use of "the perfectly nice
word (...)" for 'sodomite', the same who never objected to losing "perfectly nice words" like
'faggot', 'pansy', and 'sissy'. There was always a value-added tax on homophilic words while
homophobic words spewed forth like vomit at a frat party. As Gertrude Stein suggested: by any other name,
the same.

If anyone doubted Crompton's overview of 4800 years of gay history, much of which he himself learned in the (...) oral tradition, his stupendous new *Homosexuality and Civilization* must allay all doubts about his *Byron and Greek Love*; it remains the definitive contextual setting of the complex homophilic man Byron and his work.

Today the public is getting used to the (...) reality that civilization is unnatural and that unnatural people have contributed to that reality out of all proportion to their expectable numbers.

As homosexuals came out, their oral tradition had to yield to the written. In that revelation, Crompton is a major expositor. He is amongst the (...)historians who decided, back in
the 1950s, that, while homosexuals had to lie to survive, they would not lie about their own history and the heritage that they sought to pass on.