Byron was a poet, born in London. He spent his first 10 years in poor surroundings, but then inherited his great uncles title and went to Dulwich, Harrow and Cambridge. An early collection of poem, Hours of Idleness was badly reviewed, which he then set on a grand tour, visiting Spain, Greece, and the Aegean. He then published the popular Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and became the darling of London Society. He gave active help to the Italian insurgents who had risen agaisnt the Turks. He died of a fever at Missolonghi.
Susan J. Wolfson is a professor of English at Princeton University and author of many essays on and editions of Romantic-era writers. Her books include The Questioning Presence; Formal Charges: The Shaping of Poetry in British Romanticism; and, most recently, Borderlines: The Shiftings of Gender in British Romanticism.