On This Day I complete my 36th Year -Lord Byron

Question 1

When was the Greek war of independence?

Answer 1

1821-32

Question 2

What was the Greek War of Independence?

Answer 2

-Rebellion against the Ottoman Empire gave Greek-speaking people a national homeland

Question 3

What did the idea of national Freedom in Greece spark?

Answer 3

-Revolts and uprisings among the Greek people > inspired by the French Revolution

Question 4

Why was Byron’s involvement in the Greek War of independence significant?

Answer 4

-Involvement was a Benefit for Greece
-His fame brought even more attention and sympathy to the fight
-When he died of illness in the war he became a Greek National Hero

Question 5

What is the Rhyme scheme?

Answer 5

-ABAB
-Uses slant rhyme > to symbolise his new experience of love, he is no longer searching for his perfect match as represented through the not quite perfect rhyme

Question 6

What is the metre in the poem?

Answer 6

-Each stanza> Three lines of iambic tetrameter and finished with a line of Iambic dimeter > last thought in each stanza gains special importance, feels reflective showing us that Byron is working up to a conclusion

Question 7

What’s the poem an extended metaphor for?

Answer 7

-Battle within himself to change who he was and who he is

Question 8

What is significant about the opening line of the poem?

Answer 8

-Starts with a declaration > large change in his life > maturity

Question 9

What does “since others it hath ceased to move:” explore?

Answer 9

-change both with love and age > Too old for love >

Question 10

What does “My days are in yellow leaf;” explore?

Answer 10

-Autumnal imagery > start of change /transitional dying
-Metaphor for ageing and mortality > sees himself as withering

Question 11

what does the “worm” explore?

Answer 11

-How these thoughts are eating away at him

Question 12

What does “the fire that on my bosom preys” explore?

Answer 12

-Metaphor for his passion
-Strong consonance

Question 13

What does “Is lone as some volcanic isle; No torch is kindled at its blaze” explore?

Answer 13

-Lexical field of fire > IRONIC END
-Volcano is alone
-Terrifying force of nature just waiting to erupt
-Feels lonely closeness of love and death > unrequited love may be the death of him

Question 14

What technique is “exalted portion of the pain”?

Answer 14

-plosive alliteration.
-Intensity of emotion

Question 15

What is significant about “wear the chain”?

Answer 15

-Human-made imprisonment
-Chain of his past > sins and the shame
-Iambic dimeter > emphasis on the finality and the bleakness of thought

Question 16

What is significant about “where glory decks the hero’s bier”?

Answer 16

-“glory” > personified character of hero and glory > Byronic hero
-Moving towards heroism, glory and battle

Question 17

What is a Byronic hero?

Answer 17

a type of fictional character who is a moody, brooding rebel, often one haunted by a dark secret from his past.

Question 18

What is significant about the 5th stanza of the poem?

Answer 18

-Change/Volta > mirror the shape of his life in middle age

Question 19

What is significant about “The sword, the banner, and the field”?

Answer 19

Shift towards war imagery

Question 20

Why does Byron used “Glory and Greece”?

Answer 20

-Greece is an idea to Byron > idea connected by the alliterative > fighting for the idea of liberty

Question 21

What is significant about the us of “The Spartan”?

Answer 21

-Byron Likening himself to Sparta and great greek heroes > ironic contrast to his death

Question 22

What is significant about the caesura in “Awake!”?

Answer 22

-Breaking up > reflection of the revolution in greece

Question 23

What is significant about “(not Greece - she is awake!)”?

Answer 23

-Repetition > waking himself from his trance of bad deeds > Battle cry to fight

Question 24

What does “Tread those reviving passions down,” reference?

Answer 24

The volcano earlier on

Question 25

What does “Unworthy manhood!” suggest?

Answer 25

-Still divided over his life and actions

Question 26

What does “Indifferent should the smile or frown of beauty be.” suggest?

Answer 26

-The complexities of his life
-Fight for freedom >desire to escape pain as it does to gain honour

Question 27

What is significant about the italics “Why live?”?

Answer 27

-Inside voice
-Rhetorical question
-Wanting to do something to prove himself

Question 28

What does “Land of honourable death” explore?

Answer 28

How death would help him avoid guilt for the pains of his past > path of redemption

Question 29

What does the internal rhyme of “around” and “ground” create?

Answer 29

-Mellow internal rhyme > death will be peaceful and fitting

Question 30

What is significant about the final line?

Answer 30

-Death as a peaceful force
-Sign of his new maturity
-To be alive is to be one day dead > use death for good

Question 31

What does the poem focus on?

Answer 31

-Byron and his desire to be a noble warrior
-Accepting the matter of age
-Self-deprecating/ hopeless tone

Question 32

How does the asyndetic listing become hyperbolised through the shift to Iambic dimeter in the final lines?

Answer 32

-Gains heightened importance > build up to Byron’s conclusion is ongoing and timeless
-Reflect overwhelming emotion > internal conflict

Question 33

How is the romantic obsession with legacy reflected through the volta?

Answer 33

-Realisation there is no excuse not to attempt to be this glorified character of personified heroism and glory > Justification of how he has nothing to lose
-WANTING TO LEAVE A LEGACY SHIFTING AWAY FROM “Mad, Bad and dangerous to know”

Question 34

How is a juxtaposition created between Byron and Greece?

Answer 34

-The anaphora and personification > Byron waking from his bad deeds
-Personification of Greece > hero of liberty and freedom > Byron admires this and wants to be this

Question 35

How is the volcanic imagery and lexical field of fire and passion a reflection for Byron’s passion?

Answer 35

-He is divided with his actions due to the complexities of his own life through his desire to escape his pain to gain honour > assertion of masculinity