Records Of Shelley Byron And The

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In 1822, Edward Trelawny, a handsome and impulsive young man, recently discharged from the British navy, travelled to Italy in order to make the acquaintance of Lord Byron. 'I have met today the personification of my Corsair,' Byron wrote in a letter, 'He sleeps with the poem under his pillow, and all his past adventures and present manners aim at this personification.' But Byron soon tired of his importunate disciple, who found closer companionship with the fervent and unworldly Shelley. In these vivid memoirs, composed many years later, Trelawny tells of his life among the unconventional circle of expatriates that had gathered around Shelley in Pisa, of the poet's tragic death, and finally of his and Byron's engagement in the Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Reviews

"In 'his' Byron and Shelley [Trelawny] created two figures that in their compelling solidity are fit to stand alongside any literary memoir short of Boswells Johnson." David Crane, Lord Byrons Jackal

"Your portrait of Shelley is full of truthit is him in all his unaffectedness, in his simple tastes so fond of woods, seas, lakes, mountains; of birds and of music. There was in his manner of speaking, a touch of the woman, even of the girl...that appears most vividly in your description." Claire Clairmont, Letter to Trelawny

Author Bio

Edward John Trelawny was born in London in 1792 and entered the Royal Navy at the age of eleven only to desert and lead a life of adventure, as recorded in his partly fictitious Adventures of a Younger Son. In 1822 he met Shelley and Byron in Pisa. After Shelley's death he supervised the cremation of his body and helped to raise enough money to allow Mary Shelley to return to England. In 1823 he went to Greece with Byron to assist in the struggle for Greek independence.