Analysis Of To Time By Lord Byron

Lord Byron, an eighteenth and nineteenth century poet was born in in Dublin, Ireland on May 28, 1779. Just one of Byron’s many famous works is “To Time” published in 1806. The style and content of Byron’s poems reflect experiences from his life. One of three influences in Byron's life is his strange personality which is reflected through contradictions and strange variations in his writings. An unfortunate marriage helped develop a sense of bitterness in Byron’s word choice and arrangement. A third influence in Byron’s life and poems is his unstable childhood which sent him down a road of misery and isolation. Byron’s poem “To Time” reflects his strange personality, unfortunate marriage, and unstable childhood.

Throughout his entire life, Byron was known for having an unusual personality. Byron displayed compulsive behavior and eventually allowed OCD rule his life. His compulsiveness caused Byron to devote whole to poems to only one theme, such as Time. He would go into grave detail about his obsession thus creating a story of morality and giving the reader a sense of self awareness. For example, in “To Time” Byron tells readers about how short life can be and time will eventually conquer all. Other than being obsessive, Byron was seen as being moralistic and a worldly influence which often caused him to be compared to historic figures such as “Shakespeare, Sophocles”. Because of this comparison Byron’s poems were almost seen as works to live by. Byron loved variety and never wanted his poems to arrange around one central theme. The idea of a poem revolving around one central theme is a direct reflection of “To Time” which focuses on the prevalence of death and the conquering qualities of time. Byron uses para...

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...nd unstable childhood. In the poem Byron personifies Time to show its relevance in his life, just like his hardships. Byron had a difficult childhood, between his father’s death and his mother’s lack of compassion. This is reflected through his dark themes of death of isolation. In addition to his trying childhood, Byron had an unstable marriage in his mid 20’s, which led to his depression. His unsuccessful marriage is reflected through his discussion of life’s pain and hardships that only the toughest men have to overcome. The last influence on Byron’s poems was his strange personality. Byron was known for having high anxiety and OCD, which he let consume his entire life. By devoting whole poems to one topic Byron is revealing his over compulsive personality. Just like many other poets Byron chose to let his past and present experiences shape his poems.