Byron and the Stage

Abstract

The eight plays written by Lord Byron between 1816 and 1822 constitute one of the major areas of his development as an important literary figure. Yet, paradoxically, these works have been relatively neglected by twentieth century criticism. Byron may be said to be one of the best documented poets biographically and critically. As a playwright, however, no comprehensive and objective study of him has been published. A great deal of the criticism of Byron's plays is to be found in magazine articles and short, often highly prejudiced, chapters in longer works devoted to theatre history. The result of this spasmodic and patchy criticism has been confusion and contradiction. One question which confronts any critic of the plays is whether Byron intended these works for stage representation or whether he saw them as ‘closet dramas’, intended for the solitary reader only. Byron's own attitude was ambiguous. Of his second published play, Marino Faliero, he wrote to Murray, his publisher, in apparently unequivocal terms:I have never written but for the solitary reader, and require no experiments for applause beyond his silent approbation … I claim my right as an author to prevent what I have written from being turned into a stage play.