‘Like a Flash of Inspiration’: Byron’s Marginalised Lyricism in Hebrew Melodies

Abstract

Despite intensive critical work on Byron’s Hebrew Melodies, they tend to be marginalised in Byron’s work. While there is a great deal of art in Byron’s lyrics, they often have an effect of a flash of inspiration. The essay (re-)examines the lyric art and imaginative force of poems frequently marginalised in accounts of Byron’s poetic career, involving comparisons with the lyricism of other poets, including Wordsworth, Shelley and Moore. Moore’s relations with Ireland are evident, Byron’s with Jewish suffering are less so, except that in his act of virtuosic empathy he can summon up Biblical cadences and imply an obscure, but deep link between apparently remote subject matter and private feeling.