Skírnir - 01.09.2001, Page 186

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GUÐNI ELÍSSON
SKÍRNIR
Summary
Lord Byron died of fever at Missolonghi on Easter Monday, April 19,1824. To this
day, rnany register disappointment, if not disbelief, when finding out that Byron
did not die in glorious battle. But, although the events surrounding Byron’s death
are well documented and leave little to be debated, the same cannot be said about
the impact of Byron’s sacrifice. Malcolm Kelsall sees the poet’s death as “a beauti-
ful myth” and adds that: “Byron, the man, failed at Missolonghi.” Other critics see
Byron’s death as a towering influence on generations of freedom fighters. Instead
of speculating whether Byron, the man, faiied or not at Missolonghi, I try to deter-
mine a few of the historical models that played a role in his death, and how they
compel us to view it in terms of heroic ars moriendi, or the “art of dying”. Those
role models cast a light on Byron’s need for heroic action, and at the same time
they cause the reader to question the sincerity of his actions. Also interesting to
this study are the speculations upon Byron’s death that started long before April
1824. They are different from those that succeeded his death, for their primary
concern is to cast doubts upon the consistency of Byron’s character by em-
phasizing the conventional repentance of a dying libertine. On his deathbed Byron
was forced to respond to these allegations, and conduct his own ars moriendi. His
comments show that he understood the tensions that could be established between
true emotional transcendence and the drama of acting one’s feelings out. He
attempts to show that he is not a cold, heartless atheist, but rather a sentimental
and sympathetic hero of a new era.