''Hours of Idleness'' was the first volume of poetry published by

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

, in 1807, when he was 19 years old. It is a collection of mostly short

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s, many in imitation of classic

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

poets.

Background

The volume was published in June–July 1807 as a small octavo, printed and published by S. and J. Ridge of Newark in the UK and sold by the London booksellers: Crosby and Co.; Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme; F. and C. Rivington; and J, Mawman. The full title was ''Hours of Idleness; a Series of Poems Original and Translated. By George Gordon, Lord Byron, a Minor.'' It consisted of 187 pages with thirty-nine poems. Of these, nineteen came from the original ''Fugitive Piece'' volume, while eight had first appeared in ''Poems on Various Occasions''. Twelve were published for the first time. The "Fragment of a Translation from the 9th Book of Virgil's Aeneid" was included as "The Episode of Nisus and Euryalus, A Paraphrase from the AEneid, Lib. 9," made up of 406 lines. After a scathing review in ''The Edinburgh Review'' in 1808, Byron responded by publishing, anonymously, his satiric poem ''

English Bards and Scotch Reviewers ''English Bards and Scotch Reviewers'' is an 1809 satirical poem written by Lord Byron, and published by James Cawthorn in London. Background and description The poem was first published anonymously, in March 1809, and a second, expanded editio ...

'' in 1809. Critic Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux wrote of the volume: "The poesy of this young lord belongs to the class which neither gods nor men are said to permit." He attacked the poems as “effusions ... spread over a dead flat" like "so much stagnant water" and accused Byron of being disingenuous, “pleading his minority” while seeming at the same time to say, “See how a minor can write!” In a letter to John Cam Hobhouse, Byron wrote of his reaction: "As an author, I am cut to atoms by the E inburghReview, it is just out, and has completely demolished my little fabric of fame." The original manuscript was in the collections of

Wisbech & Fenland Museum The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The museum logo is W&F. History Initially a member-based organisation ...

, Isle of Ely.

Sources

* Garrett, Martin: ''George Gordon, Lord Byron''. (British Library Writers' Lives). London: British Library, 2000. . * Garrett, Martin. ''Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Byron''. Palgrave, 2010. . * Grosskurth, Phyllis: ''Byron: The Flawed Angel''. Hodder, 1997. .

References

External links

1807 first edition
at Internet Archive.

* ttp://www.mykeep.com/lordbyron/hoursofidleness.html ''Hours of Idleness: A Series of Poems, Original and Translated''at MyKeep * {{Byron Poetry by Lord Byron 1807 poetry books 1807 poems English poetry collections