Lord Byron's Letters Reveal Affair and Criticism of Fellow Writers

Posted on October 2, 2009

Sotheby's in London will auction some letters written by English poet Lord Byron on October 29th. The letters - written to his friend Francis Hodgson - include details of an affair with a servant girl. They also include Byron's criticism of fellow writers, including Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and Alexander Pope. Byron even refers to William Wordsworth as "Turdsworth" in his letters. We have to wonder what name Wordsworth may have had for Byron. Byron also lumped Wordsworth and Southey together and called them "renegado rascals."

The Telegraph reports that Byron was no fan of Alexander Pope's poetry. He says it was "artificial and archaic."

Byron had lots of opinions. He was also very critical of the Portuguese. He says in one of his letters that the Portuguese have "few vices except lice and sodomy."