Poetical Works of Lord Byron Author:Baron George Gordon Byron Byron Title: Poetical Works of Lord Byron: the Prisoner of Chillon. Poems of July-September 1816. Monody on the Death of R.b. Sheridan. Manfred. the Lament of Tasso. Beppo. Ode on Venice. Mazeppa. Prophecy of Dante. Morgante Maggiore of Pulci. Francesca of Rimini. Marino Faliero. the Vision of Judgment. Poems, 1816-1823. the Blues General Books publi... more »cation date: 2009 Original publication date: 1901 Original Publisher: J. Murray Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: INTRODUCTION TO THE LAMENT OF TASSO. The MS. of the Lament of Tasso is dated April 20, 1817. It was despatched from Florence April 23, and reached England May 12 (see Memoir of John Murray, 1891, i. 384). Proofs reached Byron June 7, and the poem was published July 17, 1817. " It was," he writes (April 26), " written in consequence of my having been lately in Ferrara." Again, writing from Rome (May 5, 1817), he asks if the MS. has arrived, and adds, " I look upon it as a ' These be good rhymes,' as Pope's papa said to him when he was a boy " (Letters, 1900, iv. 112-115). Two months later he reverted to the theme of Tasso's ill- treatment at the hands of Duke Alphonso, in the memorable stanzas xxxv.-xxxix. of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold (Poetical Worts, 1899, ii. 354-359; and for examination of the circumstances of Tasso's imprisonment in the Hospital of Sant' Anna, vide ibid., pp. 355, 356, note i). Notices of the Lament of Tasso appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1817, vol. 87, pp. 150, 151 ; in The Scot's Magazine, August, 1817, N. S., vol. i. pp. 48, 49; and a eulogistic but uncritical review in Blach-wood's Edinburgh Magazine, November, 1817, vol. ii. pp. 142-144. ADVERTISEMENT. At Ferrara, in the Library, are preserved the ori...« less