Biographical Analysis of Lord Byron’s “The First Kiss of Love”

Lord Byron’s “The First Kiss of Love” – School of Criticism (Biographical Lens):

“Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the way in which individuals pursue or compromise their happiness” as our diploma prompt.

            When one relies on the concept of love and emotion to determine their contentedness, an individual may be found to have indulged in their emotions to the point where they value the idea of love more than love itself. This can be examined throughout “The First Kiss of Love,” as written by Romantic poet  George Gordon, or Lord Byron as he was more commonly referred to. It was a poem that exemplifies the author’s life and perspectives in relation to his pursuit of happiness through love – it often required him to engage in a more vulnerable, emotional state. “The First Kiss of Love” encompasses the passion and emotion invoked through the first kiss of love, of which the speaker, whom can be assumed is Byron due to the use of personal pronouns and correlation to his life, constantly refers to as being powerful and moving in ways not otherwise invoked in man.  This mindset is one that Lord Byron embraced as shown through his lifestyle; it was the embodiment of what we now consider to be a “romantic,” his actions, thoughts, and happiness driven by and dependent on emotion, more specifically, love. These ideas are developed through his many works, as showcased in “The First Kiss of Love,” and Byron’s use of higher figures, scolding of other poets as written through the poem, and the references made to a fictitious love as opposed his own experience of love throughout the poem.

            Through well known religious or god like figures that Byron uses,  it is evident that he feels very highly about the first kiss of love. This is similar to the way in which Byron lived his life –only through constantly seeking affection and pursuing his many loves was he content. For instance, in stanza three Byron states that if Apollo, the god of poetry, or the Nine muses, who were said to give inspiration to artists, ever failed poets, they should “invoke them no more” and instead try writing from their emotion in regards to their experience with the first kiss of love. Through this, the direction to rely on the emotions invoked by the first kiss of love as they are equally powerful to that of gods,  the significance that  Byron holds in regards to the first kiss of love is conveyed. Within his own life this is evident  as  he himself relied heavily on the inspiration of love to write his poems – he had once told a friend, in relation to Mary Chaworth, a woman in which he had fallen in love with, that his “fables about the celestial nature of women” originated from “perfection [of Mary Chaworth].” Moreover, his first attempt at poetry was inspired by the love of his cousin, Margaret, out of which he wrote “On the Death of a Young Lady.” Poetry, as shown through his inspiration for his pieces,  acted as a catharsis of his strong emotion, therefore proving that love was an influential factor that determined his emotional states. In addition, stanza six references the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, of which Byron says that man has sought for “some portion of paradise on earth.” This paradise, Eden, is revived through the first kiss of love, as stated through the following lines in stanza 6, “ And Eden revives in the first kiss of love.”(line 24) Through the first kiss of love’s revival of said “paradise on earth,” the passion present in the first kiss of love implies a sense of otherworldly power within this experience. Thus, Byron has now claimed the first kiss of love’s superiority to things unearthly, holy things. As showcased through his passionate endeavors in life that transcended biblical or holy beliefs at the time, in spite of his love for the bible as developed at a young age by his Presbyterian nurse, this is something that Lord Byron wholeheartedly lived up to Though he remained devoted to religion, he named Alexander Pope as his master, Byron indulged in a rather risque lifestyle – he, in his pursuit of happiness through love, was constantly seeking love, though with multiple individuals at a time, whether they be male or female. He sought to “revive paradise on earth” in this manner, and fell in love with love as a result. It can therefore be determined that the implementation of the first kiss of love and similar experiences in his own life majorly influenced Byron’s happiness.

            Byron’s own true experiences with love and its impacts on his happiness  are further exemplified in the way in which he refers to his own poems and other poets within “The First Kiss of Love.” For instance, the manner in which he chastises other “rhymers” for writing without first having experienced love as he has is showcased through stanza 4, specifically line 14 in which he states “I hate you, ye cold compositions of art!” By referring to cold compositions of art, or pieces written without one first having experienced true emotion, Byron exemplifies the sincerity with which he writes for the outpouring devotion he feels for the first kiss of love. As he was dependent on love for happiness in his life, Byron was constantly seeking to feel the effects of the first kiss of love once again – perhaps justifying the many affairs he had. In this sense, Byron is in love with the idea of love, what the first kiss of love invokes, as opposed to the commitment of love itself – the feelings of love defined his happiness, it was not the love for another individual that satisfied Byron. “The First Kiss of Love” continually referenced the effects of this experience, not the other individual with which it was shared, exemplifying that it was solely the feeling of love that impacted Byron’s happiness.  The next lines in this stanza go on to say that though he may be critiqued, Byron would rather “court the effusions that spring from the heart,” or, in other words,  indulge in the unrestrained feelings that result from the first kiss of love. This was apparent throughout his life; his perception and value of truth influenced this chastisement and constant reference to fiction and reality – in his mind, real, unimagined, love was truthfully better than any one made of figments of an individual’s imagination. For instance,  Byron himself has said he was” made for the opposition,” and many of his other poems were also responses to critiques or personal events in his life, as stanza four can be seen to have done – it directly addresses other poets and critics of his work. Once given a taste of something so raw and emotionally driven, such as the first kiss of love, it is difficult to not indulge in it, in spite of the critics that may “condemn…and….reprove”  of this.  It then affects the perception of things done without the experience of passion or emotion – they now seem “cold.” This, in turn, impacted Byron’s perception of his happiness; it is apparent that his more jovial works were inspired by this love, and his other, more melancholy works, such as  “On the Death of a Young Lady” as mentioned above, were as a result of  the rejection or failure of his love.

            Moreover, Byron constantly compares a fictitious love made up by poets inexperienced to his own true recollection of love, as stated in stanza five. As addressed through line 18 to 20, which read “…Perhaps may amuse, yet they can never move: Arcadia displays but a region of dreams,” Byron  states that poems about an innocent, fictitious love may please readers, but they will never be able to emotionally move them if they lack the truth that comes with writing from experience, such as in the first kiss of love. Arcadia, a mountainous region in Greece, is renowned for being a very peaceful, and Byron acknowledges this through saying it is a region of dreams, but is not comparable to the experience and passion of the first kiss of love –  Byron embraced the idea  that emotion is truly better than anything offered by a “region of dreams.” This is evident through Byron’s lifestyle as he did not wallow in his romantic ideals and endeavors, rather he lived them, granted, through many affairs. This is further supported in the following lines in which Bryon states “What are visions like these to the first kiss of love.” It has been said that Byron was not one for poetic imagination, and lived his life accordingly – from this, it can be determined that Byron is one who relies on the realization of  his  romantic ideals to dictate his happiness and therefore perceived this as better than anything that can occur in a phantasy because his ideals are present in  his  reality. Within this stanza, the dependence Byron holds on the first kiss of love is showcased. It is something that he, through the rhetorical question, “what are visions like these to the first kiss of love,” evidently deems it as a very significant part of his life, to the point where it dictated his emotions to a great extent.

            “The First Kiss of Love” was not a whimsical, conceptual  piece of literature based off “folly” and imagination, rather it was expression of true emotion Lord Byron had felt in relation to his own life, thus showcasing the dependency held on the first kiss of love in determining his happiness. While he spoke highly of love in his poem, it was the effects of love that he regarded as such, resulting in the idea of love becoming more valuable to one than other factors  – a manner in which happiness is pursued in an individual’s life, as depicted through Lord Byron and his poem, “The First Kiss of Love.” Love in this sense can become powerful beyond measure, the ability it has to influence one’s happiness can only result in extreme measures in pursuit of said love, as seen through Byron’s affairs, or the effects on one’s emotional state when one has not found love,  as depicted through the inspiration for some of Byron’s other poems.

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2 thoughts on “Biographical Analysis of Lord Byron’s “The First Kiss of Love”

  1. Lovely Shyla,

    I think this is the first time that I’ve actually read your writing. And I regret not reading more of it, because you’re like, a genius. Really loved the ideas you brought to light in this piece.

    I like how you explored Byron’s life and how he felt the best way to attain happiness was through love. Because, honestly, things haven’t really changed much from when Byron was alive. What I mean is, I think a lot of us think that the only way to be happy is to fall in love. And I think maybe a lot of the time, we seek out love in order to find validation within someone else. It kind of reminded me of what we were talking about in class the other day when we were discussing Oscar Wild’s “Narcissism”. How the pool never really loved Narcissist himself, but the way Narcissist made her feel beautiful. I also want to tie this back to something you said in your piece: “When one relies on the concept of love and emotion to determine their contentedness, an individual may be found to have indulged in their emotions to the point where they value the idea of love more than love itself.” I think many people value the idea of love– the ideal of having someone admire them– opposed to the act of actually loving something selflessly. In fact, indulging itself, is usally a selfish action.

    As you can see, I have a lot to say about this one single idea you brought forth. This just goes to show that you’ve really had an impact on my thinking judging by how many things I thought of from this line alone.

    Impeccable work, Shyla. You most certainly have a flair for writing.

    Love,
    Jade

  2. Dear Jade,

    Thank you so much! This comment made my day, it was so wonderful to read, especially coming from such a great writer like yourself. I didn’t even think about this piece in relation to the Oscar Wilde poetry seminar, but now that you brought it up, I really do see so many parallels. I appreciate and agree with your thoughts on the subject – there is a lack of selfless love in our world.

    Thanks again!

    – Shyla

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