‘Last Words on Greece’ [March 1824?]

Abstract

An analysis one of Byron’s very last poems, ‘Last Words on Greece’, addressed to the boy he loved, Loukas Chalandritsanos. The poem is an abbreviated sonnet, with only two quatrains before the conclusion, instead of the usual three, but it remains a deeply Shakespearean poem all the same, in particular in its bleak depiction of unrequited love. Of all poetic themes love is perhaps the most important in Byron’s work—and unrequited love recurs frequently.