I expect you know Lord Byron is a famous British poet. You may also recall that he had a wild personal life and was “mad, bad and dangerous to know.”
But, unless you’re a true poetry aficionado, you probably can’t quote many lines from Byron’s poems, even though he was reasonably prolific during his short, infamous life.
About the only bit of Byron poetry I remember is “She walks in beauty, like the night,” from his poem “She Walks in Beauty” (published in 1815).
However, there are some other familiar words we have all used and frequently heard that come from Byron. It’s just that most people don’t know the origin of them is one of his poems.
On December 17, 1823, Cantos XII, XIII and XIV of Byron’s epic poem Don Juan were first published.
Canto XIV contains these lines:
“‘Tis strange — but true; for Truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction.”
They popularized the sayings “strange but true” and “truth is stranger than fiction.”
So, when you say those phrases, you are quoting, or at least paraphrasing, stanza 101 of Canto XIV of Lord Byron’s Don Juan.
See? You’re more of a poetry buff than you knew.
Here’s the full stanza:
“‘Tis strange, — but true; for Truth is always strange —
Stranger than fiction: if it could be told,
How much would novels gain by the exchange!
How differently the World would men behold!
How oft would Vice and Virtue places change!
The new world would be nothing to the old,
If some Columbus of the moral seas
Would show mankind their Souls’ antipodes.”
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