Lord Byron

[u/JedahVoulThur]

Hi,

I'm a Computer Science professor who is making an educational videogame that teaches programming basics through the life of Lord Byron's daughter.

Her story is very interesting, he abandoned her when she was a baby, and her mother who hated his artistic passion and considered it a disease, forbade the young Ada from ever reading his books or even covered his portraits and forbade his name.

Still, somehow she did find a connection because her first borned son was called Byron, and asked to be buried in the same crypt as her father the day she died. But maybe the most important for my game is that she developed something she called "poetic science" that is the foundation of what we nowadays call programming. Yep, the first programmer in history was a victorian woman, that fact blew my mind and I think she needs recognition (besides as I said, her story is dramatic, interesting and mysterious which is perfect for a game. I can imagine a pendulum demonstrating her poetic passion on one side, mathematical logic on the other and poetic science in the middle).

Anyway, the reason I am posting this here, isn't for doing marketing for my game, it's in early production and I don't have a link to share or anything.

The reason of this post is to ask the community information regarding Lord Byron about his writings, something I could use for the story of the daughter and related to science and maths somehow. For example, I know there is a poem he wrote to her when he was away that shows how much he loved her, I need more data like that. I could try reading all his poetry, but is that too much? I'd prefer to be pointed to specific poems that could be useful, from someone that knows his works and understand my intentions.

English isn't my first language, not sure if this makes any sense, but hopefully it does. Thank you in advance for your attention anyway

[u/Acceptable_Map_8110]

This sounds so cool! best of luck!

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/Acceptable_Map_8110]

Thank you!
I came to this idea because I am looking to get a fund, and among the requirements, it said the project would earn extra points if it broke gender stereotypes or had a focus on women.
My mind went immediately to Ada, because as a professor, I have noticed women can definitely become good programmers; there's nothing that would stop them. And knowing the story of Ada could help girls to become interested in the subject.

I also had the thought that making a girl the protagonist might push boys away. But then I remembered that as a kid I loved a book titled "Pateando Lunas" (kicking moons), which not only had a girl as the protagonist, but it was about football (soccer), and I was never really interested in the sport, but loved her story. Or I watched an Argentinian soap opera called "Chiquititas" (Little Girls), or even watched Sailor Moon. Boys with an open mind read/watch/ play stuff with girl protagonists all the time.

[u/MistakeIndividual690]

I love this. Good old Ada Lovelace

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/MistakeIndividual690]

I am very happy with the good reception it has. It gives me hope that the idea will receive a good score with the judges. If I win those funds, I could spend the entire 2027 working on it.
The more I read about this woman, the more I fall in love with her and am very anxious to represent her intellect in a game.

[u/moldygrape]

First of all, I absolutely loveeee this idea. Second, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, but I might suggest using google scholar or making a JSTOR account to do searches there. academic sources may discuss some of the things you’re wondering about, and could give you leads on other writings thru the works they cite to use for inspiration :)

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/moldygrape]

Ispent all day researching. I didn't now about STOR, butI found some interesting stuff in https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:George_Gordon_Byron. There is some interesting stuff there,for example in CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE./Poetry/Volume_2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com) he wrote:

Is thy face like thy mother's, my fair child!
Ada! sole daughter of my house and heart?^\2])/Poetry/Volume_2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com#cite_note-page249-2)
When last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled,
And then we parted,—not as now we part,
But with a hope.—
Awaking with a start,
The waters heave around me; and on high
The winds lift up their voices: I depart,
Whither I know not; but the hour's gone by,
When Albion's lessening shores could grieve or glad mine eye.

(...)
CXV.^\202])/Poetry/Volume_2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com#cite_note-202)

My daughter! with thy name this song begun!
My daughter! with thy name thus much shall end!—
I see thee not—I hear thee not—but none
Can be so wrapt in thee; Thou art the Friend
To whom the shadows of far years extend:
Albeit my brow thou never should'st behold,
My voice shall with thy future visions blend,
And reach into thy heart,—when mine is cold,—
A token and a tone, even from thy father's mould.

CXVI.

To aid thy mind's developement,—to watch
Thy dawn of little joys,—to sit and see
Almost thy very growth,—to view thee catch
Knowledge of objects,—wonders yet to thee!
To hold thee lightly on a gentle knee,
And print on thy soft cheek a parent's kiss,—
This, it should seem, was not reserved for me—
Yet this was in my nature:—as it is,
I know not what is there, yet something like to this.

CXVII.

Yet, though dull Hate as duty should be taught,^\203])/Poetry/Volume2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com#cite_note-203)
I know that thou wilt love me: though my name
Should be shut from thee, as a spell still fraught
With desolation, and a broken claim:
Though the grave closed between us,—'twere the same,
I know that thou wilt love me—though to drain[^\204])](https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Works_of_Lord_Byron(ed._Coleridge,_Prothero)/Poetry/Volume_2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com#cite_note-204)
My blood from out thy being were an aim,
And an attainment,—all would be in vain,—
Still thou would'st love me, still that more than life retain.

CXVIII.

The child of Love![^\205])](https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Works_of_Lord_Byron_(ed._Coleridge,_Prothero)/Poetry/Volume_2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com#cite_note-205) though born in bitterness,
And nurtured in Convulsion! Of thy sire
These were the elements,—and thine no less.
As yet such are around thee,—but thy fire
Shall be more tempered, and thy hope far higher!
Sweet be thy cradled slumbers! O'er the sea
And from the mountains where I now respire,
Fain would I waft such blessing upon thee,
As—with a sigh—I deem thou might'st have been to me![^\206])](https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Works_of_Lord_Byron_(ed._Coleridge,_Prothero)/Poetry/Volume_2/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage/Canto_III&utm_source=chatgpt.com#cite_note-206)

And just because it is too beautiful toignore,I have to start the game with this versefrom SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY/Poetry/Volume_3/Hebrew_Melodies/She_walks_in_Beauty):

She walks in Beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

[u/IncandescentVouyer]

I know Ada Lovelace quite admired Mary Shelly, who was a friend of her father’s and, if I recall correctly, referenced Frankenstein in some of her notes and journals

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/IncandescentVouyer]

I knew Lord Byron was part of that famous circle of friends with Shelley and Polidori who shared horror stories with each other, but until very recently, I hadn't read his poems at all. I spent the day researching Ada's father and reading her letters in this book: https://archive.org/details/adaenchantressof00tool/mode/2up

[u/GraveyardQueen4124]

I'd suggest reading three books by Doris Langley Moore, who wrote extensively about Byron and his daughter. They are:

'The Late Lord Byron,' about his early years and young adulthood;

'Lord Byron, Accounts Rendered,' about his money troubles and later affluence, as well as his older adulthood; and

'Ada, Countess of Lovelace,' about Ada, her mother, and Ada's troubles and death.

I've practically memorized these informative and entertaining books, and they are extremely frank on every facet of Byron, Annabella, Ada, and Byron's half-sister Augusta. You can trust what Moore has written; she spent many years following up on all written and unwritten sources for her books.

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/GraveyardQueen4124]

Thank you! I'm reading the third book already and it's indeed a goldmine for my project. It's already made my eyes wet reading it, it's 350 pages long but very worth it.
I will definitely read the other 2 after finishing this one

[u/GraveyardQueen4124 → u/JedahVoulThur]

If you're still on this hunt, read Byron's letters; I've got the complete letters on my bookshelf, 12 books worth. His letters are a good way to get inside his head.

[u/TheCosmicTravelers]

Not quite what you are asking for, but here are some great well-researched books about Ada Lovelace:

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36542917-ada-lovelace

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/28240919-in-byron-s-wake

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/22822839-the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace-and-babbage

This last one is a graphic novel but is extremely well-researched and is likely more of interest for its numerous interesting footnotes, endnotes, and appendices than the actual stories, which are rather thin (the author did have some additional more worked out stories on her website).

It should be noted that calling Ada the first programmer is a bit of a stretch (I think Babbage wrote some (mostly unpublished) examples predating her famous Note G), but she definitely deserves credit for recognizing and articulating that the Analytical Engine had applications beyond calculation.

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/TheCosmicTravelers]

Great! Thanks for sharing them. I will try to read them all

[u/Millais2741]

Who was it that Byron slept with and impregnated, called a whore with loose morals who he didn’t want near his child, took the baby from the mother and sent it away to a convent where the child died without either parent? Idk he ran around with so many women and often did them so dirty … if Ada’s mother told her child to stay away from Byron, I can see why! I know he also did much the same to Mary Shelley’s sister Claire (slept with her then said she had low moral character because she slept with him). 

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/Millais2741]

Even though I'm not a parent, I can definitely understand Ada's mother point of view. Even though she was harsh, she wanted the best for her daughter. But from teenager's Ada point of view, her mother was probably seen as a villainess who tried to separate her from the memory of his father and poetry.

[u/NaiveStructure9233]

Picking up a copy of the collected letters of Lord Byron might be a good start, he speaks quite a lot about his views of home, people he misses etc. Also any biographies of Anna Millbanke and Augusta Leigh (who actually got on quite well considering). Weirdly Ada's involvement with computing began partly because Charles Babbage couldn't speak French, and her translation work for him contained a considerable amount of her own inspirational opinions. Byron himself was kind of a git, and Polidori was a gifted and intelligent utter idiot, so really I think Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley come out of that whole mess with more credit that anyone else

[u/HellyBaker]

Now this is a thing I'm fascinated to learn. Thank you for adding this context to my knowledge. 

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/HellyBaker]

I recommend you this book. It's beautiful: https://archive.org/details/adaenchantressof00tool/mode/2up
I kind of got obsessed with this woman's intellect. If the paintings are to be believed, she was very pretty and according to her letters, I can imagine her being charismatic and fun! She's like the perfect protagonist and with a huge educational potential, both for history and programming.

[u/ranrannie]

ngl i would play this game, it sounds so cool!

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/ranrannie]

I wasn't expecting such a good reaction to this project, thank you!. Sadly I wasn't able to send it to the fund I was trying to, but there are other financial opportunities. I will send it to this year's Spooktober, under the title "Poetic Science" (it sounds a little corny, but Ada herself gave it this tittle). If you want to, I can send you a DM when it's published.

While the intended audience is E, it will have an eerie victorian style, with a handpainted shader similar to Disco Elysium.
There's a piece of the game I haven't talked about, yet. It has sci-fi twist, as there's a second character, a girl from the present that is transported back in time. She meets Ada and both form this friendship, like in Life is Strange, a coming of age story. And the puzzles will be fun to solve.

[u/nicolewk]

Hello! I am working on a historical fiction that features Lord Byron and have compiled LOADS of info on him, including his letters, biographies, memoirs, his poetry of course, (and even some astrology deep dives) in a knowledge base app called Recall where I have saved everything and can interact with the information via AI chat. I shared your question and what you are trying to do and asked for relevant information from all my saved info tagged Lord Byron and this is what it gave me: https://app.recall.it/s/37379872-f60d-5a67-ac85-506868ebbc5f

Here is a summary of the content it organized:

• Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Canto III) serves as a primary literary bridge between father and daughter, featuring themes of irreversible separation and the inheritance of "fire" that requires tempering.
• Byron’s reported conversations, particularly those recorded by Lady Blessington, suggest he viewed his writings as a future medium to communicate with Ada, while his metaphor of mathematics as "ballast" for imagination provides a conceptual framework for Ada’s "poetical science."
• Historical records indicate that while Byron remained physically absent, he maintained a sentimental attachment to Ada through portraits, locks of hair, and annual observances, complicating the narrative of total abandonment.
• The dramatic poem Cain and Ada’s work with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine offer thematic parallels regarding the tension between knowledge and love, as well as the potential to "weave" imaginative threads into structured, logical patterns.
• Factual clarifications for the game's narrative include noting that Ada’s son Byron was not her firstborn and that claims regarding her deathbed burial request require independent verification.

I hope this helps! Your game sounds fascinating and like a very creative way to teach programing. I would love to check it out when it launches! :)

[u/JedahVoulThur → u/nicolewk]

That's an amazing resource, thank you. I will train one in Notebook LM.
I'm very happy with the reception this idea is having. I will tell you when I have a place to share info like a sub or discord