[f. as prec. + -ISM.]
a. The characteristics of Byron or his poetry. b. Imitation of Byron.
1817. W. S. Walker, Poet. Rem. (1852), Introd. 38. Lord Byron’s drama of Manfred is … the perfection of Byronism.
1857. Fraser’s Mag., LVI. 66. When Byronism was at its height, when … you could not be interesting unless you were miserable and vicious.
1870. Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 307. One of his [de Musset’s] decoctions of watered Byronism.
So also Byroniad [see -AD 1 c], ? the epic of a Byronian hero. Byronian a., of or pertaining to Byron, resembling Byron; also sb., an admirer or imitator of Byron. Byronical a., Byronish a., = BYRONIAN; Byronically adv.; Byronist, Byronite [see -IST, -ITE], a follower or imitator of Byron. Byronize v. [see -IZE], a. trans. to invest with the characteristics of Byron; b. intr. to affect or play the Byron.
1819. Literary Gaz., 546. The prose *Byroniads which infest the times.
1822. Blackw. Mag., XII. 753. Old-established freeholders on the *Byronian Parnassus.
1883. Athenæum, 17 March, 340/1. Alfred de Musset and the French *Byronians.
1871. Morley, Crit. Misc. (1878), 225. Silly *Byronical votaries, who only half understood their idol.
1839. Blackw. Mag., XLV. 356. Wearing his shirt collar *Byronically tied in front with a slip of black ribbon.
1830. Wilson, ibid., XXVII. 674. An exceedingly neat small *Byronish hand.
1830. Campbell, in Fraser’s Mag., I. 485. If the *Byronists were to face the savage ordeal.
1884. Swinburne, in 19th Cent., April, 587. The smallest perceptible *Byronite or Wordsworthian.
1823. Blackw. Mag., XIII. 267. *Byronized Cockneys.
1836. Edin. Rev., LXII. 299. His gentleness and devoutness would have Byronized but ill.
1847. Blackw. Mag., LXI. 430. Let others … fling their curls back from their brows, unbutton their shirt-collars, and, thus Byronised, begin.
