"his name became an adjective"

Happy the poet whose life and work remain so well-remembered that his name becomes an adjective.

George Gordon Byron, sixth baron of that title, is certainly a poet who stands in that rarefied company, though it's hard to believe that even the linguistic laurels represented by the now commonplace modifier "Byronic" would have made this protean artist and contradictory -- frequently appalling -- man content for very long.

Edna O'Brien, the distinguished Irish writer, is Byron's latest biographer, and she defines "Byronic" as denoting "excess, diabolical deeds and rebelliousness." It also connotes a certain impetuous and passionate intensity, which isn't a bad description of the spirit that animates O'Brien's own work. The fascination she finds in that implicit kinship is one of the things that makes "Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life" such a pleasure to read. This is a book not only for those who value perceptive, independent intelligence, but also for those who treasure lovely writing for its own sake. At this stage in her long career -- and who can believe that O'Brien is now in her 79th year? -- this is an author who seems incapable of composing a clumsy or uninteresting sentence.