Ada Lovelace

By Karen Macfarlane

A Golden Shovel after Lord Byron, Childe Harold (IV)

A life calculated beyond
the complex algorithm of her
ancestry, the weighting of a name.
Born of words, she walks in
the beauty of numbers, finds their story
full of pleasing pattern and
rhythmic rhyme, discovers there her
own heroic role. In Romance’s long
fevered reign, among its sad array
of heroes and poisoned love of
passion, she coolly builds a mighty
name that casts its own shadows.



Inspiration Behind the Poem:

I was interested in the contrast between the legacies of Byron and his daughter, and her reported fascination with him despite him not being present in much of her life. I used Byron’s own words as a starting point for a poem about Ada.


Karen Macfarlane's poetry has appeared in many magazines and anthologies including Green Ink, Pushing Out the Boat, The Alchemy Spoon and Obsessed With Pipework. Her first pamphlet collection, All About the Surface, was published in 2024 by Seahorse Publications. Karen is in the final stage of an Arts & Humanities degree (Creative Writing and Art History) and she  combines her love of visual art with poetry at www.poemsonpublicart.wordpress.com.