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Title: Don Juan
ISBN: 0140424520
Author:
Lord George Gordon Byron
Publicate Date: 2005-03-29
Publish: 2005-03-29
List Price: $17.00
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.97
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1: Byron's Masterpiece
Don Juan is recognized as Lord Byron's masterpiece and English's greatest mock epic poem but is also one of the greatest epic poems period. It has the strengths of prior Byron masterworks like Childe Harold's Pilgrimage plus a wealth of additional biting satire and other humor, fantastic poetic dexterity, and sheer imaginative abundance. Though a favorite of many poetry buffs, it is also known for appealing to those who do not normally like poetry. It is an immortal work that continues to sparkle and invigorate nearly as much as ever for those alive to its magic.
The first thing one notices is its sheer length; at nearly two thousand stanzas and sixteen thousand lines, it is one of English's longest poems and its longest satirical work. That it is often printed as a standalone book - and a thick one at that - says much. Yet, like prior Byron pieces, it is thoroughly readable. Though such a thing is now almost impossible to even conceive, poetry was more popular than prose in the early nineteenth century, and Don was a stunning bestseller; people read it the way they now read Stephen King. It is easy to see why. Don practically leaps off the page; in distinct contrast to Wordsworth and other poets then popular, it can be read at near-pulp speed. This is partly due to Byron's effortless mastery of meter and other poetic facets; his ottava rima stanzas are immaculately conceived, the strict rhythm drawing us in and keeping us hooked. The audacious rhymes are also important. Byron had long had a reputation as a fearless rhymer but truly outdid himself here; time and time again, Don has the most incredible rhymes conceivable, especially in stanza-closing couplets, which are often milked for brilliant comic effect. This is so well-known that such rhymes are often called "Byronic." Rhyme lovers want to keep reading just to see what he will chime next. All this makes a poem that not only begs to be read quickly but almost forces itself to be so; unlikely as it seems, it can be read very quickly. Readers will be astonished at how rapidly they tear through and will actually end up wanting more. If anything, it seems too short. It is indeed incomplete and even breaks off at something of a cliffhanger, though the sixteenth canto - the last finished - is complete. Byron had no end in sight and indeed wrote without a plan; he began a seventeenth canto shortly before his death and perhaps would have continued ad infinitum. That he was unable is a true shame, but there is no arguing with what is here.
Content is in fact even more important than form, which is unsurprising in that the canvas is almost larger than life. Summarizing Don is not only superfluous but virtually impossible; it takes on practically every genre and contains almost every imaginable thought and feeling. This vast panorama contains everything from a war epic to several monumental love stories to various court dramas and seemingly everything between them. The poem can be appreciated on a very simple level as a picaresque adventure of the kind Byron had long specialized in but never taken anywhere near as far - literally or otherwise. Don travels through much of the world, seeing many landmarks and people and falling in and out of love many times. He is everything from a slave to a court favorite, an older woman's lover to a man disguised as a girl, a war hero to a society light. His adventures are as entertaining as any comparable novel's. Initial readers were enthralled by the virtual grand tour; today's can appreciate the fascinating historical peek.
Don himself is one of the most intriguing facets. He is as thoroughly Byronic as Harold and the many subsequent Romantic heroes but very different and at least as fascinating. Even younger - indeed but a teen at the start -, he shares their good looks and lust for adventure and sex but lacks their intellect and melancholy. He starts out very na??ve and quite ignorant, full of potential but with little or no idea how to use it - in fact lacking a plan of any kind. We see him grow to a certain extent over the course of many escapades, making the poem a sort of bildungsroman on top of everything else. In many important ways, though, he remains unchanged; despite all he has been through - including much that went against conventional morality -, his fundamental youthful innocence is still there. His view of life and humanity changes little, and he is to a large degree still an overgrown boy at the end despite having had enough action - in both senses - to shame Casanova himself. This is of course a joke, especially in that, unlike prior Don Juan incarnations, he is consistently seduced rather than being a seducer. Like prior Byron protagonists, he to a great extent reflects how Byron saw himself. This fascinated initial readers, perpetuating an image of Byron that still subsists. Few people are as anecdotable, and the many still interested in him will find much to entice them. Byron initially chafed against such readings but came to accept them as inevitable, even reveling in them to a degree. When Byron realized the poem's popularity and saw that the image would not disappear, he began overtly using Don to advance his thoughts and ideas, most of which were quite radical, even more clearly than in prior works.
There are many other interesting characters, most of them colorful and quite a few of them unforgettable. Don's numerous loves have great verve and are memorable for various reasons, while his friends and enemies are at least as compelling. The most interesting other character, though, is the narrator, who often steals the proverbial show. Indeed, he often takes over, going on long digressions that are sometimes about Juan or tangentially relevant but mostly about scarcely related topics. He may go off for several stanzas about a story element that reminds him of something, which may remind him of something else; at many points he seems to forget he is supposed to be telling a story. Much of the comedy comes from this, and it is a large part of the reason the work is so hard to summarize. The narrator says virtually nothing about himself directly, but a distinct personality shines through inadvertently - one of the most hilarious and otherwise entertaining to ever tell a tale. A sort of idealized unidealized figure, he is partly an exaggerated side of Byron's own personality as well as other poets' and narrators'. Like many other parts of Don, this has a large parodical element lending itself well to satire, but many will be at least as absorbed by his Byron affinity, however hyperbolic.
Alluring as such crossovers are, they have unfortunately long overshadowed the poem's many conventional strengths. Few artists have suffered more from biographical criticism; it is all too easy to forget that Byron was a great poet on all fronts. Technical dexterity aside, Don is full of vibrant imagery; many descriptions and metaphors are superlative, even unforgettable. The lyricism often reaches sublime heights, and there is also much to provoke thought; Don challenged conventional morality and other accepted ideas as few popular works have and continues to be a touchstone. The poem is also very quotable and indeed often quoted. Perhaps above all, Byron's incredible diversity reached its peak here. Don constantly switches from ridiculous to sublime, often in close proximity; the tragedy is as grand as the comedy is hilarious, and there is a great deal of beauty and substantial material of various sorts in all the guises. Several of the love depictions are among the most vivid and memorable ever. The epic battle is so well-done that it is among the best of its kind - great enough to make Don a masterpiece in itself though it is not even the main part. It manages to convey both war's unparalleled dark side and its heroism; unlike most war stories, it is stirringly immediate and historically astute, truly seeming to bring a relatively obscure battle to life. Some of the more picaresque elements are just as good in their way, immensely entertaining and variously provocative.
Satirical brilliance is probably Don's most lasting aspect. Satire had been a large part of Byron's work almost from the beginning and became more and more pronounced, climaxing here with incredible force. Nothing is safe from Don's mockery; it critiques many aspects of European society as well as Europeans themselves. Don is thus a comedy of manners in addition to everything else; nearly every cultural aspect is savagely critiqued. Byron pokes fun at many prominent practices and kicks just about every sacred cow. Not least interesting are the ubiquitous digs at rival poets and other enemies; Robert Southey is especially eviscerated - indeed from the very first line! Besides being supremely entertaining, this is of great historical interest; though avowedly anti-realist, Don ironically gives a very clear picture of Europe in nearly every sector, much of it unflattering and all the more revealing and interesting in being so.
Simply put, this is essential for anyone who loves poetry, and even many who do not will be pleasantly surprised. It is that rare masterpiece with truly wide appeal; everyone from high-brow literary enthusiasts to the most casual readers can appreciate it - a truly notable accomplishment and a continuing testament to its multi-faceted vitality.
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2: Lord Byron is the King of Hearts
The poem is as sexy as the life of its author, who died fighting for Greek national independence and lived with joie de vivre manifested both within his distinguished career as a poet, his sexual trysts, and his eccentricities, which included party trick mug made from a human skull. The book is a monumental achievement, a literary aphrodesiac, a genuine specimen of romance and whit. Byron's voice speaks clearly, beguilingly, insouciantly and with authority from beyond the grave in this literary classic.
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