Don Juan: The Greatest Comic Poem in English
Why isn’t Don Juan more widely read? I examine three reasons in this series of posts and then suggest some remedies.
In defence of annotation
There is something rather odd about annotating poetry
Bad Lord Byron
You know, of course, that there’s a lot of pathetic rubbish that pretends to be a Byronic document, hoping to borrow a little of the popular lustre our author still enjoys. This 1949 film is…
Skin in the Game
John Murray’s recommendations to Byron deserve more respect as evidence of the publishing environment and not just of his own disposition. After all, he had “skin in the game”.
Don Juan sells despite Murray’s fears
When Cantos I and II of Don Juan were being prepared for the press, it was chiefly Murray’s advisers — especially Gifford — who kept up the lament about “so much beauty, so wantonly &…
Early reception of Don Juan
When the first two Cantos of Don Juan appeared on 15 July, 1819, readers immediately guessed — many had anticipated — the the authorship. The next day, the Morning Post carried a brief article sub-titled…
Publication of Cantos I & II
The path to the first publication of Cantos I & II of Don Juan was unlike that of any of Byron’s earlier verse. It is worth our attention because it reminds us — who now…
England in 1819–20
A section of the preface to my Annotated Cantos I & II (with audio narration) planned for the bi-centenary of Don Juan in 2019. The first two cantos of Don Juan were published in July,…
Matthew Arnold on Byron
Another section of the preface to my Annotated Cantos I & II (with audio narration) planned for the bi-centenary of Don Juan in 2019 The popularity of Byron’s poetry even today owes much to an…
The Comet and the Bomb
This article was originally intended as a draft of an introduction to the “Bicentennial” edition of Cantos I & II that I have now posted. I decided not to use it there but I want…