Don Juan (poem)

Don Juan
Don Juan (1819) First Ed.
AuthorLord Byron
LanguageEnglish
GenreEpic poem and satire
Publication date
1819–1824 (final cantos published posthumously)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages555 pages
Preceded byChilde Harold's Pilgrimage 
Followed byMazeppa 

In English literature, Don Juan, written from 1819 to 1824 by the English poet Lord Byron, is a satirical, epic poem that portrays the Spanish folk legend of Don Juan, not as a womaniser as historically portrayed, but as a victim easily seduced by women.[1] As genre literature, Don Juan is an epic poem, written in ottava rima and presented in 16 cantos. Lord Byron derived the character of Don Juan from traditional Spanish folk legends; however, the story was very much his own.[2] Upon publication in 1819, cantos I and II were widely criticised as immoral because Byron had so freely ridiculed the social subjects and public figures of his time.[3] At his death in 1824, Lord Byron had completed 16 of 17 cantos, whilst canto XVII remained unfinished.

  1. ^ English 151-03 Byron's 'Don Juan' notes Archived 18 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Gregg A. Hecimovich
  2. ^ (Don Juan, canto xiv, stanza 99)
  3. ^ Coleridge, "Introduction", p. 000.