Don Juan

DON JUAN
Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the Legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womaniser, but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epic form. Modern critics generally consider it to be Byron's masterpiece. Byron completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th canto before his death in 1824.

Lord Byron

Born

George Gordon Byron 22 January 1788(178801-22) London, England 19 April 1824 (aged 36) Messolonghi, AetoliaAcarnania, Greece Poet, politician English English Romanticism Don Juan, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Ada Lovelace, Allegra Byron

Died Occupation Nationality Ethnicity Literary movement Notable Works(s) Children

DON JUAN
Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the Legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womaniser, but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epic form. Modern critics generally consider it to be Byron's masterpiece. Byron completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th canto before his death in 1824.

WOMANISER
A man who likes many women and has short sexual relationships with them

LEGEND OF DON JUAN

In the legend, Don Juan is a famous lover and scoundrel who has made more than a thousand sexual conquests. While preparing to seduce the young noble lady Donna Ana, he is discovered by her father, the Commander, who challenges him to a duel.

 Don Juan kills the Commander and escapes. Donna Ana and her fianc Don Ottavio attempt to hunt down Don Juan, but he is too wily to be caught. Later, Don Juan passes by the tomb of the dead Commander. A voice comes from the statue on the tomb, warning Don Juan that he will be punished for his wicked actions.

The unrepentant Don Juan jokingly invites the statue to have dinner with him. However, the joke is on Don Juan when the haunted statue comes to life and arrives at Don Juan's house at the promised time.

The statue puts out his hand and offers to take Don Juan to a different banquet. Don Juan, fearless to the last, takes the statue's hand, but finds himself caught in an unbreakable grip that fills him with freezing cold. A fiery pit opens and the statue drags Don Juan off to Hell.

 A recurring joke throughout the poem is that most of the Spanish words and names are rhymed in a way which indicates that they are being pronounced incorrectly. For example: Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age discovers he is not the true one; Of such as these I should not care to vaunt, I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan In the above passage, "Juan" is rhymed with "true one.

Don Juan offers biting commentary on war, religion, restraints on personal liberty and freedom of speech, and injustices rendered upon society's weakest inhabitants. The poem is in eight line iambic pentameter (Iambic pentameter is one of many meters used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line) with the rhyme scheme ab ab ab cc Often the last rhyming couplet is used for a humor comic line or humorous bathos (refers to the expression of humor in a phrase) There are mostly 10 syllables per line. The rhyme scheme of each stanza is known as ottava rima (Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of heroic works)