Don Juan

1. Don Juan By: Lord Byron Presented by: Deanne Thomas & Waltdrekia Williams

2. Lord Byron • George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was born on January 22,1788 and died on April 19, 1824 at the age of 36. He was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among Byron's best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and the short lyric "She Walks in Beauty." He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential. • Byron was celebrated in life for aristocratic excesses, including huge debts, numerous love affairs, rumors of a scandalous incestuous liaison with his half-sister, and self-imposed exile. • He travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. • Byron's names were changed throughout his life. He was the son of Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron and his second wife, the former Catherine Gordon, a descendant of Cardinal Beaton and heiress of the Gight estate in Aberdeen shire, Scotland. At the age of 10, he inherited the English Barony of Byron of Rochdale, becoming "Lord Byron“

3. Historical Background • Though it is unfinished, Don Juan is regarded as Byron’s finest work. A mock epic described by Shelley as “ something wholly new and relative to the age,” it satirizes the political and social problems of Byron’s time. • Traditionally Don Juan, the poem’s hero, is a wicked character driven by his obsession with beautiful women. In Byron’s work, Don Juan is an innocent young man whose physical beauty, charm, and spirit prove to be alluring to ladies. As a result, he find himself in many difficult situations. • During periodic pauses in the story, the narrator drifts away from the subject. In these digressions the narrator comments on the issues of the time and on life in general. In this excerpt the narrator sets aside the adventures of his hero and reflect on old age and death

4. Summary & Thesis Statement • Don Juan is having an affair with his mother’s married best friend Donna Julia and her husband discovers the affair and sends Don Juan to Cabiz as he is going to Cabiz he becomes shipwrecked and begins to reflect upon his life. At 30 years old, he wonders what it would be like when he turns 40. He finds himself thinking about wearing a wig. He thinks he has not matured even though he wasted a whole summer. • In his poem, Lord Byron uses the literary devices of rhyme, and imagery to create a cynical comedic depiction of the world around him.

5. Theme & Tone • The theme is pity, humor and compassion must counteract a chaotic and unfair world. • He uses a more formal language to describe the life of Don Juan, while he touch on the bases of life, love, and death . • “The freshness of the heart can fall like dew Which out of all the lovely things we see Extracts emotions beautiful and new” • All things that have been born were born to die, And flesh( which Death mows down to hay) is grass”

6. Figurative Language and Poetic Devices

7. Poem Interpretation

8. Conclusion • In his poem, Lord Byron uses the literary devices of rhyme, and imagery to create a cynical comedic depiction of the world around him.