The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 6

Love and glory come under scrutiny in Byron's Don Juan, which occupies this sixth volume of his poetry. Ernest Hartley Coleridge's edition pairs the poem with an introduction, explanatory notes and readings drawn from manuscripts. The preface describes the comparison of original sources, and the contents include a short fragment of a seventeenth canto. Readers can examine the verse while tracing how its text and supporting material were assembled.

The passage from Canto VII presents a speaker who compares his changing rhyme to the northern lights and defends his willingness to laugh at human affairs. Literary references sit beside conversational remarks, making the voice reflective, restless and argumentative. The introduction follows the poem's composition and publication, while the notes supply historical context and alternative wording. This combination suits readers interested in poetic satire, the workings of a scholarly edition or the relationship between a narrator's comments and the story he tells.