Dedication

Lord Byron (1788–1824) · 1819–1824

iambic pentameter · ottava rima · 136 lines · from Don Juan

Bob Southey! You’re a poet, poet laureate,And representative of all the race.Although ’tis true that you turned out a Tory atLast, yours has lately been a common case.And now my epic renegade, what are ye atWith all the lakers, in and out of place?A nest of tuneful persons, to my eyeLike four and twenty blackbirds in a pye,

Which pye being opened they began to sing’(This old song and new simile holds good),‘A dainty dish to set before the King’Or Regent, who admires such kind of food.And Coleridge too has lately taken wing,But like a hawk encumbered with his hood,Explaining metaphysics to the nation.I wish he would explain his explanation.

You, Bob, are rather insolent, you know,At being disappointed in your wishTo supersede all warblers here below,And be the only blackbird in the dish.And then you overstrain yourself, or so,And tumble downward like the flying fishGasping on deck, because you soar too high,Bob, And fall for lack of moisture quite a dry Bob.

And Wordsworth in a rather long Excursion(I think the quarto holds five hundred pages)Has given a sample from the vasty versionOf his new system to perplex the sages.’Tis poetry, at least by his assertion,And may appear so when the Dog Star rages,And he who understands it would be ableTo add a story to the tower of Babel.

You gentlemen, by dint of long seclusionFrom better company, have kept your ownAt Keswick, and through still continued fusionOf one another’s minds at last have grownTo deem, as a most logical conclusion,That poesy has wreaths for you alone.There is a narrowness in such a notion,Which makes me wish you’d change your lakes for ocean.

I would not imitate the petty thought,Nor coin my self-love to so base a vice,For all the glory your conversion brought,Since gold alone should not have been its price.You have your salary; was’t for that you wrought?And Wordsworth has his place in the Excise.You’re shabby fellows—true—but poets stillAnd duly seated on the immortal hill.

Your bays may hide the baldness of your brows,Perhaps some virtuous blushes; let them go.To you I envy neither fruit nor boughs,And for the fame you would engross below,The field is universal and allowsScope to all such as feel the inherent glow.Scott, Rogers, Campbell, Moore, and Crabbe will try’Gainst you the question with posterity.

For me, who, wandering with pedestrian Muses,Contend not with you on the winged’ steed,I wish your fate may yield ye, when she chooses,The fame you envy and the skill you need.And recollect a poet nothing losesIn giving to his brethren their full meedOf merit, and complaint of present daysIs not the certain path to future praise.

He that reserves his laurels for posterity(Who does not often claim the bright reversion)Has generally no great crop to spare it, heBeing only injured by his own assertion.And although here and there some glorious rarityArise like Titan from the sea’s immersion,The major part of such appellants goTo—God knows where—for no one else can know.

If fallen in evil days on evil tongues,Milton appealed to the avenger, Time,If Time, the avenger, execrates his wrongsAnd makes the word Miltonic mean sublime,He deigned not to belie his soul in songs,Nor turn his very talent to a crime.He did not loathe the sire to laud the son,But closed the tyrant-hater he begun.

Think’st thou, could he, the blind old man, ariseLike Samuel from the grave to freeze once moreThe blood of monarchs with his prophecies,Or be alive again—again all hoarWith time and trials, and those helpless eyesAnd heartless daughters—worn and pale and poor,Would he adore a sultan? He obeyThe intellectual eunuch Castlereagh?

Cold-blooded, smooth-faced, placid miscreant!Dabbling its sleek young hands in Erin’s gore,And thus for wider carnage taught to pant,Transferred to gorge upon a sister shore,The vulgarest tool that tyranny could want,With just enough of talent and no more,To lengthen fetters by another fixedAnd offer poison long already mixed.

An orator of such set trash of phrase,Ineffably, legitimately vile,That even its grossest flatterers dare not praise,Nor foes—all nations—condescend to smile.Not even a sprightly blunder’s spark can blazeFrom that Ixion grindstone’s ceaseless toil,That turns and turns to give the world a notionOf endless torments and perpetual motion.

A bungler even in its disgusting trade,And botching, patching, leaving still behindSomething of which its masters are afraid,States to be curbed and thoughts to be confined,Conspiracy or congress to be made,Cobbling at manacles for all mankind,A tinkering slave-maker, who mends old chains,With God and man’s abhorrence for its gains.

If we may judge of matter by the mind,Emasculated to the marrow, itHath but two objects, how to serve and bind,Deeming the chain it wears even men may fit,Eutropius of its many masters, blindTo worth as freedom, wisdom as to wit,Fearless, because no feeling dwells in ice;Its very courage stagnates to a vice.

Where shall I turn me not to view its bonds,For I will never feel them. Italy,Thy late reviving Roman soul despondsBeneath the lie this state-thing breathed o’er thee.Thy clanking chain and Erin’s yet green woundsHave voices, tongues to cry aloud for me.Europe has slaves, allies, kings, armies still,And Southey lives to sing them very ill.

Meantime, Sir Laureate, I proceed to dedicateIn honest simple verse this song to you.And if in flattering strains I do not predicate,’Tis that I still retain my buff and blue;My politics as yet are all to educate.Apostasy’s so fashionable too,To keep one creed’s a task grown quiteHerculean Is it not so, my Tory, ultra-Julian?

Words in this poem 42

laureate a.: Crowned, or decked, with laurel. [L. laureatus, fr. laurea laurel tree, fr. laureus of laurel, fr. laurus laurel: cf. F. lauréat. Cf. Laurel.]
tuneful a.: Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
simile n.: A word or phrase by which anything is likened, in one or more of its aspects, to something else; a similitude; a poetical or imaginative comparison. [L., from similis. See Similar.]
dainty n.: Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
disappointed a.: Defeated of expectation or hope; balked; as, a disappointed person or hope.
supersede v. t.: To come, or be placed, in the room of; to replace. [L. supersedere, supersessum, to sit above, be superior to, forbear, omit; super above + sedere to sit: cf. F. superséder. See Sit, and cf. Surcease.]
overstrain v. i.: To strain one's self to excess.
quarto a.: Having four leaves to the sheet; of the form or size of a quarto. [L. in quarto in fourth, from quartus the fourth: cf. F. (in) quarto. See Quart.]
babel n.: The city and tower in the land of Shinar, where the confusion of languages took place. [Heb. Babel, the name of the capital of Babylonia; in Genesis associated with the idea of "confusion"]
dint n.: A blow; a stroke. [OE. dint, dent, dunt, a blow, AS. dynt; akin to Icel. dyntr a dint, dynta to dint, and perh. to L. fendere (in composition). Cf. 1st Dent, Defend.]
deem v. t.: To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
poesy n.: The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
shabby a.: Torn or worn to rage; poor; mean; ragged. [See Shab, n., Scabby, and Scab.]
virtuous a.: Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
engross v. t.: To make gross, thick, or large; to thicken; to increase in bulk or quantity. [F., fr. pref. en- (L. in) + gros gross, grosse, n., an engrossed document: cf. OF. engrossir, engroissier, to make thick, large, or gross. See Gross.]
steed n.: A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
recollect v. t.: To recover or recall the knowledge of; to bring back to the mind or memory; to remember. [Pref. re- + collect: cf. L. recolligere, recollectum, to collect. Cf. Recollet.]
meed v. t.: To reward; to repay. Waytt.
reversion n.: The act of returning, or coming back; return. [F. réversion, L. reversio a turning back. See Revert.]
glorious a.: Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
rarity n.: The quality or state of being rare; rareness; thinness; as, the rarity (contrasted with the density) of gases. [L. raritas: cf. F. rareté. See Rare.]
miltonic a.: Of, pertaining to, or resembling, Milton, or his writings; as, Miltonic prose.
belie v. t.: To show to be false; to convict of, or charge with, falsehood. [OE. bilien, bili, AS. beleógan; pref. be- + leógan to lie. See Lie, n.]
sire n.: A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
hoar v. t.: To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
heartless a.: Without a heart.
adore v. t.: To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
placid a.: Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
miscreant n.: One who holds a false religious faith; a misbeliever. [OF. mescreant, F. mécréant; pref. mes- (L. minus less) + p. pr. fr. L. credere to believe. See Creed.]
erin n.: An early, and now a poetic, name of Ireland. [Ir. Cf. Aryan.]
carnage n.: Flesh of slain animals or men. [F. carnage, LL. carnaticum tribute of animals, flesh of animals, fr. L. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
pant v. i.: To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
ineffably adv.: In a manner not to be expressed in words; unspeakably.
legitimately adv.: In a legitimate manner; lawfully; genuinely.
condescend v. i.: To stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior. [F. condescendre, LL. condescendere, fr. L. con- + descendere. See Descend.]
ceaseless a.: Without pause or end; incessant.
bungler n.: A clumsy, awkward workman; one who bungles.
congress n.: A meeting of individuals, whether friendly or hostile; an encounter. [L. congressus, fr. congredi, p.p. -gressus, to go or come together; con- + grati to go or step, gradus step: cf. F. congr. See Grade.]
tinkering n.: The act or work of a tinker.
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
aloud adv.: With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
herculean a.: Requiring the strength of Hercules; hence, very great, difficult, or dangerous; as, an Herculean task. [L. herculeus, fr. Hercules: cf. F. herculéen. See Hercules.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Dedication is in the public domain. This text is taken from Don Juan, Project Gutenberg ebook #21700; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Lord Byron, Dedication, in Don Juan (1819–1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21700, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/don-juan/dedication.html, id L00001.

Form and metre

Dedication is 136 lines in 17 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABABCC, the Ottava rima. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 31 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in ottava rima, other poems in iambic pentameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 ABABABCC laureate^A · race^B · at^A · case^B · at^A · place^B · eye^C · pye^C
2 ABABABCC sing^A · good^B · king^A · food^B · wing^A · hood^B · nation^C · explanation^C
3 ABABABCC know^A · wish^B · below^A · dish^B · so^A · fish^B · high^C · bob^C
4 ABABABCC excursion^A · pages^B · version^A · sages^B · assertion^A · rages^B · able^C · babel^C
5 ABABABCC seclusion^A · own^B · fusion^A · grown^B · conclusion^A · alone^B · notion^C · ocean^C
6 ABABABCC thought^A · vice^B · brought^A · price^B · wrought^A · excise^B · still^C · hill^C
7 ABABABCC brows^A · go^B · boughs^A · below^B · allows^A · glow^B · try^C · posterity^C
8 ABABABCC muses^A · steed^B · chooses^A · need^B · loses^A · meed^B · days^C · praise^C
9 ABABABCC posterity^A · reversion^B · he^A · assertion^B · rarity^A · immersion^B · go^C · know^C
10 ABABABCC tongues^A · time^B · wrongs^A · sublime^B · songs^A · crime^B · son^C · begun^C
11 ABABABCC arise^A · more^B · prophecies^A · hoar^B · eyes^A · poor^B · obey^C · castlereagh^C
12 ABABABCC miscreant^A · gore^B · pant^A · shore^B · want^A · more^B · fixed^C · mixed^C
13 ABABABCC phrase^A · vile^B · praise^A · smile^B · blaze^A · toil^B · notion^C · motion^C
14 ABABABCC trade^A · behind^B · afraid^A · confined^B · made^A · mankind^B · chains^C · gains^C
15 ABABABCC mind^A · it^B · bind^A · fit^B · blind^A · wit^B · ice^C · vice^C
16 ABABABCC bonds^A · italy^B · desponds^A · thee^B · wounds^A · me^B · still^C · ill^C
17 ABABABCC dedicate^A · you^B · predicate^A · blue^B · educate^A · too^B · quite^C · julian^C

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Bob Southey! You’re a poet, poet laureate,	11	·····/˘/˘/˘
And representative of all the race.	10	··˘/˘˘····
Although ’tis true that you turned out a Tory at	12	·········/˘·
Last, yours has lately been a common case.	10	···/˘··/˘·
And now my epic renegade, what are ye at	12	···/˘/˘·····
With all the lakers, in and out of place?	10	···/˘·····
A nest of tuneful persons, to my eye	10	···/˘/˘···
Like four and twenty blackbirds in a pye,	10	···/˘/˘···
Which pye being opened they began to sing’	10	··//˘·˘/··
(This old song and new simile holds good),	9	·····/˘··
‘A dainty dish to set before the King’	10	·/˘·······
Or Regent, who admires such kind of food.	10	·/˘·˘/····
And Coleridge too has lately taken wing,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
But like a hawk encumbered with his hood,	10	····˘/˘···
Explaining metaphysics to the nation.	11	˘/˘·˘/˘··/˘
I wish he would explain his explanation.	11	····˘/··˘/˘
You, Bob, are rather insolent, you know,	10	···/˘/˘˘··
At being disappointed in your wish	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
To supersede all warblers here below,	10	··˘/·/˘···
And be the only blackbird in the dish.	10	···/˘/˘···
And then you overstrain yourself, or so,	10	······˘/··
And tumble downward like the flying fish	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Gasping on deck, because you soar too high,	10	/˘········
Bob, And fall for lack of moisture quite a dry Bob.	12	······/˘····
And Wordsworth in a rather long Excursion	11	·/˘··/˘·˘/˘
(I think the quarto holds five hundred pages)	11	···/˘··/˘/˘
Has given a sample from the vasty version	11	·/·/˘··/˘/˘
Of his new system to perplex the sages.	11	···/˘·˘/·/˘
’Tis poetry, at least by his assertion,	11	·/˘˘····˘/˘
And may appear so when the Dog Star rages,	11	··˘/·····/˘
And he who understands it would be able	11	····˘/···/˘
To add a story to the tower of Babel.	11	···/˘··/·/˘
You gentlemen, by dint of long seclusion	11	·/˘˘····˘/˘
From better company, have kept your own	10	·/˘/˘˘····
At Keswick, and through still continued fusion	11	·/····˘/˘/˘
Of one another’s minds at last have grown	10	··˘/˘·····
To deem, as a most logical conclusion,	11	·····/˘˘˘/˘
That poesy has wreaths for you alone.	10	·/˘˘····˘/
There is a narrowness in such a notion,	11	···/˘˘···/˘
Which makes me wish you’d change your lakes for ocean.	11	·········/˘
I would not imitate the petty thought,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Nor coin my self-love to so base a vice,	10	··········
For all the glory your conversion brought,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
Since gold alone should not have been its price.	10	··˘/······
You have your salary; was’t for that you wrought?	10	···/˘·····
And Wordsworth has his place in the Excise.	10	·/˘·····˘/
You’re shabby fellows—true—but poets still	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
And duly seated on the immortal hill.	11	·/˘/˘··˘/˘·
Your bays may hide the baldness of your brows,	10	·····/˘···
Perhaps some virtuous blushes; let them go.	10	˘/·/˘/˘···
To you I envy neither fruit nor boughs,	10	···/˘/˘···
And for the fame you would engross below,	10	······˘/··
The field is universal and allows	10	····˘/˘·˘/
Scope to all such as feel the inherent glow.	11	·······˘/˘·
Scott, Rogers, Campbell, Moore, and Crabbe will try	10	·/˘/˘·····
’Gainst you the question with posterity.	10	···/˘·˘/˘˘
For me, who, wandering with pedestrian Muses,	11	···/˘·˘/˘/˘
Contend not with you on the winged’ steed,	9	˘/·······
I wish your fate may yield ye, when she chooses,	11	·········/˘
The fame you envy and the skill you need.	10	···/˘·····
And recollect a poet nothing loses	11	··˘/·/˘/˘/˘
In giving to his brethren their full meed	10	·/˘··/˘···
Of merit, and complaint of present days	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
Is not the certain path to future praise.	10	···/˘··/˘·
He that reserves his laurels for posterity	11	··˘/·/˘·˘/˘
(Who does not often claim the bright reversion)	11	···/˘···˘/˘
Has generally no great crop to spare it, he	10	·/˘·······
Being only injured by his own assertion.	11	//˘/˘···˘/˘
And although here and there some glorious rarity	11	·······/˘/˘
Arise like Titan from the sea’s immersion,	11	˘/·/˘···˘/˘
The major part of such appellants go	10	·/˘·······
To—God knows where—for no one else can know.	10	··········
If fallen in evil days on evil tongues,	10	·/˘·/··/˘·
Milton appealed to the avenger, Time,	10	/˘˘/··˘/˘·
If Time, the avenger, execrates his wrongs	11	···˘/˘·····
And makes the word Miltonic mean sublime,	10	····˘/˘·˘/
He deigned not to belie his soul in songs,	10	····˘/····
Nor turn his very talent to a crime.	10	···/˘/˘···
He did not loathe the sire to laud the son,	10	·····/····
But closed the tyrant-hater he begun.	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Think’st thou, could he, the blind old man, arise	10	········˘/
Like Samuel from the grave to freeze once more	10	·/˘·······
The blood of monarchs with his prophecies,	10	···/···/˘˘
Or be alive again—again all hoar	10	··˘/˘/˘/··
With time and trials, and those helpless eyes	10	···/˘··/˘·
And heartless daughters—worn and pale and poor,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Would he adore a sultan? He obey	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
The intellectual eunuch Castlereagh?	10	··˘/˘/˘···
Cold-blooded, smooth-faced, placid miscreant!	10	·/˘··/˘/˘˘
Dabbling its sleek young hands in Erin’s gore,	10	/˘·····/˘·
And thus for wider carnage taught to pant,	10	···/˘/˘···
Transferred to gorge upon a sister shore,	10	˘/·····/˘·
The vulgarest tool that tyranny could want,	10	·/˘··/˘˘··
With just enough of talent and no more,	10	··˘/·/˘···
To lengthen fetters by another fixed	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
And offer poison long already mixed.	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
An orator of such set trash of phrase,	10	·/˘˘······
Ineffably, legitimately vile,	10	˘/˘˘˘/˘˘˘·
That even its grossest flatterers dare not praise,	11	·/·/˘······
Nor foes—all nations—condescend to smile.	10	···/˘·˘/··
Not even a sprightly blunder’s spark can blaze	10	·/·/˘/˘···
From that Ixion grindstone’s ceaseless toil,	10	··˘/˘/·/˘·
That turns and turns to give the world a notion	11	·········/˘
Of endless torments and perpetual motion.	11	·/˘/··˘/˘/˘
A bungler even in its disgusting trade,	10	·/˘/··˘/˘·
And botching, patching, leaving still behind	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Something of which its masters are afraid,	10	/˘···/˘·˘/
States to be curbed and thoughts to be confined,	10	········˘/
Conspiracy or congress to be made,	10	˘/˘˘·/˘···
Cobbling at manacles for all mankind,	10	/˘˘·····//
A tinkering slave-maker, who mends old chains,	10	·/˘·/˘····
With God and man’s abhorrence for its gains.	10	····˘/˘···
If we may judge of matter by the mind,	10	·····/˘···
Emasculated to the marrow, it	10	˘/˘·˘··/˘·
Hath but two objects, how to serve and bind,	10	···/˘·····
Deeming the chain it wears even men may fit,	10	/˘····/···
Eutropius of its many masters, blind	10	·····/˘/˘·
To worth as freedom, wisdom as to wit,	10	···/˘/˘···
Fearless, because no feeling dwells in ice;	10	/˘···/˘···
Its very courage stagnates to a vice.	10	·/˘/˘/····
Where shall I turn me not to view its bonds,	10	··········
For I will never feel them. Italy,	10	···/˘··/˘˘
Thy late reviving Roman soul desponds	10	··˘/˘/˘···
Beneath the lie this state-thing breathed o’er thee.	10	··········
Thy clanking chain and Erin’s yet green wounds	10	·/˘··/˘···
Have voices, tongues to cry aloud for me.	10	·/˘···˘/··
Europe has slaves, allies, kings, armies still,	10	/˘··/˘·/˘·
And Southey lives to sing them very ill.	10	·······/˘·
Meantime, Sir Laureate, I proceed to dedicate	12	/··/˘·˘/·/˘·
In honest simple verse this song to you.	10	·/˘/˘·····
And if in flattering strains I do not predicate,	12	···/˘····/˘·
’Tis that I still retain my buff and blue;	10	····˘/····
My politics as yet are all to educate.	12	·/˘······/˘·
Apostasy’s so fashionable too,	10	·····/˘˘˘·
To keep one creed’s a task grown quite	8	········
Herculean Is it not so, my Tory, ultra-Julian?	14	˘/˘·····/˘/˘/˘

On this poem

["As the Poem is to be published anonymously, omit the Dedication. I won't attack the dog in the dark. Such things are for scoundrels and renegadoes like himself" [Revise]. See, too, letter to Murray, May 6, 1819 (Letters, 1900, iv. 294); and Southey's letter to Bedford, July 31, 1819 (Selections from the Letters, etc., 1856, in. 137, 138). According to the editor of the Works of Lord Byron, 1833 (xv. 101), the existence of the Dedication "became notorious" in consequence of Hobhouse's article in the Westminster Review, 1824. He adds, for Southey's consolation and encouragement, that "for several years the verses have been selling in the streets as a broadside," and that "it would serve no purpose to exclude them on the present occasion." But Southey was not appeased. He tells Allan Cunningham (June 3, 1833) that "the new edition of Byron's works is ... one of the very worst symptoms of these bad times" (Life and Correspondence, 1850, vi. 217).]

Notes from the edition 12

Notes by Ernest Hartley Coleridge, The Works of Lord Byron, Poetry vol. VI (John Murray, 1903). Bracketed passages are the editor's; unbracketed are Byron's own or earlier editors'.

Stanza 2 [In the "Critique on Bertram," which Coleridge contributed to the Courier, in 1816, and republished in the Biographia Literaria, in 1817 (chap, xxiii.), he gives a detailed analysis of "the old Spanish play, entitled Atheista Fulminato [vide ante, the 'Introduction to Don Juan'] ... which under various names (Don Juan, the Libertine, etc.) has had its day of favour in every country throughout Europe ... Rank, fortune, wit, talent, acquired knowledge, and liberal accomplishments, with beauty of person, vigorous health, and constitutional hardihood,--all these advantages, elevated by the habits and sympathies of noble birth and national character, are supposed to have combined in Don Juan, so as to give him the means of carrying into all its practical consequences the doctrine of a godless nature, as the sole ground and efficient cause not only of all things, events, and appearances, but likewise of all our thoughts, sensations, impulses, and actions. Obedience to nature is the only virtue." It is possible that Byron traced his own lineaments in this too life-like portraiture, and at the same time conceived the possibility of a new Don Juan, "made up" after his own likeness. His extreme resentment at Coleridge's just, though unwise and uncalled-for, attack on Maturin stands in need of some explanation. See letter to Murray, September 17, 1817 (Letters, 1900, iv. 172).]
Stanza 3 ["Have you heard that Don Juan came over with a dedication to me, in which Lord Castlereagh and I (being hand in glove intimates) were coupled together for abuse as 'the two Roberts'? A fear of persecution (sic) from the one Robert is supposed to be the reason why it has been suppressed" (Southey to Rev. H. Hill, August 13, 1819, Selections from the Letters, etc., 1856, iii. 142). For "Quarrel between Byron and Southey," see Introduction to The Vision of Judgment, Poetical Works, 1901, iv. 475-480; and Letters, 1901, vi. 377-399 (Appendix I.).]
Stanza 4 [The reference must be to the detailed enumeration of "the powers requisite for the production of poetry," and the subsequent antithesis of Imagination and Fancy contained in the Preface to the collected Poems of William Wordsworth, published in 1815. In the Preface to the Excursion (1814) it is expressly stated that "it is not the author's intention formally to announce a system."]
Stanza 6 Wordsworth's place may be in the Customs--it is, I think, in that or the Excise--besides another at Lord Lonsdale's table, where this poetical charlatan and political parasite licks up the crumbs with a hardened alacrity; the converted Jacobin having long subsided into the clownish sycophant [despised retainer,--MS. erased] of the worst prejudices of the aristocracy.

[Wordsworth obtained his appointment as Distributor of Stamps for the county of Westmoreland in March, 1813, through Lord Lonsdale's "patronage" (see his letter, March 6, 1813). The Excursion was dedicated to Lord Lonsdale in a sonnet dated July 29, 1814--

"Oft through thy fair domains, illustrious Peer, In youth I roamed ... Now, by thy care befriended, I appear Before thee, Lonsdale, and this Work present." ]
Stanza 10 [Paradise Lost, vii. 25, 26.]
Stanza 11 "Pale, but not cadaverous:"--Milton's two elder daughters are said to have robbed him of his books, besides cheating and plaguing him in the economy of his house, etc., etc. His feelings on such an outrage, both as a parent and a scholar, must have been singularly painful. Hayley compares him to Lear. See part third, Life of Milton, by W. Hayley (or Hailey, as spelt in the edition before me).

[The Life of Milton, by William Hailey (sic), Esq., Basil, 1799, p. 186.]
Stanza 11 Or--

"Would he subside into a hackney Laureate-- A scribbling, self-sold, soul-hired, scorned Iscariot?"

I doubt if "Laureate" and "Iscariot" be good rhymes, but must say, as Ben Jonson did to Sylvester, who challenged him to rhyme with--

"I, John Sylvester, Lay with your sister."

Jonson answered--"I, Ben Jonson, lay with your wife." Sylvester answered,--"That is not rhyme."--"No," said Ben Jonson; "but it is true."

[For Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, see The Age of Bronze, line 538, Poetical Works, 1901, v. 568, note 2; and Letters, 1900, iv. 108, note 1.]
Stanza 15 For the character of Eutropius, the eunuch and minister at the court of Arcadius, see Gibbon, [Decline and Fall, 1825, ii. 307, 308].
Stanza 15 ["Mr. John Murray,--As publisher to the Admiralty and of various Government works, if the five stanzas concerning Castlereagh should risk your ears or the Navy List, you may omit them in the publication--in that case the two last lines of stanza 10 [i.e. 11] must end with the couplet (lines 7, 8) inscribed in the margin. The stanzas on Castlerighi (as the Italians call him) are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15."--MS. M.]
Stanza 16 [Commenting on a "pathetic sentiment" of Leoni, the author of the Italian translation of Childe Harold ("Sciagurata condizione di questa mia patria!"), Byron affirms that the Italians execrated Castlereagh "as the cause, by the conduct of the English at Genoa." "Surely," he exclaims, "that man will not die in his bed: there is no spot of the earth where his name is not a hissing and a curse. Imagine what must be the man's talent for Odium, who has contrived to spread his infamy like a pestilence from Ireland to Italy, and to make his name an execration in all languages."--Letter to Murray, May 8, 1820, Letters, 1901, v. 22, note 1.]
Stanza 17 [Charles James Fox and the Whig Club of his time adopted a uniform of blue and buff. Hence the livery of the Edinburgh Review.]
Stanza 17 I allude not to our friend Landor's hero, the traitor Count Julian, but to Gibbon's hero, vulgarly yclept "The Apostate."

DON JUAN

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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