'I mean to show things really as they are, not as they ought to be'. wrote Byron (1788-1824)in his comic masterpiece Don Juan, which follows the adventures of the hero across the Europe and near East which Byron knew so well, touching on the major political, cultural and social concerns of the day.

This selection includes all of that poem, and selections from a wide range of Byron's work, including lyrics, the Tales, extracts from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and the satirical poems English Bards and Scotch Reviewers and A Vision of Judgement. Paul Wright's detailed introductions place Byron's colourful life and work within their broader social and political contexts, and demonstrate that Byron both fostered and critiqued the notorious 'Byronic myth' of heroic adventure, political action and sexual scandal.

General Introduction

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE & DON JUAN

Introduction to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

and Don Juan

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage - extracts

Notes to extracts from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Don Juan - the complete text

Notes to Don Juan

TALES

Introduction to the Tales

The Giaour

Notes to The Gaiour

The Corsair

Notes to The Corsair

SATIRES

Introduction to the Satires

English Bards and Scotch Reviewers

Notes to English Bards and Scotch Reviewers

The Vision of Judgement

Notes to The Vision of Judgment

LYRICS AND SHORTER POEMS

Introduction to the Lyrics and Shorter Poems

To Caroline (1)

To Caroline (2)

To Caroline (3)

Lachin Y Gair

Darkness

To Thyrza

The Cornelian

When We Two Parted

Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos

On this Day I Complete, my Thirty Sixth Year

Notes to the Lyrics and Shorter Poems

Glossary

Index of first lines