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Title: Don Juan (Penguin Classics) by George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, T. G. Steffan, E. Steffan ISBN: 0-14-042216-1 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: July, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Missing the Boat
Comment: I'm writing this to specifically respond to the remarks made by another reviewer condemning Byron for forced rhymes, self-conscious commentary, and the lack of a good finish.
WARNING: This poem is intended to be funny! Byron delighted in using the jangly sounds of feminine rhymes in the most outlandish fashion possible, and his digressions are what truly make this poem enjoyable; that voice is the center of the poem, not Don Juan's actions. As for the lack of a finish, I think I'll excuse any poet who dies mid-composition while training troops in the war for Greek independence.
I'm sorry to say it, but if you're looking for this poem to be a serious narrative in the traditional epic manner, you're bound to miss the boat. This poem is *designed* to be hilarious, and as far as that is concerned, it succeeds.
Rating: 5
Summary: Magnificent, accessible, hilarious
Comment: This has to be the longest poem I've ever finished, and yet it still wasn't long enough. It's compulsively entertaining, touching, funny, exciting, and life-affirming. You don't have to be an academic to appreciate it. And even if you don't finish it, you'll appreciate what you do finish for its own sake.
Rating: 2
Summary: I Think I Owe My Mother-In-Law a Big Apology
Comment: You know the poetry. The kind the older generation uses for birthdays and farewell luncheons ("We hope that God will bless// You with good health and happiness!"). You hate it, the forced rhymes and imperfect metrical structure (indeed, what metrical structure?). My mother-in-law used to write like that - volumes and volumes of such tripe. Sadly, she has departed from us, but not before leaving tons of this stuff all over the house, and a half-finished vanity press run of 100 copies (anybody want one?).
Now I know where she got the impetus for such poetry - Lord Byron! All of that generation's worst excesses of bad poetry come from Byron, I think. Embarrassingly forced rhymes, self-conscious commentary that frustratingly impedes the flow of the narrative, arch cuteness that threatens one's sanity - all there!! And he couldn't even finish it off properly.
Truly, a work only an academic could love - or find any value in. If you are attracted to this book, protect yourself: Try reading it aloud and making a stop at the end of every line (sing-song-like) so you can at least get the sense of the rhymes. I found the Penguin edition serviceable (as Penguins usually are). And don't bother with the footnotes, just let it flow. Now stop being so hard on the older generation.
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Title:Don Juan DeMarco ASIN: 0780621611 Publisher: New Line Studios Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $9.97 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $8.97 |
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Title: Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850 (Norton Critical Edition) by William Wordsworth, Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, Stephen Charles Gill ISBN: 039309071X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 1980 List Price(USD): $20.60 |
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Title: Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw, Dan H. Laurence, George Bernard Shaw, Stanley Weintraub ISBN: 0140437886 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by Jerome J. McGann, Lord Byron George Gordon ISBN: 0192840401 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Poems of Charlotte Smith (Women Writers in English 1350-1850) by Charlotte Smith, Stuart Curran ISBN: 019508358X Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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