In this rambling, exuberant, conversational poem, the travels of Don Juan are used as a vehicle for some of the most lively and acute commentaries on human societies and behaviour in the language. The manner is what Goethe called ‘a cultured comic language’ – a genre which he regarded as not possible in German and which he felt Byron managed superbly.

This edition is itself a significant contribution to Byron scholarship. The editors have been able to draw on their authoritative edition of the poem published by the University of Texas Press. The extensive annotation covers points of difficulty, selected variant readings and a mass of information on the historical allusions which Byron wove into the poem.