LORD BYRON to not invent anything new, its all about rules, all about what is already established.
to not invent anything new, its all about rules, all about what is already established. Byron was like
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (2) (Byron 1 week 2 vjezbe)
Don Juan
Today we will continue with the poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and our discussion of the Byronic
hero. So far the only Byronic hero we had the chance to know is Childe Harold but today we will also
get to know yet another quite similar but at times very different Byronic hero called Don Juan. There
are many similarities that we will see at the very beginning, most importantly how Lord Byron actually
projected himself in his Byronic hero, and this is one of last Byronic heroes that he actually created. We
will see different approaches in terms of projecting himself when it comes to Don Juan in comparison
to Childe Harold. Some differences are very obvious and other deep into very analysis of these two
poems Childe Harolds Pilgrimage and Don Juan. Primarily we have that difference in tone. Childe
Harolds Pilgrimage is pretty serious, at times pretty pathetic not in a bad way necessarily, as we saw
yesterday this particular hero is showing some serious emotions when nobody else can see how he
would actually often cry but never would allow others to see those tears and how after all there was this
one that he was genuinely in love with but that one could never be his. Generally it has a very serious
tone. However, Don Juan is something completely different, different as a poem, different in terms of
style because it adopts something that is very much less serious than Chide Harolds Pilgrimage. I
wanted to stick to that duality that we addressed yesterday while introducing Lord Byron. He was
neither this nor that. He was a very paradoxical figure, and so I decided to give you this subtitle, a
serious ridicule of some sort, to retain that oxymoronic touch in Lord Byrons poetry, in his life, in his
heroes in general. And like Lord Byron, like Childe Harold Don Juan is also neither here nor there as a
poem but also as a hero. It is always about these conflicting features, these conflicting characteristics
that we need to recognize while discussing this poem.
First things first, lets go back to that overview of Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, and those particular
ideas when it comes to dual quality of the poem in terms of conventions we need to observe. If you
recall, I highlighted the fact that Childe Harolds Pilgrimage is called a romance in its very title. So this
is really the way in which Byron envisioned this entire piece. Obviously when it comes to Lord Byron
it can never be just a romance, it was a typical Byronic romance that really clearly displayed this
mixture of conventions and originality. When it comes to typical conventions of every romance Byron
really offered us formal conventions, so like the jar was there but what he poured into that jar was and
original recipe.
In terms of conventions we have something that is actually given in the very title Childe Harolds
Pilgrimage; every romance has this element of some sort of a journey, rite of passage, a quest, and
again we dont need to go too far to remember sir Gawains journey, to remember Redcrosses journey.
Another element that every romance has was a young nobleman that needs to undergo the rite of
passage and Byron obviously faithfully stuck to that rule. He introduced a young nobleman Childe
Harold who was supposed to perform that journey. Another conventional element that we saw is the
Spenserian stanza that was also faithfully used throughout the poem. He never really departed from that
particular rule. No wonder that Byron is frequently seen as a neo-classicist among the romantics. He
was someone who did appreciate ancient role models, not only ancient role models in terms of ancient
Greek and Roman but also some older predecessors like Alexander Pope, John Milton. He stuck to
certain rules just like neo-classicists did, like Alexander Pope advises to follow different sets of rules,
that in some aspects but as we know he was very original in other.
When we read the title, when we think about the meaning of pilgrimage we have different kinds of
associations. Its primarily religious/spiritual we think of Margery Kemps spiritual journeys and
pilgrimages. Child Harold has obviously nothing to do with such journeys and spiritual world. His
pilgrimages are primarily secular, even profane and as w recall from the documentary I showed you
yesterday about Byron, his journey, his pilgrimage was primarily sexual. Childe Harold is not like that
either, but travelling around Europe and thinking about freedom and thinking about all those wars that
were taking place around Europe at the time was a way for childe Harold to grow. Freedom is the most
important thing in human life and to lord Byron this is the way to grow- to Childe Harold as well.
When it comes to our new type of hero, or Byrons new type of hero, the young man introduced in the
poem is far from idealized typical heroic character we normally have in romance. All those quotes that
I gave yesterday from the very beginning of Childe Harolds Pilgrimage clearly show him to be
completely different.
Don Juan is no different because it also falls somewhere in between. It is neither fully conventional nor
fully original. There are obviously certain conventions that Byron observes and he is pretty faithful in
terms of that, but also a great deal of originality is introduced. When it comes to Don Juan it is
supposed to be a different type of poem - Childe Harolds Pilgrimage is called a romance by Lord
Byron whereas he decided to call Don Juan an epic. And it does really have similar features to the ones
that we came across in the romance but obviously in an epic poem heroes are even more idealized, they
are even less human than those in romances because they are all super good, and super strong and super
ideal in every aspect.
Definition of an epic: Epic is a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more
legendary heroes in a grand ceremonious style. If we observe the elements that are given in just one
sentence about the epic you will figure out the features of every epic ever written. First of all, there has
to be a hero, there has to be some sort of an epic length (you will also find critics calling Childe
Harolds Pilgrimage an epic because of its length, because it is huge, big enough to be considered an
epic poem) and finally the style is supposed to be grand. But when it comes to Byron nothing is just an
epic or just a romance or just a lyric poem, it always has to have this modifier Byronic. So, Don Juan
is not really an epic, it is primarily a Byronic epic which again takes us to that clash, that opposition
that we always need to keep in mind when it comes to everything Byronic the Byronic hero, Byronic
romance/epic, Byron himself, and that is the clash between conventions and originality. There are
pretty conventional elements and there are pretty original elements that we are going to identify.
Those elements are primarily going to be related to poems narrative, to its style and to the hero from
the title, or the main character Don Juan. We will try and see to what extent Don Juan may be a suitable
hero for an epic poem of any kind if Don Juan is actually a hero at all, or whether there is something
that we need to observe in order to make sense of Lord Byrons use of this particular figure in this
poem. You will also notice that the pronunciation of the name of the main character which also has its
purpose ( Byron rhymes Don Juan with one).
Lets take a look at how the poem starts, the opening stanzas of CANTO I
 I WANT a hero: an uncommon want,
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one;
Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,
I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan--
We all have seen him, in the pantomime,[15]
Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time.
What does he do here? To start a poem with I want a hero, is that something strange? Think of
conventions, think of the best known convention for example Beowulf and the way it starts in
comparison to this Byronic epic that starts this way, by saying I want a hero. The way he phrased it is
just right, it is all about a wish, its not really just about a need, and he doesnt say I need a hero but I
want a hero. Its not that there are no other heroes out there but he just wants a different one, a good
one. He wants it, he wants to create it. The voice that is present here (I want) ,the very poem starts with
an I. Imagine that happening in Beowulf. It would be impossible because there is no I in epic tales,
there is no subjectivity in epic tales and there are no wishes, personal wishes, individual wishes. That
just never happens. And if you just observe it on a syntactic level I want a hero SVO, subject and
object work together. Who is important in that sentence, well both, because its not just about what I
want but also about me, I am the one that wants something and it is different from She wants a hero or
You want a hero. So, here again, that distinction is very important. I want a hero, it is my wish that is
important and it is important what kind of a hero I will have. And I will determine what my hero will
be like, or who my hero is. Its all about my personal choice.
What he does here when it comes to conventions and originality, obviously no epic poem can work
without a hero, there is no such thing, he is like I will use that convention but I will do something
original, I will chose my hero. What is the problem? Why does he want a hero? Why does he talk
about those heroes that are not true? It is a strange and uncommon want . If you open the newspapers
you will see loads and loads of heroes, but the problem with all of them is that they are temporary,
they come and go. With time everyone comes to realize that the particular hero is not good enough and
they move on to another one. This is a great comment on the new culture developing at the time, the
culture that we are all witnessing, and this is the relevance of Lord Byron even today. Newspapers, the
media, they create new heroes every day but they are not heroes anymore, they dont last, Today its the
Kardashians, and who knows who will be the new hero in for example the 2020s. And Byron does that
here, he wants someone who is heroic enough. Its not about him being bored, he observes people
around him and sees no one worthy of the heroic title, no lasting heroes.
We all have seen him, in the pantomime,[15]
Sent to the Devil somewhat ere his time.
The very stanza structure is different from that in Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, in this poem he doesnt
use the Spenserian stanza, this is a different kind of stanza but nothing new, he respects tradition so he
uses ottava rima, eight line rhyme (abababcc). There are a number of formal constraints that Byron had
to observe, there is no such thing to him as the organic form. This time he used a different type of
stanza because the style if the poem was completely different. Its not serious, it is very satirical, a
satirical style that he develops.
Look what he does, in the first six lines, he sort of talks about a serious thing, I have a problem, I want
a hero and my problem is that this age in which I live does not offer me heroes that are good enough,
they arent significant enough to be heroes. If I cover the last two lines, it all does appear to be pretty
serious. And he says I want a Don Juan. Why him of all the possible heroes? And then in the last two
lines he gives us some kind of an explanation, he lets us know where don Juan comes from, and
everything serious that he builds in the first lines sort of gets deflated in this final couplet. This is
actually yet another rule of the ottava rima because it combines serious and funny. Obviously here we
have the same duality that weve learned is very specific for Byron. Here we have two tones, serious
and funny/ satirical/insignificant, constantly mixed. The fact that this new hero is present in pantomime
and because of his behaviour and his anti heroic qualities he gets sent to the Devil before his time.
Ottava rima is primarily used in so called mock heroic epics, it combines the serious and funny, and it
combines something important with something completely insignificant. Dont confuse pantomime the
way we know it (the charades) with the way Byron uses it because pantomime is a theatrical
entertainment for children based on fairy tale, involves other elements like singing, dancing etc. But
one thing that is very important here is that playing of the heros part is done by a woman. So, a hero is
performed by a woman wearing a mask of that hero. Why is this so important? Because of that gender
confusion that we have with lord Byron. Its something that contributes even more to this whole idea of
what a hero should be, and what a hero should be like. Is a hero necessarily a super man, or can a hero
be something less than a man? And we will see how that gets developed by Lord Byron.
So, now that we know that our hero Don Juan is picked from childrens plays how significant is that
really? And also our hero is normally played by a woman wearing a mask or makeup to convince us
that our hero is really a man. Think, this is very anti heroic. Don Juan played by a woman in a
childrens play - there are so many generals out there and he goes on saying:
Vernon,[16] the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke,
Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppel, Howe,
Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk,
And filled their sign-posts then, like Wellesley now;
Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk,
Followers of Fame, "nine farrow"[17] of that sow:
France, too, had Buonapart[18] and Dumourier[19]
Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier.
There are so many important figures; there are so many princes, generals, soldiers, all sorts of
important figures, still my choice is this a guy from the pantomime. What has he done to be a hero?
Why him? What makes him a typical Byronic choice? Satan is also like that, Cain, so what makes Don
Juan a typical Byronic hero? Do you recognize any typical Byronic traits? He is actually the best
example of a modern lover. One clear distinction or the most obvious distinction between Don Juan and
other heroes listed here is that Don Juan never actually existed. He is a true legend, and a fictional
character. So unlike those (prince Ferdinand, Bonaparte etc) Don Juan is actually someone that never
existed. He is listed as one of the most influential characters that never existed/lived. He is on the 40 th
place.
*cita iz nekakve knjige: Don Juan, markiz od Viljeme, zapovjednik viteskog reda od Santijaga poznat
je kao Don Juan zavodnik iz Sevilje i jako je pokvaren covjek. Pazite da ga ne pomjesate sa
Kazanovom (talijanski pustolov koji je doista postojaoi bio poznat po zavodjenju zena..). Don Juan,
mitski lik koji se pojavljuje po spanjolskim narodnim pricama u 17om stoljecu postao je moderni tip
ljubavnika. U doba kad je ta legenda nastala i ucvrstila se aristokratksi brakovi su se ugovarali iz
politickih i financijskih razloga. Seksualno se zadovoljstvo obicno trazilo preljubom. U tom smislu
legenda o Don Juanu imala je vaznu ulogu u spanjolskom drustvu. Svojim ljubavnim avanturama on je
preljubu cinio drustveno prihvatljivom pa se takvo ponasanje pocelo cak i velicati. U modernom
drustvu avanture Don Juana jos uvijek su nesto sto prizeljkuje svaki muskarac a i poneka zena.
Medjutim moramo ispraviti misljenje da je taj glasoviti i utjecajni lik bio ljubavnik. Bio je nitko ko je
sebi pripisivao vise od tisucu osvajanja ali nikada nije bio zaljubljen ni u koga osim u sebe.

Among all this seriousness Byron just says, lets choose this character who doesnt mean anything, who
we know from pantomime, who is taken to devil, and everything about this seems to be quite random.
He starts with I want a hero and towards the end he chooses this anti- hero. But why Don Juan seems
to be the perfect choice? Because, like Lord Byron himself, like all of his other heroes, he asked these
big questions about social norms and social institutions. Like Lord Byron, Don Juan was a home
wrecker, he would go around and seduce married women, he would have loads of illegitimate children.
Everything seems to be so insignificant, but the serious question Lord Byron asks is what is
marriage?. Is that a sacred standard that we should all obey? Who says that we should? Are there any
real standards?

He had a relationship with his sister, and all that scandal about incest relationships was just another
chance for him to ask another question who says I cant? And thats why Don Juan seems to be the
perfect choice. Don Juan will ask the same questions. What is marriage to us, why would we worship
that institution? Why should he not choose a hero that thinks like him and try to change some rules,
some norms, standards of everyday life? So Byron found someone to project on himself.

*NOTE: nothing he read from that book can be taken as truth because Byron cannot be confined to
such limitations and categories.