ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Don Juan is written from the first-person perspective of a narrator who is a thinly veiled disguise for Lord Byron himself. Byron is a charming, entertaining figure who is happy to distract himself with feuds, politics, poetry, and his personal opinions.

Detailed explanation-2: -Don Juan is not really the hero of Byron’s poem: rather, the key character is the poem’s narrator. He has a very distinctive voice, presenting himself as cynical and world-weary. Frequently he digresses from the storyline. This is a chatty, urbane aristocrat, whose satirical views sound remarkably like Byron’s own!

Detailed explanation-3: -The narrator alone has the power to keep Don Juan alive. In addition, the narrator is really the personality of the poem. We are told Don Juan’s actions, but is the narrator that flavors it. It is interesting that Lord Byron decided to include the narrator so prominently; but definitely to the poem’s advantage.

Detailed explanation-4: -Dedication to Robert Southey Lord Byron dedicated Don Juan (1819–1824) to Robert Southey, his artistic rival and the Poet Laureate of Britain (1813–1843).

Detailed explanation-5: -The young novice Ines chastely falls in love with Don Juan, then dies after he abandons her. Don Juan later kills her father, Don Gonzalo.