ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -In English literature, Don Juan, written from 1819 to 1824 by the English poet Lord Byron, is a satirical, epic poem which portrays the Spanish folk legend of Don Juan, not as a womaniser as the character is historically portrayed, but as a victim easily seduced by women.

Detailed explanation-2: -Lord Byron was a British Romantic poet and satirist whose poetry and personality captured the imagination of Europe. Although made famous by the autobiographical poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–18)-and his many love affairs-he is perhaps better known today for the satiric realism of Don Juan (1819–24).

Detailed explanation-3: -Earliest written version The first written version of the Don Juan story was a play, El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest), published in Spain around 1630 by Tirso de Molina (pen name of Gabriel Téllez).

Detailed explanation-4: -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!