Don Juan

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. As genre literature, Don Juan is an epic poem, written in ottava rima and presented in sixteen cantos. Lord Byron derived the character of Don Juan from traditional Spanish folk legends, however the story was very much his own. Upon publication in 1819, cantos I and II were widely criticized as immoral because Byron had so freely ridiculed the social subjects and public figures of his time. At his death in 1824, Lord Byron had completed sixteen of seventeen cantos, whilst canto XVII remained unfinished.