# Don Juan — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Don Juan by Lord Byron.

- [Preface to Cantos VI, VII, and VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/preface-to-cantos-vi-vii-and-viii.md): Byron defends his depiction of the Siege of Ismail, noting that some incidents attributed to Don Juan actually occurred, such as saving an infant (based on the Duc de Richelieu). He attacks the late Marquis of Londonderr
- [Epigraph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/epigraph.md): The epigraph juxtaposes Horace's advice on the difficulty of treating common subjects with originality against Shakespeare's assertion that virtue does not eliminate life's simple pleasures, setting a tone of ironic defi
- [Fragment on the Back of the MS. of Canto I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/fragment-on-the-back-of-the-ms-of-canto-i.md): A brief, drunken meditation on the desire to escape the burdens of past and future, written in a state of intoxication.
- [Dedication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/dedication.md): Byron dedicates his poem to Robert Southey, the Poet Laureate, launching a scathing satirical attack on Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other Lake Poets for their political apostasy and literary pretensions. He also 
- [Don Juan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/don-juan.md): The opening of Byron's satirical epic introduces the hero's birth and parentage, focusing on the contrasting characters of his parents, Don José and Donna Inez, and setting the stage for his early education and the hypoc

> 18 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=don_juan_se_1025kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [Canto I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-i.md)
- [Canto II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-ii.md)
- [Canto III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-iii.md)
- [Canto IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-iv.md)
- [Canto V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-v.md)
- [Canto VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-vi.md)
- [Canto VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-vii.md)
- [Canto VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-viii.md)
- [Canto IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-ix.md)
- [Canto X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-x.md)
- [Canto XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xi.md)
- [Canto XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xii.md)
- [Canto XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xiii.md)
- [Canto XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xiv.md)
- [Canto XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xv.md)
- [Canto XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xvi.md)
- [Canto XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-xvii.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_juan_se/chapters