Byron: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Lord George Gordon Byron (Author), George Gordon (Author), Susan J. Wolfson (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: July 1, 1996

A selection of Lord Byron's poetry.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) gained a reputation for his good looks and extravagant behavior and became instantly famous when his poems were first published.

Susan J. Wolfson is professor of English at Princeton University.

Peter J. Manning is chair and professor of English at SUNY Stony Brook. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140423818
• ISBN-13: 978-0140423815
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,181,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Byron at his best . . ., September 30, 2006

By 

Angerburg - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

A legend in his own lifetime, Lord Byron stamped contemporary Western culture with the mark of his dark imagination, and his poetry has lost none of its iconoclastic power today. Without a doubt, this is the finest single-volume edition of Byron currently available. By omitting the rambling satirical romp "Don Juan" (widely available separately), editors Wolfson and Manning leave themselves enough space to provide a truly representative selection of Byron's greatest works. Jerome McGann's "Oxford Authors" volume is a strong competitor, and benefits from superior notes, but only this Penguin collection offers unabridged texts of the three Oriental Tales with which Byron followed "The Giaour"--"The Bride of Abydos," "The Corsair," and "Lara"--all of which are thrilling narratives, and indispensable for tracing the development of that towering figure of English Romanticism, the Byronic Hero. Thus, this edition presents (for the first time in one volume) a complete portrait of the Byronic Hero in his many guises, from vampire ("The Giaour") to pirate ("The Corsair") to necromancer ("Manfred") to fallen angel ("Cain"). Furthermore, Wolfson and Manning supply the complete text of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (the work that established Byron's reputation in his own lifetime), along with many other rousing verse romances, including "The Siege of Corinth," "The Prisoner of Chillon," and "Mazeppa," as well as a generous selection of Byron's most arresting shorter poems, such as "The Destruction of Sennacherib," "Promethus," and the nightmarish, end-of-the-world fantasy, "Darkness." Fans of Byron's ironic mode will welcome the inclusion of three of his satirical works; however, the strength of this volume rests on the fact that it presents Byron at his most Byronic. These are his most sublime creations--the works that defined the Romantic movement--and to read them is to discover anew why he is still ranked, throughout the world, as the greatest English-language writer after Shakespeare.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BYRON AT HIS BEST . . ., April 10, 2000

By 

Angerburg - See all my reviews

This review is from: Byron: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

A legend in his own lifetime, Lord Byron stamped contemporary Western culture with the mark of his dark imagination, and his poetry has lost none of its iconoclastic power today. Without a doubt, this is the finest single-volume edition of Byron currently available. By omitting the rambling satirical romp "Don Juan" (widely available separately), editors Wolfson and Manning leave themselves enough space to provide a truly representative selection of Byron's greatest works. Jerome McGann's "Oxford Authors" volume is a strong competitor, and benefits from superior notes, but only this Penguin collection offers unabridged texts of the three Oriental Tales with which Byron followed "The Giaour"--"The Bride of Abydos," "The Corsair," and "Lara"--all of which are thrilling narratives, and indispensable for tracing the development of that towering figure of English Romanticism, the Byronic Hero. Thus, this edition presents (for the first time in one volume) a complete portrait of the Byronic Hero in his many guises, from vampire ("The Giaour") to pirate ("The Corsair") to necromancer ("Manfred") to fallen angel ("Cain"). Furthermore, Wolfson and Manning supply the complete text of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (the work that established Byron's reputation in his own lifetime), along with many other rousing verse romances, including "The Siege of Corinth," "The Prisoner of Chillon," and "Mazeppa," as well as a generous selection of Byron's most arresting shorter poems, such as "The Destruction of Sennacherib," "Promethus," and the nightmarish, end-of-the-world fantasy, "Darkness." Fans of Byron's ironic mode will welcome the inclusion of three of his satirical works; however, the strength of this volume rests on the fact that it presents Byron at his most Byronic. These are his most sublime creations-the works that defined the Romantic movement--and to read them is to discover anew why he is still ranked, throughout the world, as the greatest English-language writer after Shakespeare.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Byron is my favorite poet, October 4, 2009

By 

Hui Tzu Lin "Purple eyes" (Taipei City, Taiwan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I had read Byron's poetry in Chinese translation and, through those beautiful verses, had been affected by his profound emotion, After reading many of his masterpieces, I tried to feel and appreciate his poems directly without the aid of translation, and this one was chosen under my prudent consideration.