Don Juan (Canto 5) - Lord Byron
Courtly Entanglements and Satirical Foils in a Gilded Setting
Original Poem (English), selected stanzas (due to length):
Note: Lord Byron’s Don Juan is an extensive, multi-canto satirical poem. Canto 5, published in 1821, continues Don Juan’s wanderings and presents new intrigues in aristocratic environments. Below are several representative stanzas. For a complete version, consult a definitive scholarly edition.
Stanza 1
Thus onward with our tale: Don Juan’s fate
Still twines with fleeting joys and passing woe;
He stands, half dazzled by a courtly gate,
Unsure if he should stay, or swiftly go.
Yet fortune, fickle ever, ne’er abates
Her chase, and all the world’s a show,
Where lords and ladies, graceful in their guile,
May greet our wandering youth with artful smile.
Stanza 12
From love to war, from war to love again—
Such is the pivot of his pilgrim’s dance;
The host of cameoed faces wax and wane,
While Byron’s rhymes skip lightly o’er romance.
Yet sometimes in the laughter there is pain,
A double edge that pricks at every chance:
For hearts that once were bruised can seldom heal
Without a scornful jest, half meant to steel.
Stanza 49
Let moralists with frowns condemn the boy
Who stumbles on delight in every court;
Our poet winks, for life is but a toy,
And verse a pastime promising support.
Juan, for all his faults, remains our envoy
Through pompous halls and hunts of sly import:
In ladies’ whispers, in the banquet’s gleam,
He courts both fancy and the unspoken scheme.
Stanza 88
Perhaps the name of virtue hovers here,
But Byron’s lens reveals it half askew;
Ambition dressed as modesty, sincere
In outward grace, yet cunning in its view.
Juan, enthralled, will flirt, then disappear,
And leave the stage for others to pursue
The endless labyrinth of dalliance sweet,
A dance of pride and passion none complete.
(…Canto 5 proceeds, with Byron interjecting his trademark asides, mocking social pretenses and hinting at further misadventures…)
In Canto 5 of Don Juan, Lord Byron continues to trace the escapades of his restless protagonist, now navigating the glittering—and sometimes perilous—milieu of aristocratic society. The settings, while grand, serve chiefly as a canvas for Byron’s witty observations on courtly pretensions, romantic entanglements, and the masks people wear to maintain social decorum.
Byron continues to employ ottava rima stanzas, weaving teasing humor into nearly every turn. His narrator, often stepping out of the story to address the reader, wryly comments on the follies of the high-born and their performative virtues. While Don Juan seeks pleasure and perhaps a measure of belonging, the poem highlights his essential innocence—or at least his lack of guile. In a realm of carefully orchestrated appearances, his sincerity (however flawed) reveals how artifice underpins so many ‘civilized’ interactions.
Canto 5 also underscores Byron’s signature combination of breezy satire and sudden reflection. Lighthearted banter about flirtations can pivot to a sober aside on betrayal or heartbreak. The poet maintains that moralists might decry Juan’s behavior, but the very society they champion is rife with duplicity. Byron thus positions Don Juan as both a mirror of the world’s caprices and a foil exposing the hypocrisy lurking beneath polished surfaces. (Approx. 220 words)
Key points
1. In Canto 5, Don Juan explores the intrigues of aristocratic life, encountering refined facades and veiled motives.
2. Byron’s ottava rima stanzas maintain a playful, ironic tone while critiquing social conventions.
3. The poem presents Don Juan as simultaneously naive and adaptive, a curious wanderer of worldly courts.
4. Byron’s satirical edge targets the moral pretenses of the well-to-do, who often practice the ‘vice’ they publicly scorn.
5. This canto prepares the ground for future misadventures, reaffirming Don Juan’s role as an unwitting observer of society’s paradoxes.