Byron and the Forms of Thought

Much has been written recently on Byron as a philosopher, but Byron and the Forms of Thought is the first to thoroughly consider Byron’s philosophical projects via his poetry. Anthony Howe explores Byron’s poetry as a project with its own philosophical agency, arguing that readers and thinkers cannot understand Byron’s intellectual force without an acute awareness of his poetic trajectory and, as such, without close critical readings of his poems. Howe revaluates many of Byron’s core qualities, including his skepticism and the problems he encountered as a literary critic, closing with a provocative rereading of his epic poem Don Juan—not as satire, but as a new realization of visionary poetics. A must-read for any fan of Byron, this book is also a remarkable example of how to navigate the intersections between poetry and philosophy.