Don Juan is an epic poem composed by the great Romantic poet Lord Byron. Its protagonist is a young Spanish nobleman by the same name whose life is the subject of the poem’s ten cantos. The poem begins with Juan’s birth and his adoption by his friend, the libertine, Donna Julia. Juan is subsequently enrolled in a military academy, falls in love with a nun, and elopes with her due to her father’s disapproval. After a brief stay in Gibraltar, the moral consequences of Juan’s elopement force him to flee the country on a ship, The Canon. During his travels, the ship runs aground in Turkey and Juan’s journey takes a supernatural twist, as he is enslaved by an aging pacha. Juan’s nightmarish days in Gulbeyaz’s court prove to be valuable lessons in life as he learns the values of moderation, meeting a young woman, Haidee, to whom he is distressingly attracted. His works in the pacha’s court eventually lead to his escape and his return to Europe, where he is reunited with Julia. Unbeknownst to Juan and Julia, however, they have a child, Haidée, who has been kidnapped by the pacha. Don Juan eventually starts sailing again and has a strange encounter with Ulysses in the fourth Canto. Having been exiled from his homeland, Ulysses laid out his long journey home which parallels his feelings and experiences of home. Ulysses’ warnings of a dark future, however, force Juan to leave the ship and find his destiny elsewhere. Having missed the boat, Juan hits up the port of Spain and meets Lord Alfonso, a man whose life mirrors his own downfall. Alfonso regains his power thanks to Don Juan and the two of them end Part One back in their familiar lands. In Part Two, Don Juan embarks on a series of misadventures across Europe. He visits Russia and converses with Father Paul, meets a seemingly immortal English lady in England, and tours the political scenes of Italy, Austria, and France. After his brush with death at the Court of London, Juan falls in love again with a beautiful young Countess and is about to marry her when his beloved Haidée appears in Part Three. Thrilled with joy at her reunion with her father, Haidée complicates Don Juan’s life with her intense attachment to him. Eventually, the couple returns to Ithaca and it is there that Juan finds domestic peace and stability. In Part Four, Juan returns to Spain and comforted by his newfound devotion, finally comes to terms with his past. Don Juan is a powerful satire of European society as Byron playfully reinvented the classic character to explore the complexities of love, life, and morality. Its timeless narrative and whimsical tones, much like its esteemed author, have made it one of the greatest Romantic poems of all time.