Byron, Sardanapalus [etc.]

Byron, Sardampalus [etc.] (1821); review by Francis Jeffrey, Edinburgh Review, XXXVI (Feb. 1822), 413–452. Jeffrey here generalizes beyond his wont on the state of tragedy in England and catches the reader’s interest at the outset. At page 424 he again retreats into paraphrase and quotation, and when he reaches Cain, he gains attention by the banality of his poetic principles, such as the “relationship” between “Philosophy and Poetry” (p. 438). Yet Jeffrey, limited as he is as a critic of literature, indicates accurately the reaction of the intelligent, liberal, respectable professional man of his day, and the sudden vehemence of his attack on Byron’s morals and manners (pp. 445 ff.) signals the flood-tide of anti-Byron sentiment in Great Britain. On pages 448 ff. Jeffrey makes his only references to Don Juan. In the last sentence of the review, Jeffrey alludes to three newly — spawned journals that dealt largely in politico-personal vituperation.