Canto XIV Summary

Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.

  • Byron returns us to the scene of the old country house where Lord Henry and Lady Adeline are staying with their fancy friends, including Don Juan.
  • Byron takes a moment to talk about his poetic career and about how truth is often stranger than fiction. (Fun fact: he's the dude who's credited with first coining that phrase.)
  • Don Juan is clumsy about a few things. He doesn't always know the proper manners for hunting or dining, but he manages to stumble through these things without losing too much face.
  • Byron focuses on Lady Adeline, who like most young women finds Don Juan very charming. She wants to make sure that he doesn't give into the advances of some evil woman, so she sets herself the task of finding him a suitable wife. Byron also mentions that Lady Adeline isn't entirely in love with her husband Henry. He says that if Adeline has one flaw, it's that her heart is a little empty.