My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read, especially his Alpine Journal from September 1816. Through the course of these entries, I liked when he referenced specific pieces he was working on, e.g. Mazeppa, Childe Harold, Don Juan, Cain (pp. 280-2), and Lara (p. 357). I loved that he was working on Sardanapalus after having perused Seneca’s tragedies (p. 246). [I just finished reading six of his plays, translated by Emily Wilson.] I liked his comments on various people, especially Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth. The section entitled “Anthology of Memorable Passages in Byron’s Letters and Journals” is absolutely invaluable (pp. 325-36).

Some special highlights include his letters to Coleridge re: the Christabel poem (pp. 114-5); to Murray on the famous Ghost story competition at Diodati (pp. 195-7); and his letter to Goethe (p. 294). Also, I was touched by his writing about a fan letter he received from a dying woman who said that Byron’s works had contributed to her pleasure and she simply wanted to let him know. Byron wrote to Thomas Moore that he could not burn the letter as she had requested since “I look upon such a letter, in such circumstances, as better than a diploma from Gottingen” (p. 255).