In this paper I propose to consider the functions of Lord Byron’s footnotes to his satiric poem, English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers. Five editions of the poem appeared during the poet’s lifetime:
Edition I March 1809 696 lines, 56 footnotes, short preface
Edition II October 1809 1050 lines, 91 footnotes, preface enlarged, postscript added
Edition III 1810 replica of II
Edition IVA 1810 replica of II
Edition IVB 1811 1052 lines, 92 footnotes, preface same, postscript same
Edition V 1811 1070 lines, 99 footnotes, preface omitted, postscript same
Of these editions, I was able to study numbers I, III, IVB, and V. Because changes occurred in the footnoting, as well as in the lines, from edition to edition, I have assigned my own numbering system to the notes. Each footnote is represented by an Arabic numeral in parentheses. A complete list of the footnotes, together with an explanation of my arrangement and a collation of the notes in the editions I studied, may be found in Appendix I. This Appendix should be consulted before one reads this paper.
In quoting lines from the poem, I have followed the text of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (Edition V) as found in The Works of Lord Byron (Poetry, volume I, London: John Murray, 1898), edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge. Since Coleridge also supplies the variants for the lines as they appear in previous editions, his text is suitable as a reference for those who cannot study all five editions. Further, the Coleridge text is rich in editorial notes which facilitated my study.
There is comparatively little current scholarship on English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers, a formal satire in heroic couplets, even though the trend in modern studies of Byron is to stress his satires. Don Juan, The Vision of Judgment, and Beppo continue to receive greater emphasis because they represent a maturer development of Byron's satiric powers, especially in his use of the Italian improvvisatore conversational manner, and in his
manipulation of ottava rima.
As far as I have been able to determine there have been no studies of the functions the footnotes perform in this satire, nor have I found any comparable study of footnotes in other works.
","abstract_html":"<p>In this paper I propose to consider the functions of Lord Byron’s footnotes to his satiric poem, English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers. Five editions of the poem appeared during the poet’s lifetime:</p> <p>Edition I March 1809 696 lines, 56 footnotes, short preface</p> <p>Edition II October 1809 1050 lines, 91 footnotes, preface enlarged, postscript added</p> <p>Edition III 1810 replica of II</p> <p>Edition IVA 1810 replica of II</p> <p>Edition IVB 1811 1052 lines, 92 footnotes, preface same, postscript same</p> <p>Edition V 1811 1070 lines, 99 footnotes, preface omitted, postscript same</p> <p> Of these editions, I was able to study numbers I, III, IVB, and V. Because changes occurred in the footnoting, as well as in the lines, from edition to edition, I have assigned my own numbering system to the notes. Each footnote is represented by an Arabic numeral in parentheses. A complete list of the footnotes, together with an explanation of my arrangement and a collation of the notes in the editions I studied, may be found in Appendix I. This Appendix should be consulted before one reads this paper.</p> <p>In quoting lines from the poem, I have followed the text of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (Edition V) as found in The Works of Lord Byron (Poetry, volume I, London: John Murray, 1898), edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge. Since Coleridge also supplies the variants for the lines as they appear in previous editions, his text is suitable as a reference for those who cannot study all five editions. Further, the Coleridge text is rich in editorial notes which facilitated my study.</p> <p> There is comparatively little current scholarship on English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers, a formal satire in heroic couplets, even though the trend in modern studies of Byron is to stress his satires. Don Juan, The Vision of Judgment, and Beppo continue to receive greater emphasis because they represent a maturer development of Byron's satiric powers, especially in his use of the Italian improvvisatore conversational manner, and in his</p> <p>manipulation of ottava rima.</p> <p> As far as I have been able to determine there have been no studies of the functions the footnotes perform in this satire, nor have I found any comparable study of footnotes in other works.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Collins, Catherine Marie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Humanities","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1960,"date_issued":"1960-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"1960-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:59Z","subjects":["Humanities","Arts and Humanities"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/90","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Collins, Catherine Marie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Humanities"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Humanities","Arts and Humanities"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/90"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this paper I propose to consider the functions of Lord Byron’s footnotes to his satiric poem, English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers. Five editions of the poem appeared during the poet’s lifetime:
Edition I March 1809 696 lines, 56 footnotes, short preface
Edition II October 1809 1050 lines, 91 footnotes, preface enlarged, postscript added
Edition III 1810 replica of II
Edition IVA 1810 replica of II
Edition IVB 1811 1052 lines, 92 footnotes, preface same, postscript same
Edition V 1811 1070 lines, 99 footnotes, preface omitted, postscript same
Of these editions, I was able to study numbers I, III, IVB, and V. Because changes occurred in the footnoting, as well as in the lines, from edition to edition, I have assigned my own numbering system to the notes. Each footnote is represented by an Arabic numeral in parentheses. A complete list of the footnotes, together with an explanation of my arrangement and a collation of the notes in the editions I studied, may be found in Appendix I. This Appendix should be consulted before one reads this paper.
In quoting lines from the poem, I have followed the text of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (Edition V) as found in The Works of Lord Byron (Poetry, volume I, London: John Murray, 1898), edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge. Since Coleridge also supplies the variants for the lines as they appear in previous editions, his text is suitable as a reference for those who cannot study all five editions. Further, the Coleridge text is rich in editorial notes which facilitated my study.
There is comparatively little current scholarship on English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers, a formal satire in heroic couplets, even though the trend in modern studies of Byron is to stress his satires. Don Juan, The Vision of Judgment, and Beppo continue to receive greater emphasis because they represent a maturer development of Byron's satiric powers, especially in his use of the Italian improvvisatore conversational manner, and in his
manipulation of ottava rima.
As far as I have been able to determine there have been no studies of the functions the footnotes perform in this satire, nor have I found any comparable study of footnotes in other works.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Functions of Byron's footnotes to English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Collins, Catherine Marie"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this paper I propose to consider the functions of Lord Byron’s footnotes to his satiric poem, English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers. Five editions of the poem appeared during the poet’s lifetime:
Edition I March 1809 696 lines, 56 footnotes, short preface
Edition II October 1809 1050 lines, 91 footnotes, preface enlarged, postscript added
Edition III 1810 replica of II
Edition IVA 1810 replica of II
Edition IVB 1811 1052 lines, 92 footnotes, preface same, postscript same
Edition V 1811 1070 lines, 99 footnotes, preface omitted, postscript same
Of these editions, I was able to study numbers I, III, IVB, and V. Because changes occurred in the footnoting, as well as in the lines, from edition to edition, I have assigned my own numbering system to the notes. Each footnote is represented by an Arabic numeral in parentheses. A complete list of the footnotes, together with an explanation of my arrangement and a collation of the notes in the editions I studied, may be found in Appendix I. This Appendix should be consulted before one reads this paper.
In quoting lines from the poem, I have followed the text of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (Edition V) as found in The Works of Lord Byron (Poetry, volume I, London: John Murray, 1898), edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge. Since Coleridge also supplies the variants for the lines as they appear in previous editions, his text is suitable as a reference for those who cannot study all five editions. Further, the Coleridge text is rich in editorial notes which facilitated my study.
There is comparatively little current scholarship on English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers, a formal satire in heroic couplets, even though the trend in modern studies of Byron is to stress his satires. Don Juan, The Vision of Judgment, and Beppo continue to receive greater emphasis because they represent a maturer development of Byron's satiric powers, especially in his use of the Italian improvvisatore conversational manner, and in his
manipulation of ottava rima.
As far as I have been able to determine there have been no studies of the functions the footnotes perform in this satire, nor have I found any comparable study of footnotes in other works.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/90"],"dc:subject":["Humanities","Arts and Humanities"],"dc:title":["Functions of Byron's footnotes to English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Humanities"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:59Z"}