Reading Order
ManfredManfred Reading Order
Manfred: A Dramatic Poem (1817) by Lord Byron is the Byronic hero in his most extreme and most purely Romantic form — a three-act dramatic poem (written to be read rather than performed) about Manfred, a sorcerer-nobleman in the Alps who has committed an unspecified crime (the implication is incest with his sister Astarte, who has died as a result) and who seeks forgetfulness or destruction from the supernatural spirits he commands. Manfred is simultaneously a reworking of Goethe's Faust (which Byron had partly read in German, partly in translation — his debt is real but also overstated), a development of the Byronic hero type established in Childe Harold, and a Romantic exploration of the consequences of the transgressive will that will not submit to any authority — natural, supernatural, or divine. The play was written in Switzerland in 1816 (the 'Year Without a Summer,' during which Byron, Shelley, Mary Godwin, and Polidori were together on Lake Geneva, and both Frankenstein and the vampyre tale were conceived) and is saturated with Alpine landscape. The final act — in which Manfred dies refusing the last sacraments, defying both the Abbot and the infernal spirits who have come to claim him, asserting that his spirit's power is entirely self-generated — is the most uncompromising statement of Romantic Prometheanism in English poetry.
Where to start
Manfred (1817) — the Oxford World's Classics Major Works of Byron (ed. Jerome McGann) includes it with excellent notes; any good Byron anthology will have it. Short (three acts of verse) and can be read in an afternoon. Read alongside Goethe's Faust Part I to understand what Byron was responding to — and Frankenstein, written in the same summer, to understand the cultural moment that produced all three.
Complete Manfred Book List
- 1Buy
The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)
Lord Byron (ed. Jerome McGann)·2008·The scholarly standard edition — includes Manfred alongside Childe Harold, Don Juan, and the other major works; McGann's notes identify the Faustian sources and the Alpine geography with the most authority. - 2Buy
Faust, Part I
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (trans. David Luke)·2008·The German original that Manfred is in dialogue with — Goethe later said that Byron had 'absorbed' Faust rather than copying it; Luke's translation is the most readable modern version; reading it alongside Manfred shows what Byron transformed and what he invented. - 3Buy
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley·1818·Written at the same time as Manfred in the same cultural moment (Geneva, 1816) — Victor Frankenstein and Manfred are both versions of the Promethean figure who oversteps the bounds of human knowledge and is destroyed; the two works are natural companions. - 4Buy
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
Lord Byron·1812·The predecessor that establishes the Byronic hero — Manfred is what Childe Harold becomes when pushed to its metaphysical extreme; reading Childe Harold first shows how Byron developed the type from brooding traveller to supernatural transgressor. - 5Buy
Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Maturin·1820·The Gothic novel written three years after Manfred — Maturin's Faustian wanderer inhabits the same spiritual and emotional world as Manfred (the transgressor who cannot be forgiven and will not submit), and the two works define the outer edge of the Romantic Gothic imagination.
Manfred — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Manfred by Byron about?
Manfred (1817) by Lord Byron is a three-act dramatic poem about Manfred, a sorcerer-nobleman in the Alps who has committed an unspecified crime — the implication is incest with his sister Astarte, who has died as a result. Manfred summons supernatural spirits seeking forgetfulness or destruction, but neither is available. In the final act, he dies refusing both the last sacraments and the infernal spirits who have come to claim him, asserting that his spirit's power is entirely self-generated and acknowledges no authority, natural, supernatural, or divine.
Is Manfred by Byron based on Faust by Goethe?
Manfred (1817) is in dialogue with Goethe's Faust, which Byron had partly read, but the relationship is more one of response than imitation. Both feature a scholar-sorcerer of immense power who has transgressed human limits and seeks transcendence; both summon spirits; both involve a woman destroyed by the protagonist's fatal influence. But where Faust's transgression is primarily intellectual (the desire for knowledge) and his outcome ambiguous (he is saved in Part II), Manfred's transgression is explicitly sexual and emotional (the implied incest with Astarte), and his outcome is defiant: he dies refusing both salvation and damnation, asserting the absolute sovereignty of his own will. Goethe later said Byron had 'absorbed' Faust rather than copied it — a just assessment.
Monthly Newsletter
Never miss a big release
Get the most anticipated upcoming books delivered to your inbox once a month — no spam, no filler.
Monthly only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, BookReleaseRadar earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.