The critical essays offer an integrated view of Byron's achievement as well as analyses of its different facets. Published for the first time is Bergen Evans's general essay "Lord Byron's Pilgrimage"; other essays are by John D. Jump, Michael G. Cooke, Francis Berry, Robert F. Gleckner, James R. Thompson, Frank D. McConnell, Leslie A. Marchand, and E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

A special section, "Images of Byron," presents 26 views of Byron as artist and as the epitome of the Romantic hero, ranging from the perspectives of his contemporaries to those of such modern writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, and Albert Camus.

A Chronology sets forth the main events of Byron's life, and a Selected Bibliography lists sources for further study.