Selected Poetry of Lord Byron (Modern Library Classics) (ISBN 0375758143)

A Near- Great poet:
I'll start off by saying that this is an excellent selection of Byron's poems, from my view, so the rating applies only to Byron's merits as a poet. Byron is somebody who was ALMOST a great poet. He has some really good poems, some poems of true greatness, comparable to his superiors (Keats, Wordsworth, Blake, to limit myself to the Romantics), but he wrote a lot of crap too. Some of these poems are almost laughably bad, others are profound. I didn't always think this. Back in high school, Lord Byron was by far my favourite poet. In fact, he was the first poet I ever liked, which speaks to his enchanting power over those who have yet been introduced to many poets. As time went on, and I began to read his better contemporaries (mentioned above) and poets of other eras who tower over him, his spell began to wane, and I began to view him as I view him now: as a poet who might have been great, but never quite got there. Nonetheless, I recommend him, as he does have poems of value, and is good for studying the time period. Read him before you read the other Romantics (except Shelley, of whom I have never been that big a fan, though I admit I have yet to really read into him); reading him after becoming familiar with them will spoil your love for him! After you have read him, if you find him to your taste, read some Keats or Wordsworth for comparison. If you don't find him to your taste, read Keats or Wordsworth anyways. You will find in either case that there is an extra spark of magic in these latter two that is not present in Lord Byron.