In Byron's Don Juan Canto I there is a footnote that discusses line 210 that involves a comparison between Donna Inez and Lady Byron. The footnote discusses the similarities in behavior (specifically referencing trying "to prove her loving lord was mad" (210)) between Donna Inez and Lady Byron, because Lady Byron had also sought medical advice about whether Lord Byron was crazy. However, the footnote then continues to say that Lord Byron "insisted that Donna Inez was not intended to be a caricature of Lady Byron."
There is a clear comparison between these two women, yet the author himself said that a reader who draws this comparison does so incorrectly. This got me thinking. Does the author have this power? Can't the author be wrong about his own work? I personally don't think that Lord Byron has the authority, nor does any author, to come out and say what his work means. The author can say what they intended, but that is different from the actual meaning. For example, if I say something about a friend that I mean to be funny but everyone else around me takes offense, then the comment is offensive. I did not intend it that way, but that is how it was perceived. Communication relies on the perceiver not the sender, and with a published work, the poem is the author communicating with the reader. The reader ultimately should have the power to decide what the poem is about and what it means.
I also think it is important to note that the author can subconsciously reference things. Byron may not have intended to invoke Lady Byron in his depiction of Donna Inez, but for this suggests that he potentially may have thought to include that line because it was something he experienced even if he did not realize at the time why he was writing the line. Once again, the perceiver has the power, because we as humans are not very good at reading ourselves. Therapy is a perfect example of this process. We say and do things because we think they mean one thing, but when someone sees a therapist he or she realizes that the reason for cry when they get a bad grade isn't really about a job, it goes back to trying to impress his or her parents. I personally think that this line is too conveniently tied to a part of Byron's life to simply be dismissed as a coincidence, but regardless I think as the reader I should get to decide no matter what Byron says.
This an interesting point for not only Don Juan, but also literature in general. It moves beyond the issue of a reliable narrator even further to the issue of a reliable author. How do we decipher between the author as an actual person, the author as author (literally as he writes), the author as narrator, etc.? The list goes on. I think another tagline for this issue might be "the issue of sincerity" or something along those lines, too.
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