Byron and the forms of thought Part 1. Philosophy. Essay I . I doubt if doubt itself be doubting : scepticism system and poetry Essay II. A voice from out the wilderness : Cain and philosophical poetry Part 2. Poetics. Essay III. The need for all this : Johnson Bowles and the forms of prose Essay IV. I wish to do as much by Poesy : amidst a Byronic poetics Part 3. Outlines. Essay V. The flower and the gem : narrative form and the traces of Eden Essay VI. Glorys dream unriddled : politics and the forms of war Byron and the Forms of Thought is a major new study of Byron as a poet and thinker. While informed by recent work on Byrons philosophical contexts it sharply diverges from previous methodological assumptions to break new ground. Rather than attempting to re describe Byron as a philosopher of a particular sort the book draws attention to the ways in which Byrons poetry understands and explores its own philosophical agency