The Giaour
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2014) |
Lord Byron | |
Country | United Kingdom |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Romance/Epic poetry |
Published | 1813, John Murray. Printer: T. Davison. |
Media type | |
Length: 458 lines |
The Giaour is a poem by
Background
Byron was inspired to write the poem during 1810 and 1811 in the course of his 1809-1811
"
The design of the story allows for contrast between Christian and Muslim perceptions of love, death, and the afterlife.[citation needed]
Byron wrote the poem after he had become famous overnight following the 1812 publication of the first two cantos of
The earliest version of the poem was written between September 1812 and March 1813, and a version of 700 lines was published in June 1813. Several more editions appeared before the end of 1813, each longer than the last. The last edition contains 1,300 lines, almost twice as many as the version first published.
Romantic Orientalism
The Giaour proved to be very popular with several editions published in the first year. By 1815, 14 editions had been published when it was included in his first collected edition. Its runaway success led Byron to publish three more "Turkish tales" in the next couple of years: The Bride of Abydos in 1813, The Corsair in 1814, and Lara. Each of these poems proved to be very popular, with "The Corsair" selling 10,000 copies in its first day of publication. These tales led to the public perception of the Byronic hero.
Some critics[
Byron commented ironically on the success of these works in his 1818 poem Beppo:
Oh that I had the art of easy writing
What should be easy reading! could I scale
Parnassus, where the Muses sit inditing
Those pretty poems never known to fail,
How quickly would I print (the world delighting)
A Grecian, Syrian, or Assyrian tale;
And sell you, mix'd with western sentimentalism,
Some samples of the finest Orientalism.[1]— Stanza LI
French painter Eugène Delacroix used the story as the inspiration for three paintings, all titled The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan. So did Ary Scheffer, who painted Giaour, today housed at the Musée de la Vie romantique, Paris.
Influence
The poem was an influence on the early work of Edgar Allan Poe. His first major poem, "Tamerlane", particularly emulates both the manner and style of The Giaour.[2]
Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz translated the work into Polish.[3] Mickiewicz wrote in November, 1822: "I think I shall translate The Giaour."
Vampirism theme
The Giaour is also notable for its inclusion of the theme of
The description of the vampire, lines 757–768:[4]
But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse:
Thy victims ere they yet expire
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
The association of Byron with vampires continued in 1819 with the publication of
Adaptations
Film
The Giaour, with screenplay by and to be directed by Rika Ohara (The Heart of No Place, 2009), is in preproduction. The feature film is executive-produced by Gareth Jones (Boiling Point, 2021), with soundtrack composed by Jono Podmore.
References
- ^ Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1905). The Complete Poetical Works (Cambridge ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 446.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Campbell, Killis. "The Origins of Poe", The Mind of Poe and Other Studies. New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962: 150.
- ^ Byron’s Political and Cultural Influence in Nineteenth-Century Europe: A Symposium by Paul Graham Trueblood.
- ^ The Vampire Passage from Lord Byron's The Giaour (1813). ualr.edu.
- ^ Polidori, John William; Rossetti, William Michael (1911). The diary of Dr. John William Polidori : 1816 : relating to Byron, Shelley, etc. University of California Libraries. London: London : Elkin Mathews. pp. 15–17.