George Gordon Byron, The Giaour

Tom Mole (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1813

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

The Giaour is the first important poem that Byron wrote after Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812) had made him famous. It began the series of four immensely popular Oriental Tales that he wrote while he was the toast of literary London from 1812 until 1816. These were four verse narratives – The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair and Lara – with exotic eastern settings and brooding, tormented heroes. They were all instant best-sellers.

Byron joked about the unpronounceability of his title – the word is pronounced with a soft “g”, and rhymes with “power”. It is an Arabic word for “infidel” and refers to the poem's hero, who is described by his enemy as “apostate f…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1168 words

Citation: Mole, Tom. "The Giaour". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=776, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Save this article