What do you think?
Rate this book
The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale
The narrative poem is set in the time of Moslem rule. The story is narrated from three different points of view. It is a tale of love, revenge and repentance. Almost fragmentary, it is brimming with adventure and courage that leads a slave to fight a lord.
56 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1813
39 people are currently reading
1007 people want to read
About the author
Lord Byron
4,386 books2,092 followersGeorge Gordon Byron (invariably known as Lord Byron), later Noel, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale FRS was a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Amongst Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential, both in the English-speaking world and beyond.
Byron's notabilty rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured upper-class living, numerous love affairs, debts, and separation. He was notably described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". Byron served as a regional leader of Italy's revolutionary organization, the Carbonari, in its struggle against Austria. He later travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died from a fever contracted while in Messolonghi in Greece.
Byron's notabilty rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured upper-class living, numerous love affairs, debts, and separation. He was notably described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". Byron served as a regional leader of Italy's revolutionary organization, the Carbonari, in its struggle against Austria. He later travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died from a fever contracted while in Messolonghi in Greece.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews
May 22, 2016
This is such a dark and twisted poem that sees a Byronic hero in his full force. The hero is persecuted and haunted by his actions; he has become less they he once was. He has murdered a man in the name of justice, but he is full regret for such a brutal act. His soul is divided. He is full of melancholy and woe, but at the route of his being is a real awareness that he is himself responsible for his own state. Thus he surrounds himself in darkness. He is a figure both contemptable and pitiable.
His actions weren’t entirely terrible; he had good reason for them, but his reason doesn’t apply to the culture he exacted his justice on. He saw a culture that treated women terribly, and for reasons beyond their fathoming the harbinger was murdered for his way of life. This a conflicted situation because one culture’s sense of morality doesn’t necessarily apply to another regardless of the ethics involved. The Giaour sees what he perceives as injustice in an eastern society, and is forced to act. He sees Leila treated “as a soulless toy for a tyrant’s lust” and reaps vengeance on Hassan, the object of misogyny and brutality: her husband.
The Anti- Hero becomes a figure of resistance towards the social order; it is not a case of simply protecting people, but standing against society itself. It is this act of rebellion, this act of reckless behaviour, which links the Byronic hero back to his origins: the Satanic hero in Milton’s spectacular Paradise Lost. After their indulgence in their passion, a division follows. This is later followed by remorse, the Giour gives up on life and is consumed by despair.
As can be seen with the earlier descriptions of him in the fragmented narrative, the ones after he has committed murder; they depict an entirely different character. He is no longer passionate, but reduced. His sense of justice has been replaced with confusion and division. The scene in which the Giaour is seen on horseback is a suggestion of how haunted the character has become; it is at night with a general air of darkness and foreboding with the “shadows of the rock advancing.” The Giaour is persecuted by his memories, by his actions. The echoing of the hoof beats and the repeated sound of the dark waves suggests of memories constantly recurring, resulting in the look of “dread in his face” and his “fearful brow.” The environment reflects his troubled inner state.
This is a great poem, so conflicted and delivered with real poetic mastery. More Byron for me in the future!
His actions weren’t entirely terrible; he had good reason for them, but his reason doesn’t apply to the culture he exacted his justice on. He saw a culture that treated women terribly, and for reasons beyond their fathoming the harbinger was murdered for his way of life. This a conflicted situation because one culture’s sense of morality doesn’t necessarily apply to another regardless of the ethics involved. The Giaour sees what he perceives as injustice in an eastern society, and is forced to act. He sees Leila treated “as a soulless toy for a tyrant’s lust” and reaps vengeance on Hassan, the object of misogyny and brutality: her husband.
The Anti- Hero becomes a figure of resistance towards the social order; it is not a case of simply protecting people, but standing against society itself. It is this act of rebellion, this act of reckless behaviour, which links the Byronic hero back to his origins: the Satanic hero in Milton’s spectacular Paradise Lost. After their indulgence in their passion, a division follows. This is later followed by remorse, the Giour gives up on life and is consumed by despair.
As can be seen with the earlier descriptions of him in the fragmented narrative, the ones after he has committed murder; they depict an entirely different character. He is no longer passionate, but reduced. His sense of justice has been replaced with confusion and division. The scene in which the Giaour is seen on horseback is a suggestion of how haunted the character has become; it is at night with a general air of darkness and foreboding with the “shadows of the rock advancing.” The Giaour is persecuted by his memories, by his actions. The echoing of the hoof beats and the repeated sound of the dark waves suggests of memories constantly recurring, resulting in the look of “dread in his face” and his “fearful brow.” The environment reflects his troubled inner state.
This is a great poem, so conflicted and delivered with real poetic mastery. More Byron for me in the future!
June 30, 2023
“Who falls from all he knows of bliss, / Cares little into what abyss.”
The Giaur, the first of Lord Byron’s so-called “Turkish Tales”, tells us of a Christian slave who falls in love with Leila, his master Hassan’s wife, and whose love is returned. When Hassan has his wife executed by drowning her alive in a sack – a punishment for adultery that was still administered in Turkey when Byron made his Grand Tour from 1809 to 1811 [1] –, the surviving lover wreaks his revenge on Hassan and then withdraws into a monastery, haunted by despair over his lost Leila.
The narrative poem is fragmentary and told from different perspectives, which makes it all the more vivid and intriguing because every now and then you have to stop and ask yourself who is talking right now. In a way, the constant change of scene and perspective gives it a dream-like quality, maybe even a nightmarish one when you come across lines like the following:
Interestingly, after killing Hassan with his sword, the Giaur does not feel repentance – and he can even understand why Hassan killed a woman who betrayed him, saying that he might have done the same – but life is like living hell for him since even his deed of vengeance could not bring back to him the only woman he loved. It’s not forgiveness and absolution he seeks – he even sneers at the ”purchased masses” with which Christians strive for redemption and at the prior’s inability to offer him anything but soothing words –, but simply annihilation as a means of escape from despair:
Ironically, while the Giaur’s peace of mind is ravaged by the loss of his love and his unwillingness to turn to life again, his killed opponent, according to Muslim faith, will see Paradise as he was slain in battle by an Infidel.
[1] A similar punishment has been known in Europe from the time of the Roman Empire, where it was applied to people who killed one of their family members. In Prussia, it was abolished by Frederic II.
The Giaur, the first of Lord Byron’s so-called “Turkish Tales”, tells us of a Christian slave who falls in love with Leila, his master Hassan’s wife, and whose love is returned. When Hassan has his wife executed by drowning her alive in a sack – a punishment for adultery that was still administered in Turkey when Byron made his Grand Tour from 1809 to 1811 [1] –, the surviving lover wreaks his revenge on Hassan and then withdraws into a monastery, haunted by despair over his lost Leila.
The narrative poem is fragmentary and told from different perspectives, which makes it all the more vivid and intriguing because every now and then you have to stop and ask yourself who is talking right now. In a way, the constant change of scene and perspective gives it a dream-like quality, maybe even a nightmarish one when you come across lines like the following:
”But Love itself cound never pant
For all that Beauty sigh to grant
With half the fervour Hate bestows
Upon the last embrace of foes,
When grappling in the fight they fold
Those arms that ne’er shall lose their hold:
Friends meet to part; Love laughs at faith;
True foes, once met, are joined till death!”
Interestingly, after killing Hassan with his sword, the Giaur does not feel repentance – and he can even understand why Hassan killed a woman who betrayed him, saying that he might have done the same – but life is like living hell for him since even his deed of vengeance could not bring back to him the only woman he loved. It’s not forgiveness and absolution he seeks – he even sneers at the ”purchased masses” with which Christians strive for redemption and at the prior’s inability to offer him anything but soothing words –, but simply annihilation as a means of escape from despair:
”Waste not thine orison, despair
Is mightier than thy pious prayer:
I would not, if I might, be blest;
I want no Paradise, but rest.”
Ironically, while the Giaur’s peace of mind is ravaged by the loss of his love and his unwillingness to turn to life again, his killed opponent, according to Muslim faith, will see Paradise as he was slain in battle by an Infidel.
[1] A similar punishment has been known in Europe from the time of the Roman Empire, where it was applied to people who killed one of their family members. In Prussia, it was abolished by Frederic II.
September 19, 2022
Kurde bolek, no słabe to było. Gdyby nie opracowanie, które przeczytałam wcześniej to ta książka nie miałaby dla mnie kompletnie sensu. Nie jest to w żaden sposób dobrze uporządkowane, ciężko jest się po prostu połapać o co tak właściwie chodzi autorowi.
Jedyne co mi przypadło do gustu, to bardzo ładne opisy uczuć Giaura, ale to tyle.
Jedyne co mi przypadło do gustu, to bardzo ładne opisy uczuć Giaura, ale to tyle.
September 20, 2022
1,5 gwiazdki⭐
Adaś się postarał przy tłumaczeniu, ale nic wybitnego.
Adaś się postarał przy tłumaczeniu, ale nic wybitnego.
September 20, 2021
jakby-
brak mi slow w sumie. troche przeczytalem, w pewnych momentach przelatywalem wzrokiem po tekscie nie przywiazujac zbytnio uwagi do tego co czytam, a gdzies od polowy sluchalem w audio xd nie wiem czy w ogole to mozna byloby zaliczyc do skonczonych ksiazek, bo wszystko uzupelnilem streszczeniem a z samej lektury nie wynioslem nic, ale no xd
brak mi slow w sumie. troche przeczytalem, w pewnych momentach przelatywalem wzrokiem po tekscie nie przywiazujac zbytnio uwagi do tego co czytam, a gdzies od polowy sluchalem w audio xd nie wiem czy w ogole to mozna byloby zaliczyc do skonczonych ksiazek, bo wszystko uzupelnilem streszczeniem a z samej lektury nie wynioslem nic, ale no xd
January 14, 2024
Ten Mickiewicz to jednak był wielozadaniowy - wieszczem narodowym zostanie, epopeję narodową napisze, mnóstwo sonetów i ballad wyda i jeszcze do tego książkę przetłumaczy.
Read
October 18, 2022dobrze ze takie krotkie
November 27, 2024
budzę się rano w albańskim raju
January 12, 2023
Chuja rozumiałam, ale mega mi się podobało. Sztos totalny. Opisy uczuć Giaura wybitne. I wszystko takie piękneeeee. Ale wydaje mi się, że po przeczytaniu streszczenia lepiej to zrozumiem XDD
Update: streszczenie nawet nie było potrzebne, bo jednak wszystko świetnie zrozumiałam 😎
Update: streszczenie nawet nie było potrzebne, bo jednak wszystko świetnie zrozumiałam 😎
January 23, 2023
i really really wanted to like this, it sounded so up my street: a love triangle, murder, revenge killing - but it was just SO SO boring. gains points for its rhyming though, i do appreciate a long poem that rhymes, what dedication
December 12, 2023
wydaje mi się, że zrozumiałam końcówkę, ale jednak mam wątpliwości
November 9, 2020
8/10
Muszę przyznać, że "Giaur" całkiem pozytywnie mnie zaskoczył swoją niecodzienną formą, gdyż brak tutaj po spodziewanej przeze mnie liniowej akcji, jak to wcześniej bywało w powieściach poetyckich. Byron kreśli historię bardzo rozmyślnie poprzez dość nowatorską technikę luźno związanych ze sobą ustępów, które składają na konkretny obraz. Dzięki temu ta powieść poetycka nabiera rumieńców, oznaki ciągłej świeżości.
Byron najpierw przedstawia nam miejsce akcji, czyli Grecję władaną przez Turków, która w bardzo przyjemnym przekładzie Mickiewicza nabiera podobieństwa Polski pod zaborami. Dawniej kolebka cywilizacji, teraz kraina dzika i zniewolona przez równie dzikich najeźdźców. Potem widzimy bohatera, Giaura, o którym dowiadujemy się niewiele poza tym, że jest Wenecjaninem. Angielski poeta obrazowo kreuje bohatera - widzimy najpierw statek, przed którym pierzchają rybacy. A potem pędzącego jeźdźca po polach, skałach i bezdrożach, a na jego twarzy maluje się determinacja. Kim jest? Skąd przybywa? Dokąd zmierza? Co planuje? Jeszcze nie wiemy. W następnym ustępie Byron opisuje Turków wrzucających do wody pewien pakunek. Pakunek, który się ruszał. Co w nim było? Czy kogoś topią? Dalej przedstawiony nam zostaje gniewny Hassan, którego nawet własny harem nie potrafi go pocieszyć. Dlaczego jest taki rozgniewany? Co go trapi? I tak dalej, i tak dalej.
Kolejne ustępy odsłaniają przed nami kolejne fakty, niczym w naprawdę dobrze napisanej współczesnej powieści. Historia koniec końców jest całkiem prosta i dość zwyczajna, ale jest obdarzona naprawdę gęstym klimatem byronowskiej tajemniczości, a talent angielskiego poety do snucia opowieści jest naprawdę widoczny jak w mało którym dziele epoki romantyzmu.
Muszę przyznać, że "Giaur" całkiem pozytywnie mnie zaskoczył swoją niecodzienną formą, gdyż brak tutaj po spodziewanej przeze mnie liniowej akcji, jak to wcześniej bywało w powieściach poetyckich. Byron kreśli historię bardzo rozmyślnie poprzez dość nowatorską technikę luźno związanych ze sobą ustępów, które składają na konkretny obraz. Dzięki temu ta powieść poetycka nabiera rumieńców, oznaki ciągłej świeżości.
Byron najpierw przedstawia nam miejsce akcji, czyli Grecję władaną przez Turków, która w bardzo przyjemnym przekładzie Mickiewicza nabiera podobieństwa Polski pod zaborami. Dawniej kolebka cywilizacji, teraz kraina dzika i zniewolona przez równie dzikich najeźdźców. Potem widzimy bohatera, Giaura, o którym dowiadujemy się niewiele poza tym, że jest Wenecjaninem. Angielski poeta obrazowo kreuje bohatera - widzimy najpierw statek, przed którym pierzchają rybacy. A potem pędzącego jeźdźca po polach, skałach i bezdrożach, a na jego twarzy maluje się determinacja. Kim jest? Skąd przybywa? Dokąd zmierza? Co planuje? Jeszcze nie wiemy. W następnym ustępie Byron opisuje Turków wrzucających do wody pewien pakunek. Pakunek, który się ruszał. Co w nim było? Czy kogoś topią? Dalej przedstawiony nam zostaje gniewny Hassan, którego nawet własny harem nie potrafi go pocieszyć. Dlaczego jest taki rozgniewany? Co go trapi? I tak dalej, i tak dalej.
Kolejne ustępy odsłaniają przed nami kolejne fakty, niczym w naprawdę dobrze napisanej współczesnej powieści. Historia koniec końców jest całkiem prosta i dość zwyczajna, ale jest obdarzona naprawdę gęstym klimatem byronowskiej tajemniczości, a talent angielskiego poety do snucia opowieści jest naprawdę widoczny jak w mało którym dziele epoki romantyzmu.
December 21, 2023
3.5:)
„Wszystko co czułem i co dokonałem
Jeśli to znakiem kochania - kochałem! […]
Dziś wróć mi dawne trudy i rozkosze,
Jam gotów znosić, co zniosłem, co znoszę.
Gotów żyć znowu, jakeśmy z nią żyli,
Gotów na wszystko - prócz śmierci Leili.
Życia mojego żałować nie warto,
Żałuję życia, które jej wydarto”
Mickiewicz slayed z tłumaczeniem
„Wszystko co czułem i co dokonałem
Jeśli to znakiem kochania - kochałem! […]
Dziś wróć mi dawne trudy i rozkosze,
Jam gotów znosić, co zniosłem, co znoszę.
Gotów żyć znowu, jakeśmy z nią żyli,
Gotów na wszystko - prócz śmierci Leili.
Życia mojego żałować nie warto,
Żałuję życia, które jej wydarto”
Mickiewicz slayed z tłumaczeniem
October 9, 2022
jak ktoś sobie lubi romantyzować, czytać stare rzeczy i wzdychać, jakie są głębokie to polecam
zwłaszcza jak się ma swoje wydanie, takie stare jeszcze z jakąś przedmową no mmm palce lizać
muszę sobie znaleźć jakieś normalne zajęcia.
zwłaszcza jak się ma swoje wydanie, takie stare jeszcze z jakąś przedmową no mmm palce lizać
muszę sobie znaleźć jakieś normalne zajęcia.
October 18, 2021
lord Byron and I wn't be friends, but nice poem I guess.
September 5, 2022
Wsm to nie pamiętam dokładnie o czym przeczytałam
October 27, 2022
gowno takie troche
July 3, 2024
Hm. Fajna historia, myślę, że z lordem Byronem się możemy polubić na dłuższą metę. A tłumaczenie Mickiewicza, muszę przyznać, fenomenalne!
October 21, 2024
Podobało mi się, choć przekonuję się znów, że powieść poetycka to nie mój gatunek haha🤪😍
September 3, 2023
#angielskiwrzesień akcja Natalii z kanału kursywa
lektura szkolna, klasyka, na dodatek w tłumaczeniu mistrza Mickiewicza więc pod względem literackim musiało być dobrze
Czytało się bardzo przyjmie, dobrze choć sama historia i bohaterowie nie należą do takich którzy mają u mnie jakieś szczególne miejsce - stąd 4/5
lektura szkolna, klasyka, na dodatek w tłumaczeniu mistrza Mickiewicza więc pod względem literackim musiało być dobrze
Czytało się bardzo przyjmie, dobrze choć sama historia i bohaterowie nie należą do takich którzy mają u mnie jakieś szczególne miejsce - stąd 4/5
Read
December 25, 2019Read this one for an upcoming ARC read. Not sure if this book is the version I read , but , I spent hours on reading and researching for understanding this poem and some of the characters.
Basically , there's this lady , Laila , who's killed by drowning in the sea by her husband , Hassan for cheating . Later , Hassan is killed by this Christian dude Giaour (which isn't his name. It's kind of a slur used by non - Christian's addressing Christians). He even sends Hassan's head to Hassan's mom.
The poem symbolises the capture of Greece and the war between the West and the East. And as tale as old as time , the white dude kills a bunch of people , shown as a hero and then becomes a vampire due to his curse by Hassan's mom. He's apparently the first vampire in literature.
Besides the gross lines indicating necrophilia and the vampirism , this is just another book romanticizing a poor lady's death by making it not about her . At all. Like , Leila doesn't have any lines in this poem! These dudes just fight off each other and she's just like some object with some dogs.
In conclusion , if this book wasn't written in the 18 something years , this would've been bashed and banished . But luckily , it wasn't! I hear people actually get this as required read for college? This is the only moment I'm happy I don't have "English" as a subject in college.
Thanks for reading my short and incompetent review guys! Happy reading.
Basically , there's this lady , Laila , who's killed by drowning in the sea by her husband , Hassan for cheating . Later , Hassan is killed by this Christian dude Giaour (which isn't his name. It's kind of a slur used by non - Christian's addressing Christians). He even sends Hassan's head to Hassan's mom.
The poem symbolises the capture of Greece and the war between the West and the East. And as tale as old as time , the white dude kills a bunch of people , shown as a hero and then becomes a vampire due to his curse by Hassan's mom. He's apparently the first vampire in literature.
Besides the gross lines indicating necrophilia and the vampirism , this is just another book romanticizing a poor lady's death by making it not about her . At all. Like , Leila doesn't have any lines in this poem! These dudes just fight off each other and she's just like some object with some dogs.
In conclusion , if this book wasn't written in the 18 something years , this would've been bashed and banished . But luckily , it wasn't! I hear people actually get this as required read for college? This is the only moment I'm happy I don't have "English" as a subject in college.
Thanks for reading my short and incompetent review guys! Happy reading.
March 9, 2024
"Cacko, za którym żądza chciwie goni,
Straciło urok, gdy je mamy w dłoni."
Giaur zachwycił mnie tym, że mogę do znudzenia czytać słowa narratora do swojej ukochanej Leili, a i tak będzie to najbardziej romantyczny tekst jaki przeczytałam w swoim życiu. Rzeczywiście było dość chaotycznie przez co w pewnych momentach nie odnajdywałam się w akcji, ale przyznam, że autor miał niezwykłe wyobrażenie świata.
Straciło urok, gdy je mamy w dłoni."
Giaur zachwycił mnie tym, że mogę do znudzenia czytać słowa narratora do swojej ukochanej Leili, a i tak będzie to najbardziej romantyczny tekst jaki przeczytałam w swoim życiu. Rzeczywiście było dość chaotycznie przez co w pewnych momentach nie odnajdywałam się w akcji, ale przyznam, że autor miał niezwykłe wyobrażenie świata.
May 11, 2022
przez większą część lektury nie wiedziałam nawet o czym czytam, ale końcówka była całkiem dobra
October 9, 2022
Lektura 😮💨
September 17, 2023
Matko jakie piękne
January 28, 2024
Co za język - każdy wers zasługuje, aby go gdzieś zapisać. I klimat, jakiego się nie po tym nie spodziewałam
May 20, 2025
One of literature's most famous poets, The Giaour (pronounced with a soft "G" and rhymes with "power") is Lord George Gordon Byron's first of his works on the 'Orient.' Lord Byron had a certain fascination and aversion to the Orient. As a wealthy British aristocrat, Byron traveled extensively and developed a strong interest in Greek independence. He spent considerable time in Missolonghi, Greece—then under Ottoman rule—where he worked to unite Greek military leaders against Ottoman control. For context, Greece was under Ottoman control since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Despite his ambition to battle, Byron died of a fever in 1824 while preparing to join the fight for Greek liberation, which was eventually achieved in 1832 after a nine-year war. He was 36 years old, which may seem young, but the life expectancy was just 35-40 years at the time. The symbolism of a Turkish woman falling in love with a European man suggests the plight of Greece under Turkish rule.
Edward Said’s theory of ‘Orientalism’ identifies how the West constructed the East as exotic, backward, and dangerous. Byron’s poem contains many of these tropes. However, this is not just a critique of Eastern Orientalism; Byron also critiques Western Imperialism. The Giaour can be read as an allegory in which Oriental despotism suppresses Hellenistic principles of ancient Greece. However, the equally brutal Western Imperialism does not manage to reactivate the values of western civilization either. The Giaour couldn’t save Leila from her fate, and even says he would’ve done the same had she been "false to him as well." The poem highlights similarities between Eastern tyrants and Western imperialists and illustrates that they are both directed against freedom. This complexity is the nuance that Byron delivers something unexpected in the poem, and we can only speculate his true feelings of the Orient. Although he calls Turkish rulers "tyrants" time and time again, he also said, "With these countries, and events connected with them, all my real poetical feelings begin and end." Byron was drawn to the East not only as exotic spectacle, but as a site of raw experience, in contrast to the “sterile” and restrained aristocratic West. He aspired to transform the experience into art. Out of this experience Byron created his Turkish myth and lived it when he fought for and sacrificed his life in the Greek cause. He is truly one of the greatest poets literature has ever known.
Plot summary:
The Giaour is the story of a Circassian woman named Leila who falls in love with the Giaour (meaning Infidel in Muslim faith) although she is married to a Turkish ruler, Hassan. Upon knowledge of this, Hassan sews her into a sack and has her downed, which was a typical punishment for adultery at the time. Outraged by Hassan’s barbaric actions, the Giaour vouges to avenge her death and kill him himself, which he does. Much of the poem details symbolic relations between Giaour, Leila, and Hassan where we can identify the themes of ‘otherness’ of eastern cultures from the western perspective, romantic relationships that defy social norms, political strife, among others. It could be based on a true story of one of Byron's lovers whom he rescued from Leila's fate. Perhaps The Giaour served as a vehicle for Byron to explore and project his underlying anxieties and fears about the power and cultural influence of the Ottoman Empire, which ironically offset the Romantic Tale.
Edward Said’s theory of ‘Orientalism’ identifies how the West constructed the East as exotic, backward, and dangerous. Byron’s poem contains many of these tropes. However, this is not just a critique of Eastern Orientalism; Byron also critiques Western Imperialism. The Giaour can be read as an allegory in which Oriental despotism suppresses Hellenistic principles of ancient Greece. However, the equally brutal Western Imperialism does not manage to reactivate the values of western civilization either. The Giaour couldn’t save Leila from her fate, and even says he would’ve done the same had she been "false to him as well." The poem highlights similarities between Eastern tyrants and Western imperialists and illustrates that they are both directed against freedom. This complexity is the nuance that Byron delivers something unexpected in the poem, and we can only speculate his true feelings of the Orient. Although he calls Turkish rulers "tyrants" time and time again, he also said, "With these countries, and events connected with them, all my real poetical feelings begin and end." Byron was drawn to the East not only as exotic spectacle, but as a site of raw experience, in contrast to the “sterile” and restrained aristocratic West. He aspired to transform the experience into art. Out of this experience Byron created his Turkish myth and lived it when he fought for and sacrificed his life in the Greek cause. He is truly one of the greatest poets literature has ever known.
Plot summary:
The Giaour is the story of a Circassian woman named Leila who falls in love with the Giaour (meaning Infidel in Muslim faith) although she is married to a Turkish ruler, Hassan. Upon knowledge of this, Hassan sews her into a sack and has her downed, which was a typical punishment for adultery at the time. Outraged by Hassan’s barbaric actions, the Giaour vouges to avenge her death and kill him himself, which he does. Much of the poem details symbolic relations between Giaour, Leila, and Hassan where we can identify the themes of ‘otherness’ of eastern cultures from the western perspective, romantic relationships that defy social norms, political strife, among others. It could be based on a true story of one of Byron's lovers whom he rescued from Leila's fate. Perhaps The Giaour served as a vehicle for Byron to explore and project his underlying anxieties and fears about the power and cultural influence of the Ottoman Empire, which ironically offset the Romantic Tale.
August 11, 2025
« Zbójcą zostałem! jeździłem na wzwiady,
Aż w końcu zdrajca padł ofiarą zdrady,
Jam spełnił swoje, zemścił się nad tobą.
A teraz, dalej — w świat — jadę sam z sobą.» — »
« Kochałem — miłość często drogę znajdzie
Tam nawet, kędy głodny zwierz nie znajdzie,
A miłość taka, śmiała na przygody,
Czyliżby miała zostać bez nagrody? »
« Ach! ona była mą gwiazdą polarną,
Zgasła, któż teraz oświeci noc czarną!"
Byron jak Byron, wiadomo, ale tłumaczenie Mickiewiczowe to istny skarb.
Aż w końcu zdrajca padł ofiarą zdrady,
Jam spełnił swoje, zemścił się nad tobą.
A teraz, dalej — w świat — jadę sam z sobą.» — »
« Kochałem — miłość często drogę znajdzie
Tam nawet, kędy głodny zwierz nie znajdzie,
A miłość taka, śmiała na przygody,
Czyliżby miała zostać bez nagrody? »
« Ach! ona była mą gwiazdą polarną,
Zgasła, któż teraz oświeci noc czarną!"
Byron jak Byron, wiadomo, ale tłumaczenie Mickiewiczowe to istny skarb.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews