The Giaour

The Giaour is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1813 by John Murray and printed by Thomas Davison. It was the first in the series of Byron's Oriental romances. The Giaour proved to be a great success when published, consolidating Byron's reputation critically and commercially. Background Byron was inspired to write the poem during 1810 and 1811 in the course of his 1809-1811 Grand Tour, which he undertook with his friend John Cam Hobhouse. While in Athens, he became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of adultery into the sea wrapped in a sack. "Giaour" (Turkish: Gâvur) is an offensive Turkish word for infidel or non-believer, and is similar but unrelated to the Arabic word "kafir". The story, subtitled "A Fragment of a Turkish Tale", is Byron's only fragmentary narrative poem. Byron designed the story with three narrators giving their individual points of view about the series of events. The main story tells of a member of Hassan's harem, Leila, who loves the giaour and is killed by being drowned in the sea by Hassan. In revenge, the giaour kills Hassan and then enters a monastery due to his remorse. The design of the story allows for contrast between Christian and Muslim perceptions of love, death, and the afterlife.