is the third of a group of six tales which are usually grouped together under the heading “Turkish Tales”. Byron began the sequence with
The Giaour(1813) and continued in a similar vein with
The Bride of Abydos(1813), adding
The Corsair(1814),
Lara(1814),
The Siege of Corinth(1816) and finally
Parisina(1816). After the initial success of
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage(1812), it was these tales, and particularly
The Corsair, which consolidated Byron’s fame in England and Europe. It
is a poem in three cantos (a verse tale of the kind popularised by Sir Walter Scott) and is written in heroic couplets, a form which lent itself well to an adventure story such as
The Corsair.
The poem opens on an island in the Aegean sea with a song glorifying the liberated and carefree
1773 words
Citation: O'Connell, Mary. "The Corsair, a Turkish Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1192, accessed 25 November 2024.]
