The Bride of Abydos: A Turkish Tale by Lord Byron

The Bride of Abydos: A Turkish Tale Reviews

• 
  David Sarkies

  Romance in the Pasha’s Court
  4 July 2018 – Byron Bay
  
  Well, since I’m in Byron Bay I thought it might be time to actually read some Lord Byron. Well, sort of because Byron Bay was discovered years before Lord Byron was running around fighting for Greek independence and writing Romantic poetry alongside the likes of
  Percy Shelly and
  Tennyson. One thing that I have noticed when I looked at by bookshelf was the lack of poetry that I have there and realised that maybe I needed to rectify that situation, though when it comes to Byron, it had more to do with a painting on the wall of one of the pubs where a guy reading Byron was being chased by a bunch of women, though since I wasn’t able to find a copy of his works at the two bookshops here I had to settle to reading one of his poems on my tablet (and that is one of the reasons I prefer real books, because people can see you are reading a real book and comment on it – that happened to me in Paris where as soon as I got my hands on a physical copy of
  A Moveable Feast people started noticing).
  
  Well, Lord Byron was certainly an interesting character. He was one of the Romantics, and there are certainly a few poems to choose from, and I decided to go for a shorter one. The thing that makes him stand out is that he was such a passionate lover of Ancient Greek culture that he actually travelled to Greece to help them fight for their independence, and is even considered a hero over there. The other thing was that to say that he was a bit of a philanderer is a massive understatement, though as it turns out his one legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is said to be one of the world’s first computer programmers (despite the fact that computers only existed in theory back then).
  
  So, onto the poem. This is a rather tragic story, but then again I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Romantics. The thing with the Romance movement is that it actually isn’t all Mills and Boon type romance, or even those novels that you see with half-naked men on the cover bearing their sixpacks for everybody to see. No, their view of romance was quite dark and tragic – no everybody getting married and living happily ever after at the end of these poems.
  
  The story is about a Turkish prince who falls in love with his half sister, however their father basically forbids them to marry, for obvious reasons. However, he runs away, becomes a pirate, and then learns that he actually isn’t related and that the only reason he lived with the Pasha was because his father (the previous Pasha) was killed when he was young (by the current Pasha no less), and he was adopted into his family. As such it seems that the way is clear for them to marry, except that the Pasha still really isn’t all that keen. Actually, he is blatantly opposed to the idea, so they have a fight, and the Pasha wins – end of poem.
  
  Ahh, how tragic is the world of love. This isn’t any of that silly Hollywood rubbish – this is love in the real world. There is no compromise here, no winning over the reluctant stepfather or the convincing the other that you are actually a pretty decent person after all. No this is love in the real world where we are left for dead at the side of the road, heartbroken, and wondering what went wrong. This is a world were romances are destroyed and are never rekindled, where the lover is left wandering the dark and empty streets forever with no light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.
  
  I guess this is why I love the Romantics so much, because they don’t speak to the ideal, but the speak to the realistic, or at least Byron does in this sense. Then again I noticed it with both of the Shelly’s as well, in particular Percy (who, in my opinion, is a far better writer than his wife, but then again that is just my opinion). Maybe it is because I never found happiness in love, but then again, romantic love doesn’t fill that empty void, no matter what Hollywood says. In fact, I recently watched a movie from the 80s where the main character professes his undying love out of the blue, and for some unknown reason they actually got together. Honestly, doing that only ends in tears, but then again, Hollywood really does seem to be disconnected from the real world.
  
• 
  Nadja

  I'm no expert in poetry therefore I don't really have much to say. It was interesting and different than anything I've read before.
  
  Jane Austen July 2020: Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen.
  
  The Reading Rush 2020: 2/ Read a book that starts with the word “The”.
• 
  Shams Alizada

  Zarifliği ile gönül okşuyor. Bir hikayeden ziyade uzun bir şiiri andırıyor.
  Şiire doyacaksınız, eğer öyle bir şey mümkünse.  
• 
  Perry Whitford

  In which bad old Lord Byron almost pens a narrative poem about incest, only to bail out on it and write instead a revenge tragedy with a mythic ending.
  
  The daughter, Zuleika, and the (supposed) son, named Selim, of a Turkish Pasha called Giaffir, are thrown into turmoil when their father informs that he is to give the hand of his beloved girl away in marriage for political reasons.
  
  In actuality, Selim is the son of Guaffir's brother, who the ambitious Pasha murdered long ago, retaining the boy and bringing him up as his son, though he mistreats and despises him (He rear'd me, not with tender help, / But like the nephew of a Cain) keeping him from manly pursuits and then accusing him of being 'Greek in soul if not in creed'.
  
  Byron has the pseudo-siblings vow to love each only for ever and share a less than chaste kiss before one of them at least knows the truth, after which Selim becomes to Zulieka "yet now my more than brother!"
  
  I enjoyed the first canto in particular, which sets the scene for something more than the second delivered. Byron varies the meter a fair bit, and he used Turkish phrases well for some of his rhymes, such as chibouque (pipe), Comboloio (rosary) and Galiongée (sailor).
  
  I think Byron preferred Selim as a lover than a fighter.
  I did anyway.
• 
  Drew

  The second of the Turkish tales wasn't as good as the first (The Giaour). The story felt rushed, especially in the concluding canto. But, I enjoyed it, hence the 3 stars. I was especially fond of the XII stanza of the 1st canto. Fast pacing, lovely verse. The first few lines are:

  He lived — he breathed — he moved — he felt;
  He raised the maid from where she knelt;
  His trance was gone — his keen eye shone
  With thoughts that long in darkness dwelt;
  With thoughts that burn — in rays that melt.
• 
  Helen

  Whatever Lord Byron wrote is top of the top. This is a very sad but very sweet tale of love, in a way that only Byron can express. These are not just poems. They are immortal masterpieces. Humankind can wait as long as they want, but they will never find a better poet than Lord Byron.
• 
  Arquero

  Amorous, vengeful and boring to read.