1-6 | The poet evokes Greece’s ancient heroes. (Themistoclese: savior of Ancient Greece) |
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7-20 | The beauty of the isles gladdens the heart of the returning seafarer |
21-33 | The land is a maid blooming to her lover's song; |
34-45 | a peaceful land, home to pirates preying on weary seafarers |
46-67 | Man’s passion and destructive force |
68-102 | A man looks upon a day-old female corpse: Greece! Her past inspires, but her present is without soul |
103-141 | Calls upon the Greeks to take courage from their past and fight their present oppressors |
142-163 | No more heroic stories; no more heroes; only ancient crafts remind us of what Greece used to be |
164-167 | “My sad story I shall now tell” |
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168-179 | A fisherman, on the lookout for pirates that may be hiding in the evening shadows, arrives safely to Port Leone |
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180-199 | (I see) A young and dangerous-looking Giaour gallop by. |
200-221 | The Giaour's movements are evasive. He pauses. |
222-233 | It is a holy evening. |
234-276 | He charges his steed and disappears, but in his pause could be seen a life of pain and a nameless, hopeless, endless woe |
277-351 | Hassan's home is deserted after his untimely death at the hands of the Giaour--Hassan's curse. |
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352-363 | I offer passage on my bark to an emir gently carrying a bundle |
364-373 | The emir requests to be taken to deep water |
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374-387 | The bundle is allowed to sink into the sea |
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388-421 | The prize won, it no longer attracts us. The maid who gives in to love finds only pain and shame |
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422-438 | A mind full of remorse makes life a living hell |
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439-472 | It is believed that Leila escaped from Hassan's serai during the feast of Bairam and gave herself to the Giaour, but the Giaour was seen riding alone that night |
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473-518 | Beautiful Leila, whose eyes defy the creed that woman is but a soulless toy for a tyrant's lust. Her mate was not Hassan |
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519-536 | Hassan, fully armed, goes in search of the Giaour. |
537-548 | The peaceful countryside--made to free man of rules |
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549-566 | A line of Tartars are coming down the gap |
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567-619 | They are ambushed. Three fall. All but Hassan take refuge. It is the Giaour ("lost Leila's love") who set the trap |
620-654 | Hassan's men and the Giaour's men engage in battle |
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655-674 | Hassan lies dead--his hand severed, his head split |
675-688 | The Giaour speaks: Leila has been avenged! |
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689-722 | One of Hassan's men is sent by the Giaour to report Hassan's death to his family |
723-746 | A monument is raised to Hassan at the spot he fell. Having fallen in combat with an infidel, he is assured the greatest bliss in the afterlife |
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747-786 | The infidel will be as a living dead |
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787-797 | Who is that monk? I saw him many years ago in my land on a charging steed |
798-831 | He came 6 years ago, but keeps to himself, never participates in the holy rites, but is allowed to remain due to his gifts to the monastery. He mutters and raves at the sea as if a hand beckons. |
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832-845 | He is a spirit unquelled, claiming ascendancy, |
846-858 | mocking misery, |
859-869 | and in his face can be seen a noble soul not totally degraded by crime. |
870-915 | He is a handsome, wild man full of defiance and despair. |
916-936 | The metal of love is given shape by the fire of passion and a woman's art. Beware of the dagger's shape! |
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937-970 | Feelings need to be shared |
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971-981 | The Giaour confesses to the Father Superior as others have done before him: |
982-998 | “My life has had much joy, but more sorrow; I prefer action to repose, but my soul needs rest” |
999-1028 | “Suicide is the fool's way. I was a slave to love and did not fear death in its service” |
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1029-1098 | “I loved her; she was killed because of me; I was unable to save her but I avenged her. It is her death, not his, that has made me what I am. Hassan died a quick death, no remorse on his brow.” |
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1099-1130 | He is a passionate man who possessed his love |
1131-1148 | She was his light; now he is in darkness |
1149-1191 | There was only one woman for him on this Earth |
1192-1217 | She died. Life without her is abhorrent. The priesthood will not relieve his grief or distress; but he is dying |
1218-1256 | Take a ring to a childhood friend who prophesied his fate, and tell him of his sorrowful end |
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1257-1318 | In a fevered wakefulness, Leila came to him. He knows he'll be dead by morning |
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1319-1334 | He wants no marker on his grave. Only this tale remains. |