Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, published in four cantos between 1812 and 1818, was the poem that made Byron famous — he famously wrote that he awoke one morning and found himself famous after its first two cantos appeared. The poem follows the disillusioned young Harold on a journey through Portugal, Spain, Albania, Greece, and Belgium, meditating on the ruins of classical civilization, the Napoleonic wars, and the melancholy of the wandering Romantic hero.
Byron’s majestic Spenserian stanzas and his panoramic vision of a Europe in upheaval give the poem a grandeur that still commands admiration. Download this free EPUB from Better Gutenberg and travel Europe with Byron.