ABSTRACT
Byron, The Giaour (11th edition, 1814) and The Bride of Abydos (7th edition, 1814); review by George Ellis, Quarterly Review, X (Jan. 1814), 331–354. [Issue appeared between March 25 and April 7, 1814.] George Ellis turns his urbane attention to late editions of Byron’s phenomenally popular romances. Did Murray and Gifford purposely delay assigning a reviewer to Byron’s poems until after their popular success was assured? Or did the Quarterly wait only until it was sure that no further revisions of the poems were forthcoming? Ellis’ opening paragraph states clearly the quarrel between traditional “Aristotelian” critics or readers who valued form over “good lines” and some writers in the early nineteenth century who concentrated on individual images and brilliant language at the expense of “plot.” But, as the review develops, Ellis seems satisfied with Byron’s performance in these two poems, especially the second one. His closing remarks illustrate Ellis’ old-fashioned view of poetry’s morality.
