Thalaba the Destroyer
Robert Southey (1774-1843) was one of the most popular and influential poets of the late 18th and early 19th century in England. Although he was England's Poet Laureate from 1813-1843, he is usually overshadowed by his contemporaries such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, & Keats. As well as a prolific poet, Southey also was a scholar of Spanish and Portuguese history and literature. He is also known as the author of The Story of the Three Bears, the original Goldilocks story. In addition, he is the first author to use the term "vampire" in a work, his epic poem Thalaba the Destroyer.
Thalaba the Destroyer (1801) is an epic poem composed by Robert Southey. The poem consists of 12 "books" with irregular stanza structures and unrhymed lines. It is set in ancient Babylonia, but, its hero, Thalaba, describes himself as a Muslim who is true to Allah. It relates the story of a group of evil wizards who plot to kill the Hoderiah family to thwart a prophecy that a member of this family will grow up to kill the group of wizards. Thalaba, the youngest member of the family, survives the massacre. When one of the wizards is going to kill Thalaba, he is defeated by a great storm, and Thalaba gains possession of his magic ring. With this magic ring, Thalaba travels throughout the Middle East in order to find a way to defeat the wizards. Thalaba enounters many mythical and legendary figures throughout the text including Simorg, a benevolent mythical bird, and Azazel, the Angel of Death. In one passage, Thalaba rescues Oneiza, the daughter of Moath, the man who raised him after his family was killed, from Aloadin, an evil sorcerer. Thalaba marries Oneiza, who then immediately dies during the middle of their wedding. Thalaba then mourns for Oneiza, when a spirit claiming to be Oneiza begins to haunt him and say that Allah disapproves of his actions in pursuing the wizards. Moath comes, recognizes the spirit to be a vampire, and kills it. Then, the true spirit of Oneiza comes and guides Thalaba on his journey. Southey composed a long footnote defining and explaining to his readers just what a vampire is and where they come from.