Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Originally published between 1812 and 1818, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" describes the travels and reflections of a young man tired with a life of revelry and pleasure who seeks to distract himself in foreign lands. It is the first of Lord Byron's poems to introduce us to the Byronic hero and contains many autobiographical elements. An instant hit with Regency-era readers, it is this poem that catapulted Byron to celebrity. After its publication, he was quoted as saying, "I awoke one morning and found myself famous."