Mazeppa (poem)

Mazeppa is a narrative poem written by the English Romantic poet Lord Byron in 1819. It is based on a popular legend about the early life of Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709), who later became Hetman (military leader) of Ukraine. Byron's poem was immediately translated into French, where it inspired a series of works in various art forms. The cultural legacy of Mazeppa was revitalised with the independence of Ukraine in 1991.

This article is about the poem by Lord Byron. For other uses, see Mazeppa.

Mazeppa
AuthorLord Byron
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreNarrative poem, Romanticism
PublisherJohn Murray
Publication date
1819
TextMazeppa at Wikisource

According to the poem, the young Mazeppa has a love affair with a Polish Countess, Theresa, while serving as a page at the Court of King John II Casimir Vasa. Countess Theresa was married to a much older Count. On discovering the affair, the Count punishes Mazeppa by tying him naked to a wild horse and setting the horse loose. The bulk of the poem describes the traumatic journey of the hero strapped to the horse. The poem has been praised for its "vigor of style and its sharp realization of the feelings of suffering and endurance".

Published within the same covers as Mazeppa was a short "Fragment of a Novel", one of the earliest vampire stories in English, and the poem "Ode".

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