The Corsair

Corsair

Corsairs were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds...

was a semi-autobiographical tale in verse by Lord Byron in 1814 (see 1814 in poetry

1814 in poetry

* Augusta Gordon bore her half-brother Lord Byron's daughter* July 27 - Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin elope to war-ravaged France, accompanied by Godwin's stepsister, Mary Jane Clairmont, 16; the trio quickly moves on to Switzerland...

), which was extremely popular and influential in its day, selling ten thousand copies on its first day of sale. http://www.salon.com/books/today/2002/02/01/feb01/ Its poetry, divided in canto

Canto

The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

s (as Dante's Divine Comedy), narrates the story of the corsair Conrad, how he was in his youth rejected by society because of his actions and his later fight against humanity (excepting women).