THE VAMPYRE, John William Polidori. The OG Vampire Story, before Debonair Vampires were Cool. Undead

The Vampyre. (1819) John William Polidori.
This is the first published modern vampire story, it was written by John William Polidori (1795–1821), English writer and physician, although it was originally attributed to Lord Byron, later both Byron and Polidori affirmed that the story is Polidori’s. It was published in The New Monthly Magazine (a British monthly magazine). The story of how it was written is most interesting: in the summer of 1816, Lord Byron and his young physician John Polidori were staying at the Villa Diodati (Switzerland) by Lake Geneva and were visited by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont. In June the five turned to telling horror tales, and decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. Mary Shelley, in collaboration with Percy Bysshe Shelley, produced what would become Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Polidori was inspired by a fragmentary story of Byron’s, Fragment of a Novel (1816) (aka “A Fragment” and “The Burial: A Fragment”) and wrote The Vampyre. It has been long suggested that Polidori made the character Lord Ruthven (the vampire) as a satire of Lord Byron, whom he resented. So, here is the start of modern vampires, a mix of folk legends and a satire of Lord Byron by his physician, John Polidori, and all came from the same night that gave birth to Frankenstein.
But first on earth, as Vampyre sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent;
Then ghastly haunt the native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse,
Thy victims, ere they yet expire,
Shall know the demon for their sire;
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
But one that for thy crime must fall,
The youngest, best beloved of all,
Shall bless thee with a father’s name—
That word shall wrap thy heart in flame!
Yet thou must end thy task and mark
Her cheek’s last tinge—her eye’s last spark,
And the last glassy glance must view
Which freezes o’er its lifeless blue;
Then with unhallowed hand shall tear
The tresses of her yellow hair,
Of which, in life a lock when shorn
Affection’s fondest pledge was worn—
But now is borne away by thee
Memorial of thine agony!
Yet with thine own best blood shall drip;
Thy gnashing tooth, and haggard lip;
Then stalking to thy sullen grave,
Go—and with Gouls and Afrits rave,
Till these in horror shrink away
From spectre more accursed than they.

Find the hard copy of Pioneer Vampire Tales and other great hard copies at https://nighttimeeditions.wordpress.com/vampires/. Gave us the inspiration and approval to read these stories to you!

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