These are the characteristics of vampires as they appear in
poem and story pre-Dracula. They appear in order of publication. More will be
added as I have time.
Heinrich August Ossenfelder : "Der Vampir" (1748)
Poem
- Male vampire --
- Seeks one distinct woman's blood/life because she turned him down
- Drinks blood
- Vampire isn't slain at end.
Gottfied
August Bürger : "Lenore" (1773) Poem
This is actually a terrific poem to read. It has great internal rhyme, rhythm and sense!
This is actually a terrific poem to read. It has great internal rhyme, rhythm and sense!
- Male vampire -- soldier vampirized in Turkey during war
- Rides a black horse (this horse appears in story after story! There is a black horse in Revelations.
- Must be invited in and welcomed
- Goes after fiancé first
- Hates the chant of priests
- Sleeps in a coffin
- Must return to his coffin before dawn each morning.
- Will make her his "wife"
- Travels in a "the way I looked alive" guise which he looses at cock's crow
- Vampire is "alive" at the end -- no slayer
I argue that the victim isn't
vampirized at the poems end.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe :
"Die Braut von Korinth" (1797)[The Bride of Corinth] Poem
- First female vampire in English literature -- serves the 'old' gods (Roman pantheon)
- Wan [pale] lips and hands
- No heartbeat
- Cold body
- Won't accept the silver chalice of consecrated wine
- Takes a lock of his hair to work magic on
- Doesn't like prayers or chanting of priests (this is another characteristic that appears countless times!
- Her white clothing is really her burial shroud
- Sleeps in her coffin
- Goes out only at night
- Water, salt or earth will keep her from her purpose (finding her man)
- Left grave for fiancé's blood, after she finishes him off, anyone's will do.
- Drinks his blood from his breast, and the heat from his lips
- Will be destroyed by burning in coffin
- Burning them releases them to the old god's blessings
- One assumes that mom will slay them
Samuel Taylor Coleridge :
"Cristabel" (1798) Poem
Robert Southey : "Thalaba the Destroyer" (1800) Poem
Robert Southey : "Thalaba the Destroyer" (1800) Poem
Sorry, I haven't finished these yet, neither being a
particular favorite with me. Anyone out there who feels like doing the work
with me, contact me!
"The Mysterious Stranger"
Anonymous (1800) Poem (German)
- Male vampire -- female victim
- He is high-born -- a Lord
- Pale and emaciated -- he flowers as his victim fades
- Drinks blood from throat
- Leaves vampire marks that don't seem to heal
- Unless the victim does the slaying, she must become a vampire
- Sleeps in his coffin
- Must return to coffin each night
- Can't appear in daylight
- Must be invited in
- Rude to everyone except his victim
- Travels in mist -- entering almost like a dream, which his victim imagines she has had.
- Super-strength
- Is sorta slain: he is walled up after the ceremony: someone must say the creed while the victim hammer three nails into his coffin between sundown and actual dark. Then she must catch some of the blood that leaks from the coffin and smear it on the bite marks -- or she becomes a vampire.
John Stagg : "The Vampyre"
(1810)
Lord Byron : "The Giaour" (1813)
Two more I just haven't found time to get to yet. Stagg's play looks interesting, but Bryon really doesn't do me.
Lord Byron : "The Giaour" (1813)
Two more I just haven't found time to get to yet. Stagg's play looks interesting, but Bryon really doesn't do me.
John Polidori: "The
Vampyre" (1819) Story
For my money, this is a much better rendering than Byron's version upon which it is based. The vampire is both complex and interesting, and this story is as much about the battle of good against evil and a man's word being his bond, as it is about a vampire. (A complete study-guide for this poem will be available in my store along about Oct. 08)
For my money, this is a much better rendering than Byron's version upon which it is based. The vampire is both complex and interesting, and this story is as much about the battle of good against evil and a man's word being his bond, as it is about a vampire. (A complete study-guide for this poem will be available in my store along about Oct. 08)
- Male vampire: Lord Ruthven
- He understands human psychology and plays on it to get access to willing victims
- Goes after young innocent virginal females to ruin them
- Drinks their blood
- Must drink once a year
- Restored to "life" by being laid in the moonlight (first full moon of the month)
- Can be shot and it kills him, but it fails to "slay" him
- Vampire walks away winner
John Keats : "Lamia"
(1819)
Byron, Percy Lord. Fragment.
A complete study-guide for this poem will be available in my store along about Oct. 08!
A complete study-guide for this poem will be available in my store along about Oct. 08!
- male vampire well, alomst. He never actually is shown as having risen -- high-born
- no victims
- we believe he will be reborn after death
J.R. Planche: (1820) The Vampire --
drama based on "The Vampyre"
John Keats : "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" (1820)
Clearly the next few months will be busy ones for me!
John Keats : "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" (1820)
Clearly the next few months will be busy ones for me!
Johann Ludwig Tieck "Wake Not
the Dead" (1823) Story
This is a truely interesting story. The vampire carries the same personality after death as she had before it!
This is a truely interesting story. The vampire carries the same personality after death as she had before it!
- Female vampire -- lady of the manor.
- She doesn’t care about the age or sex of the victim.
- Pale complexion
- Cold -- both physically and emotionally
- She is called back via sorcery by the victim
- She drinks blood from the victim’s breast
- Uncomfortable in bright sunlight, but can endure it.
- Drinks blood at night only.
- To dispose of her, she must be staked, then beheaded, and never remembered.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: The
Moral Immortal (1833)
There is no vampire in this novella. There is a young apprentice to a sorcerer who inadvertently drinks an immortality drink. Thereafter he is immortal, without needing to drink blood. Actually he’s quite a nice guy
There is no vampire in this novella. There is a young apprentice to a sorcerer who inadvertently drinks an immortality drink. Thereafter he is immortal, without needing to drink blood. Actually he’s quite a nice guy
Henry Liddell : "The Vampire
Bride" (1833)
Théophile Gautier : "La Morte Amoureuse" (1836)
James Clerk Maxwell : "The Vampyre" (1845)
Théophile Gautier : "La Morte Amoureuse" (1836)
James Clerk Maxwell : "The Vampyre" (1845)
James Malcom Rymer: Varney the
Vampyre:The Feast of Blood (1845) serial publication. I have the abridged
version available for purchase and download in my store.
- Male vampire, female victim
- Prefers young beautiful innocent virginal victims
- Long sharp teeth
- Pale and more than a bit like a corpse walking
- Sir Francis Varney (high born?)
- Can be shot but it dosn't kill him
- Lying out in the full moon restores his life
- Dresses in out-of-date fashion
"The Last Lords of
Gardonal" (1867) William Gilbert
Vikram and the Vampire (1870) Sir Richard F. Burton
Sheridan Le Fanu "Carmilla" (1871) novella
This is a story well worth reading, even in the original language. There is a wealth of detail about vampires, especially the standard means for slaying them!
This is a story well worth reading, even in the original language. There is a wealth of detail about vampires, especially the standard means for slaying them!
- Lesbian Vampire female victims only, preferably young and virginal
- She is a high-born lady
"The Horla" (1887) Guy De Muapassant
The Mystery of the Campagna (1887) Anne Crawford
"The Sad Story of a Vampire" (1894) Count Stenbock
- vampire sucks energy through touching a pulse point
- Needs invite into home
- Gains energy and bulk in direct proportion to its donor's / victim's weakening.
Good Lady Ducayne (1896) Mary Elizabeth Braddon
She is closer to a Elizabeth Bathory than our concept of vampires usually embraces. Science assists her to transfuse the blood of young females into her own veins in an attempt to become young and beautiful again.
She is closer to a Elizabeth Bathory than our concept of vampires usually embraces. Science assists her to transfuse the blood of young females into her own veins in an attempt to become young and beautiful again.
Rudyard Kipling : "The Vampire" (1897)
Female vampire. Boy is this one indicative of masculine views of women at the time.
Female vampire. Boy is this one indicative of masculine views of women at the time.
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