premise: The King and I is based on a poem.
hypothesis: Mazeppa is a narrative poem written by the English romantic poet Lord Byron in 1819 . The King and I . It is based on Margaret Landon 's novel , Anna and the King of Siam ( 1944 ) , which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens , governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s . The King and I (1956 film) . The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King and I , based in turn on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon . That novel in turn was based on memoirs written by Anna Leonowens , who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s .