So We'll go no more a roving - Lord Byron Flashcards
What was the poem taken from?
-A letter to One of Byron’s close friends Thomas Moore
what is the poem an adaption of?
“The Jolly beggar” > a Scottish folk ballad
What type of poem is this?
-A Ballad
What was Byron alluding to in the poem?
-Older songs
What is the ballad?
-A short lyric poem
-Highlights themes of ageing and renunciation
Why was Byron seen as a poet of his time (2nd Gen)?
-Rejected earlier measurements of elegance of 16th century poets
What did his writings and notorious persona give rise to?
The “Byronic Hero”
What is a “Byronic hero”?
An archetype that:
-Defies codes of society
-Troubled background
-Sensuous and complex
-Fallen creature > forced in their ways > Motivated by their traumas
When was the poem written?
1817 > during a small break Byron took after partying too much during a carnival in Venice
What is the ‘Moon’ in stanza 1 a symbol of?
Fertility > trying to assert he is sexually capable
Why does the poem begin with “So we”?
-Referring to Lord Byron and those he goes out to see (women)
-All of humanity
-Conversational tone > concluding tone
What is significant about “roving”?
-Sexually promiscuous > hedonistic lifestyle
-Sexual mischief Byron goes on and what his nightlife entails
-Connotations to roving with a body > sexual exploits
What could’ve happened for Byron to write this poem?
-Realisation of his age and behaviour and that he should change his ways
What is significant about the repetition of “Be Still”?
-Reminder that life has not tainted even if his deeds have
-How time moves on and he is ageing yet everything is the same
How is the poem a metaphor for age?
-How ageing continues and is occurring but you as an individual don’t have to change
How is the poem a metaphor for love?
-The intimacy of love and romance ends far too early
How is the poem a metaphor for sex?
-Nightime mischief > What is desired > worn out > spiritual fatigue
What does the metaphor of “for the sword outwears its sheath” explore?
-Erotic reference to desire
-Still keen for sexual activity
What does the metaphor of “And the soul wears out the breast” explore?
-Byron is still prepared for the challenge of life> physically worn out but won’t give up
-Implies that age has caught up
How does the anaphora of “And” add to the sense of fatigue in the poem?
-Systematic feeling
-Repetition of his life has created a sense of tiredness
-his hedonistic lifestyle has drained him
-Relentlessness of the roving > neverending
What is significant about the personification of the heart in “Heart must pause to breathe”?
-Creates a sense of exhaustion
-Impression that the heart is a human being with its own control and life
-Dissatisfaction with his actions
-Forced to stop but wanting to continue > his sexual nature??
-Not stopping just the thought
Why is the “night” described?
where sin can be concealed and where private deeds can go unseen
What is significant about the phallic imagery in stanza two>
-Physical sexuality decaying
What is portrayed in the last line of stanza two?
-Love is not eternal > transient element in life
What does each line start with?
Anapestic rhyme
What is significant about the cyclical structure?
-No escape from morality or the passing of time
What does the regular ABAB Rhyme scheme do?
-Juxtaposes the poems form and the content > his erratic lifestyle
What is significant about “day returns too soon”?
-seems to have a longing tone
-dissapointed
-Thoughts are cyclical like day and night > day makes him question his night time activities
What is significant about the shift from “bright” to “light”?
-Sense of deflation > loss of purpose
What is the chiasmus?
-The parallelism of the moon
-feminity and the seductress > tempting him to indulge in that lifestyle
What is significant about the adverb “yet” in “yet we we’ll go no more a roving”?
-Despite his want to quite his roving he has to follow this > change in heart
