so well go no more a roving (232) Flashcards
where is this poem from
a letter to thomas moore (a poet) in 1817
what does roving mean
to be promiscuous, lustful, uncaring or impermanent
“be still”
repetition emphasises how much he doesn’t want to give it up and lose all he enjoys; that this is a struggle he needs to convince himself to give up and that the world wont get worse without his roving
“moon be still as bright”
bathes everything in beauty; motif for romance but ironic as he is trying to romanticise his loss of romance and justify/distance his roving to something more loving or romantic
“sword outwears its sheath”
phallic metaphor for inability for sexual satisfaction; byrons gone past the point of no return and it is a physical metaphor that byrons lifestyle cant last forever
anaphora of “and”
hedonism taught him nothing; repetition reflects how it always leads nowhere
cyclical behaviour he cannot stop the inevitability of his behaviour
“heart must pause to breathe”
personification; love as a physical thing that he cannot physically keep ‘loving’ this much so something has to give
loss of his vices (drugs, drink, sex)
“night was made for loving” vs “day returns too soon”
metaphor for growing up and facing the ‘light’; the light being the truth, responsibility and clarity
evolution from “roving” to “loving”
subversion of expectation sense of epiphany/change with his new priorities
evolve into something less destructive and hedonistic
“light of the moon”
reflects the sudden epiphany (the light) in the darkness he was in before; life now filled with romance rather than the secret and sinful night
evolution from “bright” to “light”
the feeling has changed from an epiphany to dreaded exposure now that he knows the truth (his epiphany) and now he has to live with it
impact of iambic tetrameter and rhyming couplets
reverting back to a ‘regular life’ through regular structure from the chaos of his previous life
