Poems
To a lady
O! had my Fate
been join’d with thine,
As once this
pledge appear’d a token,
These follies had
not, then, been mine,
For, then, my
peace had not been broken.
To thee, these
early faults I owe,
To thee, the wise
and old reproving:
They know my sins,
but do not know
‘Twas thine to
break the bonds of loving.
For once my soul,
like thine, was pure,
And all its rising
fires could smother;
But, now, thy vows
no more endure,
Bestow’d by thee
upon another.
Perhaps, his peace
I could destroy,
And spoil the
blisses that await him;
Yet let my Rival
smile in joy,
For thy dear sake,
I cannot hate him.
Ah! Since thy
angel form is gone,
My heart no more
can rest with any;
But what it sought
in thee alone,
Attempts, alas! To
find in many.
Then, fare thee
well, deceitful Maid!
‘Twere vain and
fruitless to regret thee;
Nor hope, nor
Memory yield their aid,
But Pride may
teach me to forget thee.
Yet all this giddy
waste of years,
This tiresome
round of palling pleasures;
These varied
loves, these matrons’ fears,
These thoughtless
strains to Passion’s measures—
If thou wert mine,
had all ben hush’d: --
This cheek, now
pale from early riot,
With Passion’s
hectic ne’er had flush’d,
But bloom’d in
calm domestic quiet.
Yes, once the
rural Scene was sweet,
For Nature seem’d
to smile before thee;
And once my Breast
abhorr’d deceit, --
For then it beat
but to adore thee.
But, now, I see
for other joys –
To think, would
drive my soul to madness;
In thoughtless
throngs, and empty noise,
I conquer half my
bosom’s sadness.
Yet, eve in these,
a thought will steal,
In spite of every
vain endeavour;
And fiends might
pity what I feel –
To know that thou
art lost for ever.
George Gordon Lord
Byron, To a Lady (From Fugitive
Pieces – 1806)
Source: http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Lord_Byron/16266
To some ladies
What though while the
wonders of nature exploring,
I cannot your
light, mazy footsteps attend;
Nor listen to
accents, that almost adoring,
Bless Cynthia’s
face, the enthusiast’s friend:
Yet over the
steep, whence the mountain stream rushes,
With you, kindest
friends, in idea I rove;
Mark the clear
tumbling crystal, its passionate gushes,
Its spray that the
wild flower kindly bedews.
Why linger you so,
the wild labyrinth strolling?
Why breathless,
unable your bliss to declare?
Ah! You list to
the nightingale’s tender condoling,
Responsive to
sylphs, in the moon beamy air.
‘tis morn, and the
flowers with dew are yet drooping,
I see you are
treading the verge of the sea:
And now! Ah, I see
it – you just now are stooping
To pick up the
keep – sake intended for me.
If a cherub, on
pinions of silver descending,
Had brought me a
gem from the fret-work of heaven;
And smiles, with
his star- cheering voice sweetly blending,
The blessings of
Tighe had melodiously given;
It had not created
a warmer emotion
Han the present, fair
nymphs, I was blest with from you
Than the shell,
from the bright golden sands of the ocean
Which the emerald
waves at your feet gladly threw.
For, indeed, ‘tis
a sweet and peculiar pleasure,
(And blissful is
he who such happiness finds,)
To possess but a
span of the hour of leisure,
In elegant, pure,
and aerial minds.
John Keats. To Some Ladies. 1817
Source: http://www.bartleby.com/126/5.html
Analysis
In the poem ‘To a Lady’, Byron is remembering the most beautiful moments
he has experienced during his love
life. The woman he is addressing is supposed to be ‘Julia Leacroft, a girl
Byron romanced while living in
Southwell’ (To a Lady – a poem by
Lord Byron, cooke@readytogoebooks.com,
2005, http://www.readytogoebooks.com/LB-lady-P99.html. Day of access May 6th).
This poem is divided in 11 stanzas. Each stanza is divided in four lines
and its rhyme is abab. In the first stanza we can feel the despair and
lamentation of the author because he is not predestined to be loved by the
woman of his life.
In the second stanza he feels sad and laments his failures in the
relation. But it was not just his fault that the relation did not work out,
since he explains this woman has also made mistakes. And because of the faults
of both of them they can not share their life.
We find a contrast in the third stanza. How he felt the love before his
marriage was over and how he feels it currently. Before the breaking up the
relation was like ‘rising fires’ (line 10). But now he does not feel their love
like that anymore.
In the next lines Byron is lamenting himself because he has lost his
beloved woman. He names Nature, as a Romantic poet that he was. We find this
reference to Nature in lines 34, where he writes ‘for Nature seem’d smile
before thee’.
Byron realises that it is better to go on with life instead of spend all
of his life lamenting himself for losing his lady. This is reflected in these
words ‘now, I seek for other joys’ (line 37), ‘to think, would drive my soul to
madness’ (line 38). He knows it is not worth it to think about his sad
situation all the time.
In the last stanza he admits that even he is now focused on other
objectives in his life, there will always be moments for him to think and
remember his lost love.
In the poem ‘To Some Ladies’, Keats’ language ‘is manifestly formed on
the model of the “elegant” writers of the beginning of this century’ (Notes.
Keats, John. 1884. Poetical works, Bartleby.com, 2005. http://www.batleby.com712671000.html. Day of access May 6th).
Keats, born in 1795, is talking about the same theme as Byron, love. But
we find some differences between both poems.
The first different thing we find is the kind of language they use.
Byron uses a tone that make us feel he is lamenting himself for most of the
time, while Keats uses an elegant but easy language.
Both Byron and Keats are Romantic poets, so we can also find some common
elements in their poems, such as that both refer to Nature in some verses.
“To Some Ladies” is divided in seven stanzas with four verses each one,
and the rhyme used is abab.
In the first stanza Keats says he is so looking to Cynthia’s face that
he can not pay attention to the rest of the things happening around him, such
as the changes of Nature. This is not the only stanza in which Keats talks
about Cynthia and Nature, he keeps mentioning them in the rest of the poem.
Another thing that both of these authors share is the importance they
give to the surrounding, which helps us get involved in both poems.
To sum up, both poems talk about love but using a different vocabulary
and tone. But like both Byron and Keats are romantic poets and they belonged to
the same group of revolutionary poets they share some characteristics, such as
the mention of nature, as we have said before.