Lord Byron: Draft Version

To a Lady, is a poem written by Lord Byron in 1806 that belongs to his work called Fugitive pieces, from Hours of Idleness.

The first impression that I have had when I read the title is that the poem is addressed to a lady, probably to a lover of Byron, but just after the title there is a prologue of the poem, who tells us that a lady gave the author a lock of hair, because that I think that the author is going to present us this lady and not to address her. He tells us that the poem happened a night in December, and the place is a garden. The first impression I have had of the poem is that the writer is fallen in love with a lady, and he describes this love as pure and fixed and he compares it with the romance of Romeo and Juliet. But then he finds a problem that their love is worse than Juliet’s love, because the plot of Shakespeare happens in Italy where the weather is good and the sun shines, and their love happens in England where it rains and it freezes. But instead he promises to love her every night and if his love decreases there is not a problem, because the following night he will love her again.

The poem is very simple and presents a continuous form, it is not separated in paragraphs. It has 44 verses plus three more for the prologue. The rhythm is in the 10 first verses: A-A-B-B-D-D-A-A-D-D. Although the poem is not divided into paragraphs we can divid it and analyse it part by part. It is important that the poet talks directly to his love: for example line 5 ( our love); line 7 ( we sight…); or line 13 ( you have chosen…). Every time he talks about himself and his love, he talks every time about their love.

Firstly, in verses 1 to 4, the writer says that the locks of hair the lady gave him were the cause of making their love true and increased their words of love, and he says that these words ( I think as all the things said in love) made no sense. Then in lines 5 and 6 he affirms that he started to say before, that their love is fixed and it has no time or place, nobody and nothing can move their love.

Secondly he explains the things they must do to make their love romantic. In lines 7 and 8 the author says that after their love has nor time nor sense, they “ sight and whine with groundless jealousy repine…”, I think these things are the typical things you do when you are falling in love, because that I think that they are the things that make the love romantic. And in the following four lines ( 11- 14) he compares his love with Lydia Languish and tells her she must not be worried about the love she has chosen on this night of winter and in lines 15 and 16 he compares himself with the scene of a garden in winter.

Thirdly in lines 17 to 19 he speaks about a garden and tells us that Shakespeare made the precedent of this image of love in a garden with his play Romeo and Juliet. He talks about the moment when Juliet declared her love to Romeo in her garden and compares this with the moment his lady declared him her love in the same situation ( a night in a garden).

Then he talks about the muses that inspire the poets, and that there is a place where you are more inspired. Lines 22 to 28 he says that if Shakespeare could, he would change Byron’s scene of love in Britain to Italy, because the nights in Italy are proper to make a declaration of love. It is difficult for the writer to make a declaration in these conditions: a night in London, it would be easier to make it in Italy, where he had not objections. In the following lines ( 28- 32) he says why it is difficult to make a declaration in Britain. This is because of the weather, the climate in Britain is so rigid and he says that this makes the love so frigid and tells her to finish this imitation because as he says it is a silly situation.

Finally from line 33 to line 44 he asks her to meet each other under the sun, as they did before, but if he must, he will meet her in the night and he will love her for hours and compares this love with rural loves. But he says that it is probably that his love decreases because of the weather, but it is destiny that he will love her again the following night.