Romantic & Victorian Poetry

Submitted by:
Mazhar Hussain

Submitted to:
Prof Mr. Noman

Title:
So We’ll Go No More a Roving

Course Code:
ENG-408

Pakistan College of Science & Commerce Multan

Government College University Faisalabad

Introduction of Lord Byron:
Early Life:
George Gordon Byron was born on the 22nd of January in 1788. He is well-known as Lord Byron
or the 6th Baron Byron. He was an intelligent child of John (Mad Jack) Byron, a British army
officer, while his mother, Catharine Gordon, was a ruined Scots Heiress. Catherine was the
second wife of John Byron. He led a traumatic childhood partly because of the fierce temper
and insensitivity of his mother and partly because of his clubbed right foot. His father left him in
1791, while his mother left the world in 1811.

Education:
Lord Byron’s mother took him to Aberdeenshire, England. There, he attended Aberdeen
Grammar School and the school of Dr. William Glennie in Dulwich. He was treated with extra
care at school because of his clubbed foot. However, due to the mistreatment of his mother
coupled with her uneven temper, he lacked manners and discipline in his early years. Later,
between 1801 and 1805, he attended Harrow School in London, followed by Trinity College,
Cambridge. It was during that time he started documenting his literary ideas on papers. Also, he
got engaged in gambling, boxing, horse riding, and sensual escapades during that time.
Moreover, during his stay at Cambridge, he developed a lifelong friendship with John Cam
Hobhouse, a political figure and Francis Hodgson who later guided him in literary and other
matters of his life.

Married Life and Tragedy:

Lord Byron is a prolific literary figure. Sadly, his life is marred by a series of love affairs, including
Lady Oxford and Lady Caroline Lamb. He had had a secret relationship with his half-sister,
Augusta, too, who turned him down by marrying Colonel George Leigh. To distract himself, he
developed an illegitimate relationship with Lady Frances Webster. He recorded his unsuccessful
love affairs in his dark poems: “The Giaour”, “Lara”, “The Bride of Abydos” and “The Corsair.”
However, in January 1815, he married Anne Isabella Milbanke and their daughter, Ada
Lovelace, was born in the same year. Unfortunately, after a year, Isabella left him because of his
suspected love affair with his half-sister. After this tragic end of their marriage, in April 1816, he
left England for good.

Death:
Lord Byron, one of the great poets, died of illness on the 19th of April in 1824 in Messolonghi,
Greece, where he had traveled to support Grecians in their fight for independence from Turks.
His body was sent to England but the clergy refused to give him space at Westminster Abbey.
Therefore, his remains were buried near Newstead in a family vault.

Some Important Facts of His Life:

At the age of seventeen, he secured a reputable seat in the House of Lords.

He led a troubled childhood because of his schizophrenic mother and clubbed foot.

He had an illegitimate affair with his half-sister,

His famous pieces include: “She Walks in Beauty”, “The Curse of Minerva” and “When We Two
Parted.”

He played an active role in Greek’s war of independence.

His Career:
Lord Byron is considered one of the most controversial, yet leading figures of the Romantic
Movement in Europe. He started writing at an early age but did not publish his pieces.
However, in 1806, he started gathering his poems and published the first volume of his
collection privately which got poor reception. Later, in 1807 he published “Hours of Idleness”
followed by English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. These publications brought him into the
limelight and he became known among the literary circle of that time.

Moreover, his friendship with John Cam Hobhouse further accelerated his literary career.
Together they flew to Greece, Turkey, Malta, Albania, and Portugal. It was during that time he
started working on his epic poem, ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’ which hit the shelves in 1811.
Later in 1816, he traveled to Geneva and Switzerland with Shelley and Mary Godwin. Also, he
completed the third canto of his poem, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” during this time. Besides
poetry, he edited the Carbonari newspaper, The Liberal.

His Style:
Lord Byron was a leading figure of the Romantic Movement. His specific ideas about life and
nature benefitted the world of literature. Marked by Hudibrastic verse, blank verse, allusive
imagery, heroic couplets, and complex structures, his diverse literary pieces won global acclaim.
However, his early work, Fugitive Pieces, brought him to the center of criticism, but his later
works made inroads into the literary world. He successfully used blank verse and satire in his
pieces to explore the ideas of love and nature. Although he is known as a romantic poet, his
poems, “The Prisoner of Chillon” and “Darkness” where attempts to discuss reality as it is
without adding fictional elements. The recurring themes in most of his pieces are nature, the
folly of love, realism in literature, liberty and the power of art.

Lord Byron’s Famous Works :

Best Poems: Lord Byron is a great English poet, some his popular poems include: “She Walks in
Beauty”, “Darkness”, “There Be None of Beauty’s Daughter”, “The Eve of Waterloo”, “When We
Two Parted” and “And Thou Art Dead, As Young and Fair.”

Other Works: Besides poetry, he tried his hands on the tragedy in verse form. Some of them
include The Two Foscari: A Historical Tragedy, Sardanapalus, Marino Faliero and The Prophecy
of Dante.

Lord Byron’s Impact on Future Literature:

Lord Byron’s unique literary ideas brought new perspectives for English literature. His
distinctive writing approach and experimentation with epics and lyrics made him stand out
even among the best poets. His narrative and lyrical works are regarded as masterpieces and
had had significant impacts on generations. He successfully documented his ideas and feelings
about historical tragedies and romanticism in his writings that even today, writers try to imitate
his unique style, considering him a beacon for writing plays and poetry.

Famous Quotes:

 “What is the end of Fame? ‘Is but to fill

A certain portion of uncertain paper:

Some liken it to climbing up a hill,

Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapor?

For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,

And bards burn what they call their “midnight taper,”

To have, when the original is dust,

A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.” (Don Juan)

 “Oh! Too convincing–dangerously dear–

In woman’s eye the unanswerable tear!

 That weapon of her weakness she can wield,

To save, subdue–at once her spear and shield”. (The Corsair)

 “Sorrow is Knowledge: they who know the most

Must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth,

The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life”. (Manfred)

So We'll Go No More a Roving:

Written in 1817 and published posthumously in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (1830), Lord
Byron's "So We'll Go No More a Roving" has endured as one of his most popular short poems. A
reworking of an old Scottish ballad, it's a farewell to youthful wildness by a poet whose youth
was scandalously wild. The "we" of the poem pledge to stop partying all night long, but the
pledge sounds wistful—and maybe halfhearted.

The Full Text of “So We’ll Go No More a Roving”:

1 So, we'll go no more a roving

2    So late into the night,
3 Though the heart be still as loving,
4    And the moon be still as bright.
5 For the sword outwears its sheath,
6    And the soul wears out the breast,
7 And the heart must pause to breathe,
8    And love itself has rest.
9 Though the night was made for loving,
10   And the day returns too soon,
11 Yet we'll go no more a roving
12   By the light of the moon.
“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Summary:
So, we won't be staying out late and chasing nighttime pleasures as much as we used to, even
though we're still just as full of romantic desire as we used to be, and the night is just as
appealing.

Why? Because the body (especially its metaphorical "sword" and "sheath," a.k.a. its sex organs)
can get tired of pleasure and wear out, and the soul will eventually get tired of living altogether.
The heart has to take a minute to catch its breath sometimes—and even love itself gets tired.

Though night is the perfect time for romantic adventures, and though the sunrise brings an end
to nighttime fun all too quickly, we still won't go out chasing pleasures in the moonlight
anymore.

“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Theme:

Youth vs. Maturity;
Composed when the poet was 29, Lord Byron’s “So We’ll Go No More a Roving” proclaims the
end of a wild phase of youth. It announces that the speaker (a plural “we”) will stop “roving”—
partying and pleasure-seeking—late into the night, because they feel worn out and in need of
rest.

As a kind of elegy for youthful wildness, however, the poem contains an undertone of regret.
The speaker hints that their lust for life hasn’t gone away, leaving some ambiguity as to
whether they’ll actually settle down for good. Thus, the poem highlights the conflict and
poignancy of having to act like an adult when, inwardly, you still feel the excitement of youth.

The speaker starts by declaring that they'll stop their late-night partying, suggesting that
settling down is a part of growing up. The opening word “So” stresses that the declaration
comes as a consequence of something. It’s as if the speaker has been forced to a decision
(because they’re getting older and getting tired). The word “roving,” meanwhile, suggests
rowdy late-night activities: partying, seeking sex and romance (“loving”), etc.
The speaker indicates that all this “roving” has tired out their body, psyche, and emotions. They
haven’t lost all desire for late-night fun, but for now at least, they can’t pursue it at the same
pace. “The sword wears out the sheath,” the speaker says, winkingly referring to sex (“sword”
and “sheath” suggest the male anatomy and the partner's body) and implying that they're worn
out from sexual adventure. The speaker’s reference to “the soul wear[ing] out the breast”
evokes a kind of spiritual fatigue, too. It might even suggest the speaker’s awareness of their
own mortality, since the soul, in some traditions, exits the dying body. Finally, the speaker
signals their emotional fatigue by stating that “the heart” sometimes needs a chance to rest—
that it “must pause to breathe.” The word “pause” raises the possibility that this rest may be
temporary.

The speaker’s praise for the pleasures of “the night” adds a shade of doubt to their insistence
that they won’t be “roving” anymore. The admission that the night is (still) inherently enticing
reflects a conflict between the expectations of maturity and the speaker’s true desires. The two
statements beginning with “Though” stress that the night is just as romantic as ever—and the
speaker’s desire for romance just as strong. The claims that “the night was made for loving” and
“the day returns too soon” have a wistful tone, signaling the speaker’s lingering fondness for
nighttime pleasures. The pledge to “go no more a roving” brings the poem full circle, but this
repetition suggests that the speaker may still be trying to convince themselves. The ending
illustrates how people can still be tempted by lust and excitement even when they know
they’re “supposed to” settle down.

The poem captures a transitional phase between the end of youth and the beginning of
maturity, whether that maturity is really embraced or not. As someone who lived fast and
ultimately died young, Byron may have been adapting a traditional ballad theme to his personal
situation, admitting that he needed to quit—or at least pause—his pursuit of nighttime
pleasures.

“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Symbols:

The Moon:
The moon traditionally symbolizes several things that relate directly to Byron's poem: romance,
change, and madness.
The moon has long been a symbol of love and romance, since lovers' meetings often take place
at night. Here, it "still" holds the promise of romantic pleasure, shining as "bright" and tempting
as ever. But the speaker is getting older and can't take advantage of that promise as much as
before.

The moon, which goes through phases and shifts the tides, is also a conventional symbol of
change. Sometimes it's specifically associated with changes in romantic desire, as in Juliet's
speech to Romeo from the balcony (Romeo and Juliet, [Link]):

O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

In Byron's poem, the moon is steadily alluring—"still as bright"—but also reminds the speaker
that they have changed. They're getting older and feeling worn out from love. (The moon is also
symbolically linked with nighttime itself, which the speaker now wants to use for "rest" rather
than romance, partying, etc.)

Finally, the moon is traditionally linked with craziness and wild abandon. The word "lunatic"
comes from luna, Latin for moon, and derives from the ancient belief that the moon caused
madness. It can be specifically linked with the madness of love, as in the word "moonstruck." All
of this seems relevant to a poem about saying goodbye to your wild and crazy youth. (Byron
himself was an eccentric and volatile personality; one of his lovers, Lady Caroline Lamb,
famously called him "mad, bad, and dangerous to know.")

The Sword and Sheath:

The "sword" and "sheath" here symbolize the human body—and more specifically, its sexual
parts. In the poem, these two objects get old and worn out from repeated use, paralleling the
way people, too, start to tire out as they age. More specifically, the image that the body can get
tired of sex! In other words, the "sword" and "sheath" are probably a reference to the male
anatomy and...Any part of a partner's anatomy it might enter during sex. (Byron was bisexual,
so we won't narrow our interpretation here.)
In its coy way, this image links the concept of "roving" with the subject of sex—and, because
weaponry is involved, the idea of sexual "conquest." It also connects this kind of "roving" with
young soldiers and aristocrats, who in Byron's era might have carried literal swords with them
while out on the town. (Byron himself was an aristocrat and, toward the end of his brief life, a
soldier.) As an image of romantic pursuit, it could suggest violence, old-fashioned gallantry, or
both. Regardless, it suggests that too much "roving" has left the speaker as worn out as
weaponry—or soldiers themselves—after military service.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”

Form:
"So We'll Go No More a Roving" has 12 lines broken into three quatrains (four-line stanzas). It's
also a ballad adapted from an earlier ballad ("The Jolly Beggar," one of the collection of
traditional English and Scottish songs known as the Child ballads). It's written in three-beat
accentual meter, follows an ABAB rhyme scheme, and, in an echo of traditional ballads,
contains something like a refrain: the phrase "we'll go no more a roving," which occurs in lines 1
and 11.

The three stanzas organize the poem into a logical and symmetrical structure. Stanza 1
describes the speaker's decision to roam no more (though they seem a little reluctant about it);
stanza 2 presents the speaker's reasons for their decision; and stanza 3 returns to the decision
again—still wistful, but final.

Unlike traditional ballads, including the earlier songs/ballads it derives from, Byron's poem
doesn't tell a detailed story. Although it hints at an underlying story about a speaker who's
indulged in a lot of late-night fun, it focuses on a more general emotional experience: the
feeling that youth is over. In that respect, Byron has adapted his source material into a different
poetic mode, shifting from narrative to lyric. Lyric is more about the expression of personal
emotions and thoughts than complex storytelling. It's a mode closely associated with the
Romantic Movement of which Byron was a part (though Byron also wrote a lot of narrative
poetry).

Meter:
The poem uses a three-beat accentual meter, meaning that the total number of syllables per
line varies, but the number of stressed beats per line is always three. Try reading the poem
aloud and tapping your hand/foot on every stressed syllable, and you'll hear this for yourself:

So, we'll go no more a roving

So late into the night,

Though the heart be still as loving,

And the moon be still as bright.

Accentual verse is often found in older English poetry, including nursery rhymes, folk verse, and
the ballad tradition from which Byron's poem derives.

The syllable count per line varies from six (in lines 2 and 8) to eight (in lines 1, 3, 9, and 11).
Lines 2 and 8 are also regular iambic trimeter: that is, they each use three iambs (metrical feet
that go da-DUM). The meter as a whole might be described as irregular iambic trimeter, or
iambic trimeter with some extra syllables that give it a jaunty "swing." That "swing" combined
with the steady three-beat pattern helps evoke both the lightness of (waning) youth and the
steady march toward age.

Rhyme Scheme:
The poem's three quatrains rhyme on alternating lines, like this:

ABAB CDCD AEAE

The A-rhymes in the first stanza repeat in the third, helping to bring the poem full circle.

The rhymes in line two and four of each stanza are exact; the rhymes in lines one and three are
nearly exact, slant rhymes rather than perfect ones. That is, "roving" rhymes almost perfectly
with "loving" and "sheath" with "breathe"—but not quite perfectly, at least in standard British
and American pronunciation.

This tight, closed rhyme scheme emphasizes the closure the poem deals with: the end of youth.
(The poem's few imperfect rhymes might be read as an echo of the speaker's resistance toward
this closure.) It's also a scheme adapted from the ballad tradition that gave rise to Byron's
poem. The short lines and regular rhymes make "So We'll Go No More a Roving"—like all well-
crafted ballads—memorable, musical, and easy to recite.

“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Speaker:

The speaker of the poem is an unnamed "we," a group of lively young-ish people who don't feel
so young anymore. This "we" is borrowed from the ballads, popular folk songs that served as
the poem's source material: most notably, "The Jolly Beggar," whose refrain in a 1776 printing
went like this:

And we'll gang nae mair a roving

Sae late into the night,

And we'll gang nae mair a roving, boys,

Let the moon shine ne'er sae bright.

And we'll gang nae mair a roving.

An older song, "The Maid of Amsterdam," dates to at least the early 1600s and features a
version of the refrain with a singular, not plural, speaker: "I'll go no more a-rovin' with you, fair
maid."

These older works include detailed tales of sexual misadventures. In adapting the refrain to his
poem, Byron has made his "we" and their situation much more general—broad enough to
encompass anyone worn out by the wildness and excitement of youth. At the same time, the
poem reflects specific events in Byron's own life. He originally enclosed it in a letter to a friend
with an introductory note:

At present, I am on the invalid regimen myself. The Carnival – that is, the latter part of it, and
sitting up late o’ nights – had knocked me up a little. But it is over – and it is now Lent, with all
its abstinence and sacred music … Though I did not dissipate much upon the whole, yet I find
“the sword wearing out the scabbard,” though I have but just turned the corner of twenty nine.
In other words, this "we" is both a generalized voice, relatable to anyone who's reached the
end of young adulthood, and a stand-in for Byron himself as he turned the corner into his
thirties.

“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Setting:

The poem is not set in a specific physical location. The "roving" it refers to presumably takes
place in a setting of fun social activity—"out on the town," so to speak.

The poem is also set during the nighttime hours. It portrays "roving" as an activity of the night,
illuminated by a big, bright, romantic moon. While the poem doesn't specify a time of year,
Byron originally enclosed it in a letter to a friend, prefaced by a note in which he explained that
"sitting up late o' nights" during "Carnival" (the festive season before Lent) had tired him out a
little. In other words, the poem emerged from a season of raucous partying.

Finally, while the references to "sword" and "sheath" are primarily metaphorical, they help
evoke an age when soldiers, aristocrats, and other "gallant" young men out on the town might
have carried literal swords in literal sheaths. (Byron was an aristocrat, a naval captain's son, and
an eventual soldier who owned swords himself—and occasionally appeared with them in
portraits.)

Literary and Historical Context of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”

Literary Context:
Byron's poem draws on an extensive literary ballad tradition, and is directly adapted from at
least one older work. The immediate source seems to have been the Scottish folk ballad "The
Jolly Beggar," one version of which, collected in David Herd's anthology Ancient and Modern
Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, Etc. a few decades before Byron's poem, contains a refrain that
begins, "And we'll gang nae mair a roving / Sae late into the night." (The poem is written in the
Scots dialect, which contains variant spellings and versions of many English words: "gang" =
"go," "nae" = "no," etc.).
But other versions of "The Jolly Beggar," and other songs and ballads containing a similar
refrain, had been floating around for ages by the time Byron wrote his poem. A variation on
"The Jolly Beggar," called "The Jolly Gauger," appears in the 18th-century collection The Merry
Muses of Caledonia, supposedly compiled by Robert Burns. A sea shanty called "The Maid of
Amsterdam," a.k.a., "A-Roving," dates at least to the early 1600s and also has a "go no more a-
roving" refrain.

It's clear that Byron was familiar with, and drawing from, at least one of these older works.
However, this doesn't mean he was plagiarizing. Instead, he was alluding to the older song(s)
while making substantive changes to create an original work. In particular, he removed or
dialed back the extended narratives and broad sexual comedy that mark these earlier ballads.
Rather than an elaborate dirty song, "So We'll Go No More a Roving" is a short lyric poem that
highlights the themes of aging and renunciation (giving up on old pleasures).

In adapting an old ballad, Byron was very much a poet of his time. His fellow Romantic poets,
like Wordsworth and Keats, also reached back to the ballad tradition to shape their themes and
their style, rejecting the measured elegance of the earlier 18th century in English poetry in
favor of earthier language and simpler meter. Byron wouldn't have enjoyed being lumped in
with either of these contemporaries, though: he insulted them both spectacularly on a number
of occasions, calling Wordsworth "Turdsworth" and disparaging Keats's "piss a bed poetry." In
this kind of witty, haughty scorn, as well as in his usual poetic style and subject matter, Byron
considered himself more of a descendant of earlier satirists like Alexander Pope.

Byron didn't publish "So We'll Go No More a Roving" in his lifetime, but enclosed it in a private
letter to his friend and fellow poet Thomas Moore, who was likely to have known the ballad he
was alluding to. Moore served as Byron's literary executor (the official caretaker of his works)
and published the poem in 1830, six years after Byron's death.

Historical Context:
Lord Byron (1788-1824) was not only a major figure in literary history but a historic figure in
general. One of the first true celebrities, he ranked among the most famous (and infamous)
people in the world during the early decades of the 1800s. His impact on European culture
during this period was profound. Born into an aristocratic family as the 6th Baron Byron, his
literary star rose after the publication of his long poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812). His
wife Annabella coined the word "Byromania" to describe the hype that swelled around him.

As well as being a popular and controversial author, Byron lived a life full of scandal. He was
known throughout Europe and beyond for his love affairs, breakups, debts, unusual pets,
athletic feats, and volatile personality. He was bisexual, though this fact was less well known
during his lifetime, and was publicly accused of an incestuous romance with his half sister,
Augusta Leigh. One of his lovers, the Lady Caroline Lamb, called him "mad, bad and dangerous
to know."

Byron's writings and notorious persona gave rise to a literary/cultural archetype called the
"Byronic hero." The Byronic hero was proud, brooding, volatile, passionate, and rebellious. This
archetype is closely associated with the Romantic literary movement of which Byron was a part.

Basically, Byron packed more wildness and drama into his 36 years (he died of illness while
fighting in the Greek War of Independence) than most people fit into lifetimes twice as long.
The occasion for "So We'll Go No More a Roving" was a break he took after partying too much
during Carnival (the festival season preceding Lent) while living in Venice. As he wrote to his
friend Thomas Moore in an explanatory note:

At present, I am on the invalid regimen myself. The Carnival—that is, the latter part of it, and
sitting up late o' nights, had knocked me up a little.... The mumming closed with a masked ball
at the Fenice, where I went, as also to most of the ridottos, etc., etc.; and, though I did not
dissipate much upon the whole, yet I find 'the sword wearing out the scabbard,' though I have
but just turned the corner of twenty-nine.

So he was feeling older and a little tired as he neared thirty, and he was resting up like an
invalid (sick person). Still, the phrase "At present" hints that he didn't expect his late nights to
end forever—and they didn't.
The larger context of the poem is that Byron was an infamously wild young celebrity.
Sometimes he spiraled out of control, becoming self-destructive and destructive to others. All
of this biographical background helps shape the poem. At the same time, the poem captures a
more commonplace feeling of getting older, realizing you need to slow down, and
acknowledging that your wild youth can't last forever.