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Analysis of the poem Love’s Farewell

The poem touches on the themes of love, passion, faith, innocence. Drayton’s theme is the sad
and tender love of a true lover for an unresponsive lady love. It shows a soft but deepest sense of
farewell.

Stanza 1
Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part,
Nay I have done, you get no more of me;
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.

Explanation
In the first quatrain the poet addresses his beloved telling her that, he has no solution to continue
his love with her, and when this love comes to an end once, she will not get him anymore. So he
suggests her to kiss and finally part forever. It is clear that the separation has not been caused by
his beloved or she is not the cause behind the farewell. Even if she is the cause, he does not want
to blame her for separation. Though the farewell is full of sorrow, and as the farewell is final, he
says,
“And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free. ”
This expression of pleasure at departing seems to be odd to the readers. The possible reason for
this farewell is complete freedom with least possibility of revival in the future and the lover
wants a fresh start. The poet thinks that the freedom will fill his heart with gladness. Here the
gladness is emphasized by repeating the word ‘glad ’.

Stanza 2
Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain

Explanation
In the second quatrain the poet moves further in the direction of separation where he wants to
break all the promises made between them in the past. The poet writes,
“Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain.”
The words, ‘Shake hands forever’ express two meanings. The one is the agreement or
willingness at the decision of farewell, and second meaning is permanent farewell which is often
sad for the true lovers. They express their agreement that if they meet at anytime in future, they
will not retain any sign of former love in their eyes. The second quatrain shows the poet’s
firmness in his decision and is now more serious about the matter.

Stanza 3
Now at the last gasp of love’s latest breath,
When his pulse failing, passion speechless lies,
When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And innocence is closing up his eyes.

Explanation
In the third quatrain the poet expresses his intense seriousness in comparison with first two
quatrains. To emphasize that now his is intensely willing to depart, he makes use of metaphors.
The poet personifies his love, who is at the edge of death.
The poet, by personifying love and his friends, passion, faith, and innocence, wants to convey the
lessening of intensity of love. The poet creates a picture that, his love is taking last breaths, the
passion becomes speechless, faith becomes weak, and innocence is closing up his eyes. The poet
writes the following lines to express the seriousness of his departing love,
“Now at the last gasp of love’s latest breath,
When his pulse failing, passion speechless lies,
When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And innocence is closing up his eyes. ”
The poet, in these lines, touches the extreme peak of emotional experience.
There comes a sudden change in the feeling. The poet was serious enough to depart from his
love. He wants no sign of the former love. He has no hope of recovery, but he says that there is a
possibility of recovering the former love and bring his love to life again from death, if his
beloved wishes to recover the love. It is even at the last moment of parting that his beloved can
again enliven the dying love. In the poem, the poet is struggling for solution. But solution is in
the hands of his beloved who with her powerful emotion can make the dying love active and
living, the poet writes,
__Now if thou would’st, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!

Conclusion
To sum up out discussion, it may be noted that with strong subjective note the poet expresses his
intense feeling with proper intensity. The poem is fine example of subjective poetry whereby the
poet finds no solution to continue his love. This feeling of separation gradually acquires strength
and finally reaches at the edge of extreme. Though there is no alternative, the poet’s beloved can
do for the poet.

Literary Devices
Rhyme Scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg
Meter: iambic pentameter

The poem is arranged into three quatrains and one couplet.

Theme:
The poem touches on the themes of love, passion, faith, innocence. Drayton’s theme is the sad
and tender love of a true lover for an unresponsive lady love. It shows a soft but deepest sense of
farewell.
The poet expresses his strong emotions with regard to his farewell from his beloved. There is the
atmosphere of sadness. The poet shows his willingness to get separated permanently for some
unknown reason, but before parting he wants to have a last look of the love. Though the central
theme of the poem is love, but the emotions of sorrow and departure in the poem play an
important role to express the poet’s state of mind. It becomes difficult for the reader to ascertain
whether the poet is willing to leave or is forced to leave his love as the poet’s seriousness
increases with the course of the poem and again reader is taken aback when the poet declares that
he has a distant hope to revive his love if his beloved wants.

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