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Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron – A Separation Poem

Fare Thee Well

“Fare Thee Well By Lord Byron” is an expression of his feelings after separating from his wife in the early 1800s. The fifteen-stanza poem is written in an ABAB pattern. The poet had some strong emotions in his pen and he brought a new beautiful poem to this world.

Separation is one of the strongest feelings that bring out soulful emotions. Byron, too, like any other person in love brought out those emotions that were causing turmoil in his heart. Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron is one of the most famous of his times till today!

Here’s Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron.

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Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron

 

“Alas! they had been friends in youth:

But whispering tongues can poison truth;

And constancy lives in realms above;

And life is thorny; and youth is vain;

And to be wroth with one we love,

Doth work like madness in the brain;

________

But never either found another

To free the hollow heart from paining –

They stood aloof, the scars remaining.

Like cliffs which had been rent asunder;

A dreary sea now flows between,

But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,

Shall wholly do away, I ween,

The marks of that which once hath been.”

Coleridge, Christabel

 

Fare thee well! and if forever,

Still forever, fare thee well:

Even though unforgiving, never

‘Gainst thee shall my heart rebel.

 

Would that breast were bared before thee

Where thy head so oft hath lain,

While that placid sleep came o’er thee

Which thou ne’er canst know again:

 

Would that breast, by thee glanced over,

Every inmost thought could show!

Then thou wouldst at last discover

‘Twas not well to spurn it so.

 

Though the world for this commend thee –

Though it smile upon the blow,

Even its praise must offend thee,

Founded on another’s woe:

 

Though my many faults defaced me,

Could no other arm be found,

Than the one which once embraced me,

To inflict a cureless wound?

 

Yet, oh yet, thyself deceive not;

Love may sink by slow decay,

But by sudden wrench, believe not

Hearts can thus be torn away:

 

Still, thine own its life retaineth,

Still must mine, though bleeding, beat;

And the undying thought which paineth

Is – that we no more may meet.

 

These are words of deeper sorrow

Than the wail above the dead;

Both shall live, but every morrow

Wake us from a widowed bed.

 

And when thou wouldst solace gather,

When our child’s first accents flow,

Wilt thou teach her to say “Father!”

Though his care she must forego?

 

When her little hands shall press thee,

When her lip to thine is pressed,

Think of him whose prayer shall bless thee,

Think of him thy love had blessed!

 

Should her lineaments resemble

Those thou never more may’st see,

Then thy heart will softly tremble

With a pulse yet true to me.

 

All my faults perchance thou knowest,

All my madness none can know;

All my hopes, where’er thou goest,

Wither, yet with thee, they go.

 

Every feeling hath been shaken;

Pride, which not a world could bow,

Bows to thee – by thee forsaken,

Even my soul forsakes me now:

 

But ’tis did – all words are idle –

Words from me are vainer still;

But the thoughts we cannot bridle

Force their way without the will.

 

Fare thee well! thus disunited,

Torn from every nearer tie.

Seared in heart, and lone, and blighted,

More than this I scarce can die.

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“Fare Thee Well By Lord Byron” Summary

Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron

The lines of the poem Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron have elucidated the reader about Byron’s separation from his wife. By saying farewell right away from the start of the poem, he has jotted down his heart and shared with the readers about his decision to stay apart with a lot of words in his imaginary poetry world. He states that maybe he will never be able to meet his wife again with beautiful phrases like “still forever, fare thee well”. Byron explains so much only through the first stanza that he comes across like a man who has the maturity to love someone eternally. 

Then Byron tries to pour his emotions for his estranged wife by reminding her of the moments they spent together and the bed on which she slept in the lines of the second stanza. Further in the poem Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron, the poet remembers the bed and her sleeping on it. He thinks about her now sleeping on another bed. 

The poet tries to feel that past intimacy through this poem Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron. 

Lord Byron

Some lines of this poem Fare There Well by Lord Byron explain that if his wife peeked deep into the cores of his heart, she would find some true emotions and thoughts that would stop him from leaving her husband and the life they shared together. This stanza expresses Byron’s emotions of surprise at her decision to leave.

Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron also throws light on the poet’s wife’s character. He shares his fear that his wife must surely feel some pain owing to this separation despite being told that she did the right thing by leaving her husband. His wife is a woman who lives with moral values and never wants to hurt even those she hates. This stanza makes the readers realize that he can admit that society is with his wife for leaving him.

Byron exposes his remorse of leaving his wife by letting her know that he didn’t deserve a ” cureless wound “from the person who lived in the core of his heart. He seems to be blaming her indirectly for the present situation rather than taking the responsibility for all his actions. 

“Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron” looks like Byron is offending his wife for the separation. Line twenty-one to twenty-three has a detailed clarification that she should not try to fool herself. He tries to make her feel that their love for each other has diminished but she will feel his absence and secretly miss him.

Slowly, the poem becomes a little dramatic with Byron conveying how deep the pain is in his heart because of his wife’s decision. He claims his heart is bleeding, but extraordinarily, he expresses that her heart still has some life in it.

In some lines of the poem Fare There Well by Lord Byron, Byron portrays his loneliness. He insists the pain inside is increasing and engulfing him while he remembers the severe loss. The poet can feel such profound pain because he is sleeping in the same bed where he once slept with his wife. Her absence makes their memories and the loss more obvious and hard to reduce.

After the eighth stanza of Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron mentions their daughter for the first time. He is trying to request his wife to let her daughter know of his existence, even though he will not be around to show his love and affection for her. 

 Slowly the poem “Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron” showcases the sympathy card with the poet begs his wife to remind their daughter of his presence. Byron pens down the feelings of pure love between a mother and a daughter. He also explains that he may only be a part of her past but their daughter will forever be a part of his past, present, and future.

 

Separation poem

Through this poem “Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron,” the poet talks about his daughter in a sad verse expressing how he would never meet her again. The poem is a downpour of emotions of separation for his wife and daughter. Byron uses old English words like  “thee” and “thou,” making the poem more unique than ever. To be precise, he uses the Northern American language of Scotland from the 1300 century. 

The poet expresses his sorrowful thoughts and urges his wife & daughter to return by reminding them of the beautiful memories they spent together. Lastly, in the poem Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron, he also consoles himself that even if they don’t return, he will live a life with his world of poetry and their memories. He wants to be a part of his daughter’s life. In this poem, he speaks about himself in the third person.

The exclamative mood and the use of apostrophes, comma, and full stops in this poem ” Fare The Well by Lord Byron” are exclusively outstanding. 

The poet witnesses a painful time in his life and pours every it all out in the poem in a melodramatic way. Every stanza of the poem Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron has its meaning and existence. There is a sense of remorse, sadness, guilt, and, of course, separation. We get a feeling that some of the things Byron says for his wife are harsh, but it only comes from a place of heartbreak. 

How did you deal with your emotions of separation? Has this ever happened to you? If you liked our post on the poem Fare Thee Well by Lord Byron, leave us a like below and rate our post. Subscribe to us so we can personally send you these doses of love to your INBOX.

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