A detailed line by line analysis of the poem "Love's Farewell" created by a 90% IEB matric 2020 English HL student (top 1% in the subject).
Explains the meanings of lines, figures of speech used, structure and more.
‘Love’s Farewell’ -Michael Drayton (1563-1631) Complete seperation
Since there’s no hope, come let us kiss and part,— Retain no connection
Nay I have done, you get no more of me;
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart, Love as a dying man
That thus so cleanly I myself can free;
Possibility of recovery
Shake hands for ever, 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.
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,
—Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!
Title
Farewell: goodbye, marks a departure, good wishes on parting. Love is being personified
as saying goodbye and leaving.
Since there’s no hope, come let us kiss and part,—
There is nothing else to do, so let’s separate. Dramatic pause to introduce explanation.
Nay I have done, you get no more of me;
I have tried, nothing more I can do. I will no longer share any part of myself.
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
I am so thrilled to be free from all this. Repetition emphasises his excitement or hints to
possible sarcasm (he is actually upset).
That thus so cleanly I myself can free;
Separation can be civil, without drama.
Stanza
We need to separate without any fuss.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
Being civil. Separation is permanent and completely over. Visual pun: ‘for’ and ‘ever’ are
separate to highlight the couple’s separation.
And when we meet at any time again, In the future, we must show absolutely no sign
Be it not seen in either of our brows of our history/no evidence that we ever had a
That we one jot of former love retain. romantic connection.
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