“A Leave-Taking” Introduction

• Read the full text of “A Leave-Taking”

“A Leave-Taking” Summary

“A Leave-Taking” Themes

• 

  The Pain of Unrequited Love

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Leave-Taking”

• Lines 1-4

  Let us go hence, my songs; she will not hear.
  Let us go hence together without fear;
  Keep silence now, for singing-time is over,
  And over all old things and all things dear.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-7

  She loves not you nor me as all we love her.
  Yea, though we sang as angels in her ear,
           She would not hear.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 8-14

  Let us rise up and part; she will not know.
  Let us go seaward as the great winds go,
  Full of blown sand and foam; what help is here?
  There is no help, for all these things are so,
  And all the world is bitter as a tear.
  And how these things are, though ye strove to show,
           She would not know.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 15-21

  Let us go home and hence; she will not weep.
  We gave love many dreams and days to keep,
  Flowers without scent, and fruits that would not grow,
  Saying 'If thou wilt, thrust in thy sickle and reap.'
  All is reaped now; no grass is left to mow;
  And we that sowed, though all we fell on sleep,
           She would not weep.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 22-25

  Let us go hence and rest; she will not love.
  She shall not hear us if we sing hereof,
  Nor see love's ways, how sore they are and steep.
  Come hence, let be, lie still; it is enough.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 26-28

  Love is a barren sea, bitter and deep;
  And though she saw all heaven in flower above,
           She would not love.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 29-35

  Let us give up, go down; she will not care.
  Though all the stars made gold of all the air,
  And the sea moving saw before it move
  One moon-flower making all the foam-flowers fair;
  Though all those waves went over us, and drove
  Deep down the stifling lips and drowning hair,
           She would not care.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 36-42

  Let us go hence, go hence; she will not see.
  Sing all once more together; surely she,
  She too, remembering days and words that were,
  Will turn a little toward us, sighing; but we,
  We are hence, we are gone, as though we had not been there.
  Nay, and though all men seeing had pity on me,
           She would not see.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“A Leave-Taking” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“A Leave-Taking” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Hence
• Yea
• Ye
• Strove
• If thou wilt
• Thy
• Sickle
• Reap
• Hereof
• Steep
• Barren
• Moon-flower
• Foam-flowers
• Fair

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Leave-Taking”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“A Leave-Taking” Speaker

“A Leave-Taking” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “A Leave-Taking”

More “A Leave-Taking” Resources

• External Resources

  • Algernon Charles Swinburne's Life and Work — Read a Poetry Foundation biography of Algernon Charles Swinburne. 

  • An Introduction to the Victorian Era — Read about the historical period in which Swinburne lived and wrote.  

  • Listen to the Poem Out Loud — "A Leave-Taking" as read by Tom O'Bedlam.  

  • The Algernon Charles Swinburne Project — Peruse Indiana University's digital collection of Swinburne's work.  

  • A Collection of Anti-Love Poems — Browse the Poetry Foundation's top picks for poems about breakups, heartache, and unrequited love.