“Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” Summary

“Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” Themes

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  The Faithlessness of Men

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Farewell, ungrateful traitor!”

• Lines 1-4

  Farewell, ungrateful traitor!
  Farewell, my perjured swain
  Let never injured creature
  Believe a man again.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  The pleasure of possessing
  Surpasses all expressing,
  But 'tis too short a blessing,
  And love too long a pain.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  'Tis easy to deceive us
  In pity of your pain;
  But when we love, you leave us
  To rail at you in vain.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Before we have descried it,
  There is no bliss beside it,
  But she, that once has tried it,
  Will never love again.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  The passion you pretended
  Was only to obtain;
  But once the charm is ended,
  The charmer you disdain.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  Your love by ours we measure
  Till we have lost our treasure;
  But dying is a pleasure
  When living is a pain.

  

  

  

  

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“Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Pun

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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“Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” 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.

• Perjured
• Swain
• Injured
• Possessing
• Surpasses all expressing
• Rail
• Descried
• Pretended
• Obtain

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Farewell, ungrateful traitor!”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” Speaker

“Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Farewell, ungrateful traitor!”

More “Farewell, ungrateful traitor!” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Spanish Friar — Read this song in the context of the play it came from: The Spanish Friar, a tale of deception and double-crossing.

  • Dryden's Life and Work — Read a short biography of Dryden at the Poetry Foundation's website.

  • The Poem Aloud — Hear the poem read out loud.

  • Dryden's Laureateship — Read about a rediscovered portrait of Dryden—and his role as the first English Poet Laureate.

  • The Poem Set to Music — Listen to the poem set to a jaunty melody.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Dryden

  • To the Memory of Mr. Oldham