So We'll Go No More A-roving (Lord Byron)- Response Paper

Although bodily changes take place, Byron tries to make the reader be aware that the changes do not affect intangible things. Even though one’s body may grow older and shrivelled, their thoughts and emotions do not deteriorate. However when he writes ‘And the heart must pause to breathe,/ And love itself have rest’, it gives the impression that although ‘love’ and the emotional state of the ‘heart’ can not be significantly altered, after a period of intense emotional upheaval one requires a rest. Byron also tries to tell the reader that as one grows, nothing stops for their growth. He writes ‘And the moon be still as bright’ and through this the reader gets a sense that age can not stop the regular routine of nature and nature will just continue its usual activities. The poet’s use of melancholic tone indicates the reader that Byron must be mourning his lost youth.

The loss of youth is just the more reason to enjoy it till it lasts. Byron writes ‘Though the night was made for loving,/ And the day returns too soon,/ Yet we’ll go no more a-roving’ and by this he is trying to make the reader recognize that one’s youth is like the exciting ‘night’ which through its ‘loving’ is made to experience, explore and to enjoy. However its end can disturb this privilege one holds, leaving the person to weep for this loss.

Byron tries to make the reader understand that although old age may not change the situation around one, it may affect things important to them, for e.g. even the ‘love’ that has to eventually rest. One gets the sense that ultimately every object wears out its holder and this strikes the reader with the reality of life, which eventually also will finish off. The reader realizes that not only is youth an essential phase of their life but it is also the part that allows them the most benefits and opportunities, leaving one with the decision whether to enjoy them or not.