All For Love By Lord George Bryon

INTRODUCTION: The poem ” All for Love ” by Lord George Bryon is a narrative poem which recounts how the days of our youth are the best and sublime but they are fleeting as well because we get older, things eventually change. The narrator of the poem just ever took delight in the lauds he got for his marvelous deeds because he craved to gain the love and consideration of a specific female, not on the grounds that he wanted to hear people commending him. At last, he feels that he is glorious in light of the fact that he picked up her love.

SUMMARY OF ALL FOR LOVE BY LORD BRYON

Lord Byron addresses this poem to beauty and love. The best days of a person’s life are the days of his youth. A young man does not wish to hear of names famous in stories. The young man feels proud and happy to be young. He feels that laurels, garlands, and crowns that are given to famous people are like dead flowers on which dew drops have fallen. He does not attach importance to these things, these crowns which can only give fame, but which fail to understand the joy and love that is there in the hearts of the youth.

The poet has personified fame and has directly addressed fame. Young men take delight in becoming famous not because of being praised in high sounding words. Young men take delight in becoming famous so that they may see the glows in their beloveds’ eyes. On becoming famous a young man gains credibility (becomes worthy) in the eyes of the beloved. That is the reason why a young man longs to gain fame(wants to become famous). The bright eyes of the beloved will discover that he is worthy to love her.

Fame is sought mainly in the eyes of the beloved. When her eyes sparkled with love, it was worth being famous. On seeing the joy and glow in her eyes, the young man realises that it was worth everything. He realizes what is it to be in love and to be surrounded in the beauty of love.

THEME: The poem All for Love is about how one can not depend on past achievements because they lose their value over time. The poem reveals that getting pure and real love is the best achievement.

LITERARY DEVICES

Rhyme Scheme: This poem has the scheme of AABB AABB AABB AABB because at the end of the stanzas the words have the same endings. In stanza 1, story and glory have the ending of -ory, and this is why the scheme is AABB.
Symbol: In line 14 “Her glance was the best of the rays that surround thee;” rays is being used to symbolize the brightness and happiness that the woman has brought the narrator. It made the story of his life bright and meaningful, and he knew it was true love and that, to him, was glorious.
Diction: By using words and phrases that are plain-spoken and uninhibited, such as saying “What care I for the wreaths that can only give glory?” , Bryon is able to create a forthright and pessimistic tone.

ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS OF ALL FOR LOVE

1. Why does the poet not wish to hear the names of people famous in stories?
Answer: The poet does not wish to hear the names of people famous in stories because he thinks that the best part of a person’s life is his youth. He wishes to hear about the activities of young people.

2. With what does he compare garlands and crowns?
Answer: He compares garlands and crowns to dead flowers on which dew drops have settled.

3. Why does he want to become famous?
Answer: He wants to become famous because then his beloved will think that he is worthy to be loved.

4. Why is the poet happy?
Answer: The poet is happy when he sees the glow of love in the eyes of the beloved.

5. What image from the poem is most helpful in conveying the overall meaning of the poem?
Answer: “‘Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled”, which is line 6 of this poem, is most helpful in conveying the overall meaning of the poem because a dead flower won’t be able to receive any benefits from watering; the water, though at one time was crucial to the flower, is now useless, just as a marvelous deed one fulfilled when young is good-for-nothing when years have passed.
6. What is the poet’s purpose in writing this poem?
Answer: The author’s purpose in writing this poem is to explain to the reader than one cannot always rely on past accomplishments. At one point in time, said accomplishments and achievements were something of value, but now that you are much older, they no longer have any worth.
7. What is the tone of the poem? Is the tone consistent?
Answer: The tone of this can be described as candid and forthright, for the narrator is blunt in asking “What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled?”, meaning what do past achievements mean to someone is now old; line 6, which states “‘Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled” further emphasizes how past accomplishments have no meaning seeing as how they happened so long ago. The tone is consistent because the words he uses help to express the tone of the poem.