Stanzas Written on the Road Between Florence and Pisa
Stanzas Written on the Road Between Florence and Pisa - meaning Summary
Youth Valued Over Fame
The speaker rejects public renown in favor of youthful intimacy and romantic approval. He contrasts laurels and crowns with the ‘‘myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty,’’ arguing that an admired lover’s glance is truer glory than fame. The stanzas present a retrospective, first-person valuation: youthful love and being thought worthy by a beloved outshine the hollow rewards of later-life fame. The poem reflects Byronian concerns with love and reputation.
Read Complete AnalysesOh, talk not to me of a name great in story; The days of our youth are the days of our glory; And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty. What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled? ‘Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled: Then away with all such from the head that is hoary! What care I for the wreaths that can only give glory? O Fame! if I e’er took delight in thy praises, ‘Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases, Than to see the bright eyes of the dear one discover She thought that I was not unworthy to love her. There chiefly I sought thee, there only I found thee; Her glance was the best of the rays that surround thee; When it sparkled o’er aught that was bright in my story, I knew it was love, and I felt it was glory.
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