Sir Walter Scott

Where Shall the Lover Rest

Where Shall the Lover Rest - meaning Summary

Love, Loss, and Retribution

This poem contrasts the fate of a faithful lover parted forever from his beloved with the doom of a treacherous suitor. The loyal lover finds a tranquil, deathlike rest beneath willow and violet, his sorrow framed as eternal separation. The deceiver, by contrast, meets violent punishment on the battlefield and posthumous shame, his grave mocked by nature. The poem pairs elegiac mourning with moral retribution in straightforward terms.

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Where shall the lover rest Whom the fates sever From the true maiden's breast, Parted for ever?-- Where, through groves deep and high, Sounds the fair billow, Where early violets die, Under the willow. Chorus. Soft shall be his pillow. There, through the summer day, Cool streams are laving; There, while the tempests sway, Scarce are boughs waving; There, thy rest shall thou take, Parted for ever, Never again to wake, Never, O never! Chorus. Never, O never! Where shall the traitor rest, He, the deceiver, Who could win maiden's breast, Ruin and leave her?-- In the lost battle, Borne down by the flying, Where mingles war's rattle With groans of the dying.,P> Chorus. There shall he be lying. Her wing shall the eagle flap O'er the false hearted, His warm blood the wolf shall lap, Ere life be parted, Shame and dishonor sit By his grave ever; Blessing shall hallow it,-- Never, O never! Chorus Never, O never!