Written in 1817 and published posthumously in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (1830), Lord Byron's "So We'll Go No More a Roving" has endured as one of his most popular short poems. A reworking of an old Scottish ballad, it's a farewell to youthful wildness by a poet whose youth was scandalously wild. The "we" of the poem pledge to stop partying all night long, but the pledge sounds wistful—and maybe halfhearted.
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The Full Text of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”
1So, we'll go no more a roving
2 So late into the night,
3Though the heart be still as loving,
4 And the moon be still as bright.
5For the sword outwears its sheath,
6 And the soul wears out the breast,
7And the heart must pause to breathe,
8 And love itself have rest.
9Though the night was made for loving,
10 And the day returns too soon,
11Yet we'll go no more a roving
12 By the light of the moon.
The Full Text of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”
1So, we'll go no more a roving
2 So late into the night,
3Though the heart be still as loving,
4 And the moon be still as bright.
5For the sword outwears its sheath,
6 And the soul wears out the breast,
7And the heart must pause to breathe,
8 And love itself have rest.
9Though the night was made for loving,
10 And the day returns too soon,
11Yet we'll go no more a roving
12 By the light of the moon.
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Summary
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Themes
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Youth vs. Maturity
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”
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Lines 1-2
So, we'll go no more a roving
So late into the night, -
Lines 3-4
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright. -
Lines 5-6
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast, -
Lines 7-8
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest. -
Lines 9-10
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon, -
Lines 11-12
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Symbols
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The Moon
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The Sword and Sheath
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Allusion
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Metaphor
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Repetition
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Parallelism
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Euphony
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” 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.
- Roving
- Outwears
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Speaker
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“So We'll Go No More a Roving” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “So We'll Go No More a Roving”
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More “So We'll Go No More a Roving” Resources
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External Resources
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A Biography of Lord Byron — Read a biography of Lord Byron at the Poetry Foundation.
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The Poem's Inspiration — Read "The Jolly Beggar," an anonymous ballad originally written in Scots dialect, and a likely influence on Byron's poem.
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to the actor John Gielgud reading the poem aloud.
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The Poem Set to Music — Listen to a 1964 musical rendition of Byron's poem by folk singer Joan Baez.
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Byron's Private Life — Read some background on Byron's own "roving": his scandalous private life (which wasn't especially private—he was a much-discussed celebrity in his own time).
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Lord Byron
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