A Farewell
I
My fairest child, I have no song to give you;
No lark could pipe to skies so dull and grey:
Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you
For every day.
II
Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:
And so make life, death, and that vast for-ever
One grand, sweet song.
Commentary
(1819-1875)
A prime example of what I call Good Advice to the Younger Generation - what raises this one above the common herd, I think, is the supreme quotability of the line “Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever” - Kingsley gets it absolutely right, though ironically the line itself is nothing if not clever.
Whether one good line is enough to make a poem noteworthy is debatable - personally, I believe it is, especially in so short a piece. It possibly helps that I liked the quote long before I knew there was a poem attached to it. I also belong to the school of poetry criticism that looks for a poem’s good points first, and speaks only later, if at all, of its flaws - this is, after all, about the enjoyment of poetry far more than it is about its dissection. (Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy tearing into a particularly bad poem every now and then :)).
— Martin
Links
Biography of Kingsley:
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ki/Kingsley.html
And don’t miss the connection to Poem #255
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
mgtownsend · 7 March 2003
Dear Martin,
I have been enjoying minstrels for a couple of years and love the range of your selections. But I think I enjoy your commentaries almost as much as the poetry. This one re “A Farewell” is particularly disarming in its directness. And you are right. Thank you for this lovely service which brightens my day in a time when days need all the light that can be found.
Martin Townsend
Cincinnati, OH
Barbara Charles · 4 November 2006
I don’t think my Mother ever knew the title of this poem. Its second verse was written by her father in a book she received for her 10th birthday. Dated 31/8/1917, she never saw him again - a German U boat claimed his ship and crew in May, 1918. Barbara
Patricia Keegan · 9 March 2007
Dear Martin
Thanks for this little poem. (how long has it been posted?) “A Farewell “by Charles Kingsley
My father Patrick wrote these lines to me in my autograph book when I was a child.
Finding this today has been like receiving a message from my beloved Father. I have tried to live up to it.
Patricia
www.washingtoninternational.com
Jennifer Wenstob · 3 April 2007
I was nine years old when my teacher in England wrote “Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever” in my autograph book just before I emigrated to Canada. It was 54 years ago, and I remember at the time being perplexed by what it meant. I have carried the phrase in my head ever since and only now, after reading The Farewell, has the full import of the meaning touched me. How appropriate, how true, how lovely!