Skip to content
Linespedia

Sorrow

By Algernon Charles Swinburne

Topics: classic

Sorrow, on wing through the world for ever,     Here and there for awhile would borrow     Rest, if rest might haply deliver     Sorrow.     One thought lies close in her heart gnawn thorough     With pain, a weed in a dried-up river,     A rust-red share in an empty furrow.     Hearts that strain at her chain would sever     The link where yesterday frets to-morrow:     All things pass in the world, but never     Sorrow.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Sorrow, on wing through the world for ever,..."

Algernon Charles Swinburne's contribution to classic is further solidified by the brilliance found in "Sorrow"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Algernon Charles Swinburne

"Sorrow, on wing through the world for ever,..." by Algernon Charles Swinburne

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"I.     Is the sound a trumpet blown, or a bell for burial tolled,     Whence the whole air vibrates now to the clash of words like swords     Let"

"Kind, wise, and true as truth's own heart,     A soul that here     Chose and held fast the better part     And cast out fear,     Has left us"

"I     Out of hell a word comes hissing, dark as doom,     Fierce as fire, and foul as plague-polluted gloom;     Out of hell wherein the sinless da"

"A faint sea without wind or sun;     A sky like flameless vapour dun;     A valley like an unsealed grave     That no man cares to weep upon,"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Algernon Charles Swinburne

About Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) was an English poet known for metrical innovation and bold themes. His "Atalanta in Calydon" and "Poems and Ballads" challenged Victorian conventions with their musical intensity and controversial subject matter.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"I.     Is the sound a trumpet blown, or a bell for..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.