“Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos”

Many times after reading a poem the reader can identify certain things about the poet; like age, sex, sensibilities, and values. In “Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos” the reader can tell that the author is a man who probably believes that dying for love is asinine. He basically tells his readers that love is not some special power or motivation that will help you to defeat any obstacle that comes in your way. He tries to prove it by comparing his own experiences of crossing the river of Hellespont to the experiences of a lover named Leander. Lord Byron probably values self confidence over love. He probably feels no sympathy towards people who values love over everything. Byron specifically targets the group of people that believe one can do anything in the world for their love. He tries to tell them that, all of it is just plain asinine and will lead to their death. The source is probably not reliable, because the author himself is saying that, rather than someone else.

The diction used by the poet sounds casual, as if he is directly trying to tell his chosen audience something. The rhyming in the poem makes it sound more like a fantasy rather than reality. The reader can easily guess that the tone used in the poem by the poet is far from emotional and closer towards confidence. He wanted to prove to the world that love is not a strong enough motivation and he proves it. The language is not compressed, it can be easily understood but only if the reader already knew certain things like Leander and Hellespont.

The poem is nice but I personally have to disagree with the author’s thoughts and theme. My personal experiences tell me that there could have been many reasons to why Leander failed even with the motivation of love and why Byron succeeded with only determination. For example, Byron could have physically been stronger or a better swimmer to began with. I don’t value love in general, but I do believe that motivation such as love can do miracles for anyone.