(12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875 / Devon, England)

poet Charles Kingsley
#300 on top 500 poets
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What do you think this poem is about?

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.

Submitted: Friday, January 03, 2003


Read poems about / on: song, child, dream, death, farewell, life, sky, children

Comments about this poem (A Farewell by Charles Kingsley )

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  • Abdelrahman Elawad (12/14/2012 2:38:00 PM)

    Nice poem.. It is wonderful.. I liked it...

    0 person liked.
    		0 person did not like.
  • Abdelrahman Elawad (12/14/2012 2:36:00 PM)

    Nice poem.. it is wonderful.. I liked it...

    1 person liked.
    		0 person did not like.
  • Bodhi U (12/14/2011 12:47:00 PM)

    poet wonderfully sums up most things in minimum context.. good one

    2 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Rekha Mandagere (12/14/2011 5:31:00 AM)

    Sweet words for sweet fairy child are presented in the most unique way. Simple graceful words ironically defeat the virus intellectualism in the most subtle way. Great write!

    2 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Pranab K Chakraborty (12/14/2011 4:59:00 AM)

    Brilliant to cross the intelligent ambushes. Much polite to combat arrogant...way of ignoring is unique for the generations who want to materialise the truths to life. Nice indeed.

    2 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Cs Vishwanathan (12/14/2010 7:03:00 AM)

    As a schoolboy I had to read some of his poems in my English texts.All his poems were quite accessible to us children. The reason is plain o see - simplicity of presentation and reasoning and easily voiced rhymes. It is not that the British mistrusted intellectuals - some of the greatest post-renaissance intellectuals have been British - but they were generally wary of irrelevant and overweening sophistry. The epithet 'too clever by half' was reserved for people with such predilections. The freedom of expression was nowhere better practised than in England.

    3 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • Herman Chiu (12/14/2009 7:41:00 PM)

    I love this style of writing - simple, and speaks of simple things, but explains a lot about living.

    2 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Michael Pruchnicki (12/14/2009 12:57:00 PM)

    It's beyond me that 'A Farewell' constitutes a summary of British attitudes about intellectuals, but then I'm an American, so what do I know about things English?
    By the way, Shakespeare was truly a literary genius - his star outshone those of Newton and Darwin (?) and whomever you admire!

    5 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Emma Kessler (12/14/2009 12:37:00 PM)

    Love it, it is simply beautiful.

    2 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • Kevin Straw (12/14/2009 4:51:00 AM)

    Summarises the suspicion the English hold for the intellectual. One of their put-downs is 'He is too clever by half'. Yet it did not prevent Shakespeare, Newton and Darwin to appear mysteriously in their midst!

    2 person liked.
    		8 person did not like.
Read all 15 comments »

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