Written in the voice of a departing student, Amy Levy’s ‘A Farewell’ captures the ache of leaving a much-loved place with nothing to show for it. Sitting at a window while a sad rain falls, the speaker watches the spires of ‘King’s’ – probably King’s College, Cambridge – and praises the town’s beauty, its greyness and greenness, and its scholars in caps and gowns. Everybody, she notes, is reluctant to leave: some gain friends, some gain honour, and a lucky few gain both. The speaker, though, has neither. Still, her heart is heavy. The repetition of the rain’s sadness frames a mood of quiet, intimate grief. There is no complaint, just a tender melancholy – a recognition that a place can hold you fast without ever rewarding you in the usual ways. That she is sorry to go without either gives the poem its gentle, surprising sting.
A Farewell — Summary
(After Heine.)
The sad rain falls from Heaven, A sad bird pipes and sings ; I am sitting here at my window And watching the spires of "King's."
O fairest of all fair places, Sweetest of all sweet towns! With the birds, and the greyness and greenness, And the men in caps and gowns.
All they that dwell within thee, To leave are ever loth, For one man gets friends, and another Gets honour, and one gets both.
The sad rain falls from Heaven; My heart is great with woe-- I have neither a friend nor honour, Yet I am sorry to go.