Symbolism in Lord Byron's The Tear

Too often readers of romantic poetry see only flute-piping children frolicking in a meadow full of lambs. Unfortunately, many do not look deeper into the genre to discover the unveiled emotions that dwell within the works of the era. Found throughout Romantic poetry, one of the most common themes is the emotional overflow of the work. Or, as William Wordsworth states in the "Preface to Lyrical Ballads": "All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings . . . For our continued influxes of feeling are modified and directed by our thoughts, which are indeed the representatives of all our past feelings" (242). The tear that Byron continually references in the poem aptly named "The Tear" is symbolic of these flooding emotions. It is the tear, uncontrolled and honest, that proves the affection. Through the flooding of emotions the reader can sense the speaker of these works in a far more personal tone, especially in Byron's "The Tear" which uses first-person references. However, it is also the symbolism behind these romantic notions that guide the reader to fully understand the sentiments and full meanings intended by the author. The actual tear of the Byron's poem represents more than just sadness, but also melancholy, loss, love, compassion and even death.

"The Tear" can generally be divided into four different sections, each containing three stanzas. The first section describes the tear to be of compassion, it is the "Friendship or Love, / Our sympathies move" (1) which reveals the heart's true feeling. The next section oddly deals with professions and duty. This section tells of the sailor "doom'd to sail" (19) and of the soldier who "braves death . . . in Glory's romantic career" (25). The third section is the first direct encounter that the reader has with the speaker of the poem. It is there that the poem reverts to the speaker's youth, of a love full of promises that was lost to him. Finally, the last section of the poem realizes the speaker's thoughts and desires of his death. Again in first person, the speaker also addresses the reader directly, cementing a link between both reader and speaker.

The poem encompasses several scenes, even though it is fairly short. It begins with the narrator's voice, first offering the reader a glimpse of the supreme importance of the tear. The contrast between the tear and smile are somewhat different from common ideas of what those two words would mean. Normally, the smile is proof of affection yet for Byron the smile is "but the hypocrite's wile / to mask detestation, or fear" (9). The smile reveals no sentiments of affection to the speaker, instead he finds it practiced. A smile is too easy to fake. The tear, however, rather than symbolizing that same detestation or fear used to describe the smile, is instead used to show love. Yet it is more than just love. The tear, shed honestly, shows devotion and compassion to those for whom the tear is shed. The tear also holds a somewhat supernatural love: "Mild charity's glow, / To us mortals below, / Shows the soul from barbarity clear, / Compassion will melt, / Where this virtue is felt, / And its dew is diffused in a tear" (13). The compassion of charity, whether it is a Christian view of God, Mary or even just a reference of some form of supernatural power, forms into a tear: once again revealing the power that the speaker places in this seemingly small act. The reference to "dew" subtly brings the mind towards nature, which is a large part of Romantic poetry.

"The Tear" then goes on to describe two different types of men: the sailor and the soldier. Both are extremely similar to one another. They each are leaving their homeland and loved ones to face some form of uncertain doom or peril. For the sailor it is the unpredictable seas of the Atlantic while for the soldier it is the prospect of death in battle. The sailor is "doom'd to sail" (19) for that is his job -he must sail. The tear is almost as if it is the sailor's grave crying back up at him as the sailor looks down into the ocean. From the poem, it seems as though the sailor is enduring some type of storm or hurricane, or it could even be just a normal gusty day. One interesting thing is that in reality the sea does seem to sparkle from different types of light. As the sailor "bends o'er the wave" (22) he must be seeing hundreds of small tears appearing back at him.

For the soldier, however, he enters into his fate from a sense of duty and honor. The soldier enters the battle considering it "Glory's romantic career" (27) for a medal of some sort. War has always been romanticized for those of us that remain behind, perhaps to "keep morale" for those back home who are supporting the soldiers. Romanticizing war also includes young, idealistic young men whose sentiments resemble the soldier of the poem who goes to war for glory. During his search for glory, he instead "raises his foe, / When in battle laid low, / And bathes every wound with a tear" (28). He mourns the lives lost, perhaps, once again, through compassion. The soldier went to war seeking glory, but through glory in war must come pain and death. The fate of the sailor is unknown, but the soldier manages to return home. He has gained the glory that he sought in battle and now returns to his love "renouncing the gore crimson'd spear" (33). In this stanza however, the kiss returns to its earlier meaning: one of love and devotion as the soldier kisses a tear from the eyelid of his bride. Showing again that it is not the smile, "but the test of affection's a tear" (6).

The poem then shifts to a more personal, first-person account as the speaker delves into his youth. His own part of the poem speaks of a love lost. He speaks of his love as the "seat of Friendship and Truth" (37) as each year speeds by. Eventually he must leave her, whether by his own choice or hers the reader cannot tell. Again, when he remembers the vows of love he gave to her, she responds with true feeling by "reward[ing] those vows with a tear" (48). However, by the next stanza the reader learns that she has taken another, whether by marriage or other means. The speaker's reaction to the loss of this woman is somewhat melancholy, rather than inconsolable and despairing emotion which would signify an erupting amount of emotion. Byron again is using the tear to symbolize more than just a simplistic happy/sad emotion. He admits that she still holds a place within his heart, yet he says: "With a sigh I resign, / What I once thought was mine" (52). It is obvious that he still mourns the loss of this woman, but perhaps time has elapsed and now it is only a memory and regret that he lives with.

The final stanzas of the poem continue with the direct first-person thoughts of the speaker, yet these thoughts turn away from past love and into a far more morbid and mortal approach. The passages take an even more direct approach to the reader, as the speaker actually addresses the readers of the poem as "Ye friends of my heart" (55). His desire to be missed and remembered is a strong message in the passages. It's interesting that the speaker does not want fame from those who remember him. Fame, no matter how long one's name lives in infamy, does not generally equal compassion for one who has died. They are remembered, but no one cares for them. Byron asks: "No fiction of fame, / Shall blazon my name, / All I ask, all I wish, is a tear" (70). In this case, he is specifically requesting a tear of honest and heartfelt emotion upon his death. He pleads in the last line of the poem: "All I ask, all I wish, is a tear."

From friendship, compassion, love, regret and mourning, "The Tear" allows the reader to experience each of these emotions through the reoccurring tear of the poem. The tear represents more than a simple view of feelings. It allows for a more complex view of human emotions, each emotion no less powerful than another. By understanding these different emotions emerging from "The Tear" and by acknowledging the symbolism that the tear plays in the poem, this romantic poem becomes more relatable to a reader, rather than just seeing a pretty, inconsequential poem.