Another quatrain bemoaning the end of Spring or Youth.
First Edition: Quatrain LXXII
Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the Branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!
Second Edition: Quatrain CIV
Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!
Fifth Edition: Quatrain XCVI
Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the branches sang,
Ah, whence and whither flown again, who knows!
FitzGerald made only minimal changes to this quatrain over the five editions. The most significant change occurs in the first line when the introductory "Alas" in the first edition is replaced by "Yet Ah" in the second and fifth versions. The tone now changes from "Alas," a strong expression of sorrow, to "Yet Ah," which, to me anyway, is much weaker and more thoughtful, perhaps with a touch of ambivalence here.
Overall though, the theme is that of passing time, of changes which are inevitable, which echoes a number of the early quatrains that centered around the theme of the loss of past glories. Something that was present is now gone--Youth and the nightingale in this quatrain--but they are replaced by the Rose of summer.
The first line is a bit ambiguous; I first understood it as saying that Spring and the Rose vanish together. But, in Quatrain VIII (First Edition) we read, "And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose" which indicates that Spring vanishes with the appearance of the Rose, the sign of the "first Summer Month." Perhaps the Rose brings its own delights, not quite as pleasing as Youth and Spring though.
Time passes, and what it brings can never replace what has been lost--that Golden Age so often celebrated in many mythical histories.
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