“Farewell!
For in that word, that fatal word,—howe'er
We promise, hope, believe,—there breathes despair.”
Canto I, stanza 15.
The Corsair (1814)
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George Gordon Byron 227
English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement 1788–1824Related quotes
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 221
"The Last Journey", from The Testament of dick peter (London: Grant Richards, 1908) p. 146
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
Essays
Context: I felt despair. The word’s overused and banalified now, despair, but it’s a serious word, and I’m using it seriously. For me it denotes a simple admixture — a weird yearning for death combined with a crushing sense of my own smallness and futility that presents as a fear of death. It’s maybe close to what people call dread or angst. But it’s not these things, quite. It’s more like wanting to die in order to escape the unbearable feeling of becoming aware that I’m small and weak and selfish and going without any doubt at all to die. It’s wanting to jump overboard.
