SCHERZO by James Russell Lowell: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
**SCHERZO** is a playful yet bittersweet song that explores love as it transitions through the seasons — spring welcomes it, while autumn and winter drive it away, and old age gently takes what remains.
The poem
When the down is on the chin And the gold-gleam in the hair, When the birds their sweethearts win And champagne is in the air, Love is here, and Love is there, Love is welcome everywhere. Summer's cheek too soon turns thin, Days grow briefer, sunshine rare; Autumn from his cannekin Blows the froth to chase Despair: Love is met with frosty stare, Cannot house 'neath branches bare. When new life is in the leaf And new red is in the rose, Though Love's Maytlme be as brief As a dragon-fly's repose, Never moments come like those, Be they Heaven or Hell: who knows? All too soon comes Winter's grief, Spendthrift Love's false friends turn foes; Softly comes Old Age, the thief, Steals the rapture, leaves the throes: Love his mantle round him throws,-- 'Time to say Good-by; it snows.' 'FRANCISCUS DE VERULAMIO SIC COGITAVIT' That's a rather bold speech, my Lord Bacon, For, indeed, is't so easy to know Just how much we from others have taken, And how much our own natural flow? Since your mind bubbled up at its fountain, How many streams made it elate, While it calmed to the plain from the mountain, As every mind must that grows great? While you thought 'twas You thinking as newly As Adam still wet with God's dew, You forgot in your self-pride that truly The whole Past was thinking through you. Greece, Rome, nay, your namesake, old Roger, With Truth's nameless delvers who wrought In the dark mines of Truth, helped to prod your Fine brain with the goad of their thought. As mummy was prized for a rich hue The painter no elsewhere could find, So 'twas buried men's thinking with which you Gave the ripe mellow tone to your mind. I heard the proud strawberry saying, 'Only look what a ruby I've made!' It forgot how the bees in their maying Had brought it the stuff for its trade. And yet there's the half of a truth in it, And my Lord might his copyright sue; For a thought's his who kindles new youth in it, Or so puts it as makes it more true. The birds but repeat without ending The same old traditional notes, Which some, by more happily blending, Seem to make over new in their throats; And we men through our old bit of song run, Until one just improves on the rest, And we call a thing his, in the long run, Who utters it clearest and best.
**SCHERZO** is a playful yet bittersweet song that explores love as it transitions through the seasons — spring welcomes it, while autumn and winter drive it away, and old age gently takes what remains. The title translates to "joke" or "playful piece" in music, and Lowell maintains a light tone despite the underlying sadness: love is beautiful but fleeting, and time ultimately prevails.
Line-by-line
When the down is on the chin / And the gold-gleam in the hair,
Summer's cheek too soon turns thin, / Days grow briefer, sunshine rare;
When new life is in the leaf / And new red is in the rose,
All too soon comes Winter's grief, / Spendthrift Love's false friends turn foes;
Tone & mood
Light and musical on the surface—this is a *scherzo*, after all—but beneath it all lies a real sense of sadness. Lowell maintains bouncy rhymes and vivid imagery, which makes the slow decline of love and the onset of old age feel even more poignant. The tone comes across as wry and accepting, steering clear of bitterness or despair.
Symbols & metaphors
- The seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) — The four seasons correspond to the stages of human life: youth, maturity, middle age, and old age. While this is a well-known framework, Lowell approaches it with a refreshing lightness that keeps it feeling vibrant.
- The bare branches — Love cannot shelter *'neath branches bare'* — stripped trees represent a life that has lost its warmth and protection, a space where love simply cannot thrive.
- Old Age as a thief — Lowell depicts old age as a figure that quietly approaches and takes away joy, leaving only sorrow in its wake. This theft happens subtly and inevitably, making it feel more disturbing than a sudden loss might.
- Snow — The closing image — *'it snows'* — serves as both a representation of winter weather and a final curtain call. Snow blankets everything, dampens sound, and marks the conclusion of the story.
- The dragonfly's repose — A dragonfly hardly stops before darting off again. Measuring the length of love's best moments shows just how fleeting joy can feel, even when you're right in the middle of it.
Historical context
James Russell Lowell penned this poem in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when he was a prominent literary figure in America—working as a poet, critic, and editor of *The Atlantic Monthly*, and later serving as a diplomat. The title *Scherzo* is a nod to music: in a symphony, the scherzo is the lively, playful movement that often appears between heavier sections. Lowell intentionally employs that lightness, crafting a bouncy, almost song-like rhythm. This poem belongs to a long tradition of carpe diem poetry, which encourages readers to embrace joy before time slips away. However, Lowell's take is more resigned than urgent. By the time he wrote it, he had faced significant personal loss, including the deaths of his first wife and children, which adds a quietly earned sadness beneath the poem's cheerful facade.
FAQ
In music, a *scherzo* is a lively, playful movement — the term translates to 'joke' or 'jest' in Italian. Lowell employs this term to indicate that the poem maintains a light form and tone, despite addressing a genuinely sad subject: love fading with age and time. This contrast between the upbeat style and the somber content is central to the poem's message.
It traces love across the four seasons, each representing different stages of life. Spring, with its youth, brims with love, while autumn and winter—symbolizing old age—tend to push love away. In the end, Old Age takes away the joy, leaving only sorrow, and Love gently bids farewell.
It doesn't have a specific speaker; instead, it feels like a wise, somewhat wistful narrator watching human life unfold from afar. The tone comes off as knowledgeable rather than intimate, like someone who's experienced it all and is sharing their insights with you.
A *cannekin* (also spelled *canakin*) is a small drinking can or cup. Lowell brings Autumn to life by describing it as a drinker blowing the froth off his cup — a lively, somewhat boisterous image that captures the spirit of the season's harvest festivals.
Love, personified, pulls his cloak around himself and offers a quiet goodbye. The snow indicates that winter is here—both in reality and as a metaphor for the end of life's warmth. This is done intentionally; the straightforwardness of *'it snows'* feels more conclusive than any grand statement could.
It has similarities to carpe diem poems, recognizing that love and joy are fleeting. However, it doesn’t push you to seize the moment like Herrick or Marvell. Lowell takes a more resigned approach; he’s illustrating the pattern instead of urging action.
Each stanza features a tight rhyme scheme based on two rhyming sounds (typically AAABBB or ABABBB), and the lines are short, creating a lively rhythm. This mix of close rhymes, brief lines, and a steady beat gives the poem a song-like or dance-like quality, fitting perfectly with its musical title.
Love is described as *spendthrift* because it generously gives everything away without holding anything back for the future. The 'false friends' represent those people (or feelings, or situations) that are present when life is easy but vanish — or even become unfriendly — when tough times come. It's a keen insight into the nature of loyalty that only lasts in good weather.