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The Annotated Edition

THE WINDS by Algernon Charles Swinburne

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

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A woman has lost her lover to the sea, cursing everything tied to his death — the winds, the rocks, the sailors, the ocean itself.

Poet
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Themes
anger, death, love
The PoemFull text

THE WINDS

Algernon Charles Swinburne

O weary fa' the east wind, And weary fa' the west: And gin I were under the wan waves wide I wot weel wad I rest. O weary fa' the north wind, And weary fa' the south: The sea went ower my good lord's head Or ever he kissed my mouth. Weary fa' the windward rocks, And weary fa' the lee: They might hae sunken sevenscore ships, And let my love's gang free. And weary fa' ye, mariners a', And weary fa' the sea: It might hae taken an hundred men, And let my ae love be.

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

A woman has lost her lover to the sea, cursing everything tied to his death — the winds, the rocks, the sailors, the ocean itself. She longs to sink beneath the waves to join him. The poem is a heartfelt expression of grief from someone willing to give up everything just to have her one love back.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. O weary fa' the east wind, / And weary fa' the west:

    Editor's note

    The speaker begins by cursing all four winds—east and west here, and north and south in the next stanza. "Weary fa'" is a Scots phrase that conveys a sense of "a curse upon" or "woe to." By invoking every direction, she emphasizes that there isn't a place in the world she doesn't hold responsible. The last two lines of this stanza underscore her anguish: she is so overwhelmed by grief that she yearns to drown herself and find peace beneath the sea.

  2. O weary fa' the north wind, / And weary fa' the south:

    Editor's note

    Here we encounter a stark reality: her "good lord" — her husband or beloved — drowned before he had the chance to kiss her. That detail hits hard. It implies they were likely newly engaged or just married, meaning the sea didn't merely take a partner; it robbed them of their relationship before it could truly start. The phrase "ower my good lord's head" creates a powerful image of the water engulfing him, vividly depicting his submersion.

  3. Weary fa' the windward rocks, / And weary fa' the lee:

    Editor's note

    The curse spreads from the winds to the rocks — affecting both the windward side and the lee side. No part of the seascape is untouched by her fury. She envisions the rocks could have sunk 140 ships, and it wouldn't have mattered to her, as long as her love's ship was safe. This exaggeration reveals just how entirely her world has narrowed down to that one person: him.

  4. And weary fa' ye, mariners a', / And weary fa' the sea:

    Editor's note

    The final stanza shifts the curse onto the sailors and the sea itself. She would have gladly let a hundred men perish in his stead. This isn't cruelty; it's grief taken to its rawest form. The poem concludes with "my ae love," where "ae" means "one" or "only" in Scots. That one word holds the entire weight of the poem: he was the one, the only, and now he is lost.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone is both mournful and furious, a mix that resonates deeply with grief. The Scots dialect remains straightforward and unembellished, intensifying the emotional impact. There's no sense of self-pity here; the speaker is too consumed by anger to indulge in it. By the end, the anger and sorrow intertwine in that final phrase, "my ae love."

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

The four winds
Together they encompass the entire natural world—every direction, every force. By cursing all four winds, the speaker expresses that the whole universe shares in her loss.
The wan waves wide
The pale, vast sea represents both a killer and, for the speaker, a possible spot for reunion. She yearns to dive beneath the waves not merely to die but to find peace — suggesting she might encounter her lord there.
The windward rocks and the lee
Nautical opposites that represent all the dangers of the sea. By cursing both sides, the speaker holds every aspect of the maritime world accountable.
"My ae love"
The Scots word "ae" (one, only) transforms the final phrase into a symbol of something truly irreplaceable. He wasn’t just a love; he was the only love, and that uniqueness makes the loss feel complete.
The kiss never given
The fact that the sea took him before he ever kissed her lips represents all the life they missed out on — a symbol for every future moment taken away by his death.

§06Historical context

Historical context

Swinburne crafted this poem to deliberately mirror the Scottish and Border ballad tradition — the same tradition that gave us timeless classics like "Sir Patrick Spens" and "The Twa Corbies." He was captivated by the raw emotional honesty of those old songs and dedicated much of his career to trying to capture their musical quality and their unflinching embrace of grief. "The Winds" incorporates genuine Scots dialect words ("fa'", "wot weel", "ae") to root it in that tradition. Writing during the Victorian era, when most poetry was elaborate and highly ornamental, he chose this stripped-down ballad style as a deliberate response. The poem was included in his collection *Poems and Ballads* (1866), a book that shocked critics with its sensuality and emotional intensity but solidified his standing as one of the most technically accomplished poets of his time.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

It's a Scots expression that translates to "a curse upon" or "woe to." You can interpret it as the speaker saying "damn the east wind" or "may the east wind be cursed." This phrase is often used in Scottish ballads to invoke bad luck on something.

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