To Disappointment

Song Meaning

This poem is a dramatic plea to banish a malevolent entity, personified as "Disappointment," from the narrator's life. The opening lines immediately establish a confrontational tone, directly addressing this "fiend of gloomy sway" and commanding it to "Hence! Away!" The narrator paints Disappointment as a destructive force that preys on "fond Illusion's air-built pride," suggesting it shatters hopeful fantasies. The poem then details where this entity typically resides: in places of greed, unchecked ambition, and deceitful pleasure, associating it with "Guilt and Folly." The central tension arises from the contrast between the desired state and the feared presence. When "Hope on Wisdom's wing" offers positive premonitions, the narrator implores Disappointment to stay far away, calling it a "Demon of envenom'd sting." This sets up a clear dichotomy: the hopeful, wise path versus the blighted, stinging path of despair. The poem then pivots, invoking "sweet May" and "Nymph of balmy gales" as benevolent forces. The most striking craft element is the personification of abstract concepts. Disappointment is a "fiend" and a "demon," while May is a "Nymph." Hope has "Wisdom's wing," and abstract qualities like "Peace," "Health," and "Laughing Hours" are presented as waiting companions. This creates a vivid, almost allegorical landscape where emotional states are tangible entities to be commanded or invoked. The narrator's fervent wish is for loved ones, specifically "my parent and my friend," to be placed in idyllic, peaceful settings, far from the corrupting influences where Disappointment thrives. The effectiveness of these lyrics lies in their direct, almost incantatory address. By personifying Disappointment as a tangible enemy, the poem transforms an internal struggle into an external battle. The narrator's desperate appeals to May and the detailed descriptions of desired peace—"Peace, that lists the woodlark's strains, / Health, that breathes divinest treasures"—create a powerful emotional resonance. The final stanza's extreme conditional, suggesting natural seasons might fail before the "she" (presumably the friend or parent) returns to the "crowded mart," underscores the depth of the narrator's desire for their continued peaceful retirement and the fear of their potential disillusionment.