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Away, Melancholy
Stevie Smith
‘S p e a k
n o t t o
m e o f
te a r s’
 h oly
Away, Melanc
Stevie Smith

holy,
‘Away, melanc
t it go.
Away with it, le
es green,
Are not the tre
reen?’
The earth as g

u ll p o e m u n able to be
(F e to
reproduced duictions)
copyright restr

VOCABULARY
Melancholy - a feeling of pensive sadness with no
obvious cause.

Superlative - of the highest quality or degree., the most

or best.

Aspire - to direct one’s hopes or ambitions towards

achieving something.

Sighs - emitting a long, deep audible breath which

expresses sadness, relief or tiredness.

Heaves - lifts or hauls something heavy, with great

effort.

Tyranny- a cruel and oppressive government or rule.

STORY + SUMMARY
Go away, sadness, away with it - let it go.
Aren't the trees and the earth green? Doesn't the wind
blow, fire leap and the rivers flow? So go away
melancholy, you have nothing to be sad about.
The ant is busy carrying his meat. All things are hurrying
towards the state where they eat or are eaten. So go
away, melancholy.
Man rushes too; he eats, forms couples, buries as he is
also an animal. With a hey ho melancholy, away with it -
let it go.
Out of all the creatures, man is the best, of all the
creatures he is the only one who can lift up a stone and
use it as a tool. Into the stone, the god pours all the
goodness that he knows, he does this he calls this
goodness “God”. So go away melancholy, let it go.
Don’t speak to me about tears, tyranny, sickness, wars,
asking whether it is good for God to stone man’s
thoughts. Say instead it is enough that the stuffed stone
of man’s good growing, by man’s called God. Away,
melancholy, let it go.
Man aspires to good, to love sighs.
Beaten, corrupted, dying in his own blood lying yet
heaves up an eye above cries, love, love. It is his virtue
that needs explaining, not his failing.
Away, melancholy, away with it, let it go
SPEAKER + VOICE
The speaker is in a sad, melancholic mood but she is also trying to change her
depressive state by deliberately addressing the state of ‘melancholy’ itself -
telling it to go away and leave her alone, and telling herself to let this mood go.
Smith observes how nature operates on a similar daily routine, including
humans, animals, and the world as a whole. The speaker reduces the behaviour
of humans down to a few basic functions: “...Man, too, hurries,/Eats, couples,
buries,/He is an animal also/With a hey ho melancholy.” Although he believes he
is superior to other creatures, man is ultimately bound by the same universal
laws and behaviours. The spiritual references towards the end of the poem
suggest that spirituality should provide comfort and inspiration for humans to
move beyond their animalistic behaviour, but in reality this is difficult to achieve -
and often it feels instead like we are being punished by a wrathful God than
supported by a nurturing one.
LANGUAGE
Anaphora - The poet starts several lines with the same word or words. For instance,
many lines start with the imperative "Away", to emphasise the fact that the speaker is
telling her sadness directly to leave her. Another instance is the repetition of the noun
‘Man’, to show the focus on humanity as a whole and the general tendency of man - the
poem is both personal to the speaker, yet universally applicable to all humans in that it
exposes the truth that sometimes we are plunged into illogical moods that are very hard
to break out of. The phrase, “Away melancholy” is also repeated, in a manner almost
similar to a refrain severally throughout the poem - this, along with the phrase ‘Hey, ho’
at times gives the poem a light, whimsical quality -as if the speaker is torn between
taking her depression very seriously, or making light of it through humour and lack of true
care.

Visual imagery - Throughout this poem, Smith employs various kinds of imagery, with
visual imagery being the most prominent of them. The second stanza is a testament to
this as not only does Smith enable the reader to get a more intimate perspective of
nature, but also builds on the theme of nature throughout the poem. The rhetorical
questions “Are not the trees green, / The earth as green?/ Does not the wind blow, /Fire
leap and the rivers flow?” list a series of negatives which the speaker directs back at
herself, towards her own psyche, in order to try and use logic to pull herself out of her
melancholy. The abundance of nature is present here - it is varied, powerful and
beautiful, and therefore, she feels, she should appreciate it rather than being depressed.

Symbolism - “The ant is busy ”- The ant, which is typically an industrious, hardworking
insect, symbolises the concept of hard work. This may also be a religious allusion to
the concept that ‘The Devil makes work of idle hands’, in other words those people who
don’t have enough work to keep themselves busy will fall into sinful or difficult situations -
perhaps because they have too much idle time on their hands, or because they are not
contributing to society and nature as a whole. The speaker seems to direct the
statement back at herself, suggesting that she may be depressed simply because she
hasn’t given herself enough work to do in life, perhaps her life is devoid of true meaning
or purpose.

Personification - “Does not the wind blow/Fire leap” Nature is personified throuhgout
the poem as conscious, living entity which performs its own necessary functions and
behaviours - similarly, living creatures are also personified through the synecdochic
example of the ‘ant’.

Alliteration - This is seen in the use of “fire” and “flow” in the second stanza and “good”
and “god” in the seventh stanza which includes the use of the same consonant sound at
the beginning of multiple words. Overall, Smith uses alliteration to underscore certain
concepts and motifs in the poem.

Asyndetic listing - “Speak not to me of tears, / Tyranny, pox, wars,” - the poem takes on
a more sociopolitical perspective, where the speaker lists common grievances of
mankind - oppressive governmental structures, diseases and wars are all states which
are likely to plunge an individual person into a state of depression simply because they
feel helpless and powerless against these strong, negative forces.
STRUCTURE + FORM
Free verse - “Away, Melancholy,” has nine stanzas of
varying lengths. The poet uses a free verse form,
which makes it imitative of the variations and chaos in
life itself.

Third person - The poem is spoken as a dramatic

monologue from the perspective of an aguished
speaker, yet as much as possible she tries to compare
her own subjective state of melancholy with the general
condition of mankind, via the use of third person
narrative voice which objectively assesses the behaviour
and concerns of ‘man’ as a whole.

Enjambment - This is seen in the transition of the first

two lines of the third stanza as well as the lines in the
fifth stanza. Enjambment, which breaks the previous line
in an awkward position to allow the writer to continue his
thoughts from the subsequent line, helps the writer
convey a sense of decay and degeneration as the
lines imperfectly flow into one another. The use of
this technique is particularly acute in the lines “Man
aspires / To good, / To love / Sighs;”. Here, the topic of
the ideals which Man tries to capture in his life -
goodness and love - are presented on new lines to show
that sense of reaching upwards towards something
better. However, the final line ‘Sighs;’, brings the reader
back down to earth, as the speaker relates the idea that
states of perfect love and goodness are unattainable,
therefore we can only be sad that these ideals can never
be fully achieved.
CONTEXT
Florence Margaret Smith, better
known as Stevie Smith, was born in
September 1902 in Kingston upon
Hull, England. She went to Palmers
Green High School before moving on
to North London Collegiate School for
Girls, and lived her entire life in North
London.

Smith’s poetry was first published in

1937 as part of the anthology, “A
Good Time Was Had By All.” Several
other compilations, including Away,
Melancholy (written and published in
1957); The Frog Prince; and Two in TASK
One, came after this one. Smith
received the Queen's Gold Medal for Read
Smith
Poetry after first receiving the but D ’s ‘No
rown t Wav
in g ing
Cholmondeley Awards for Poets in simila ’. Wha
rities t
1966. Smith passed away at the age can y and d
ou fin ifferen
of 68. d betwe ces
two p en the
o e ms
?
Smith had a tough life - her father left
home when she was young to join the
North Sea Patrol, so she was raised
in a feminine household, with her
mother and sister and saw very little
of her father - this became a source
of resentment throughout her life.
The poem “Away, Melancholy” uses
simplistic language, yet depicts a
complex struggle within the speaker’s
own psyche - expressing the tension
between the self and society, atheistic
or religious perspectives on life
(Smith struggled with her views on
God, eventually becoming an
agnostic later in life), and the
constant struggle for happiness and
meaning.
ATTITUDES

Depression is a complex and illogical phenomenon - the state of

melancholy seems at odds with the reality of the speaker’s life - she has many
reasons to appreciate existence, both personally and in terms of appreciating
the wider mechanisms and beauty of nature itself. However, she still struggles
with dragging herself out of the state of melancholy - the constant invocation
“Away, melancholy” demonstrates the amount of constant effort and willpower
that is required to battle sadness and depression.

We should try to maintain a positive attitude towards people and life in

general - In the penultimate stanza, the writer says of mankind “It is his virtue
needs explaining,/Not his failing.” He encourages us to not look at the
downside of humanity, but rather man’s positive contribution to the world.

Our relationship with God is complex and hovers between appreciation

and resentment - Smith expresses her scepticism about God, starting with the
idea of ‘Calling God good’, but then questioning soon afterwards ‘Can God/
Stone of man’s thoughts, be good?’. The final stanza, "Away melancholy, let it
go," demonstrates that even if she is unsure of God's existence, when she is at
her lowest point, she will call out to him and try to find solace and faith in him.
The phrase “man's called God '' demonstrates that even if one does not believe
in him, one will still call out to him since God offers people a sense of hope and
faith. By her personal observations and experiences, Smith demonstrates
through her poetry that she is struggling with hardship and ultimately turns to
God for assistance.

Human beings are God’s special creation - Smith says, “Man of all creatures
is superlative/He of all creatures alone/Raiseth a stone.” Despite comparing
man to other creatures and claiming that the animals and man do not differ all
that much, Smith nevertheless concludes that man is the best of God's creation
- as humans, we are capable of more complex thought and action than any
other being on earth, and therefore we could count ourselves blessed.
THEMES
Man and nature
Religion and spirituality
Positivity
Depression TASK 2
Pick tw
Mortality and ad
o of the
se them
e s, m a
d four s ke a m
story th e p arate q i n d ma
a t re l a t uotatio p
Peace analysi
s, expla
e to it. Make
s h o r
ns from
the
relates ining h t notes o
to your ow and f
t h e me . W w h y e ach on
Death is the a
uthor ’s
fi n a
hat, in
y o u r
e
about e l messag o pinion,
ach the e o r s
me tha tateme
t you ch nt
Life o se ?

Nihilism

TASK 2
What do you think is your life’s purpose?

Research the philosophical theories of nihilism and existentialism,

making notes on the two approaches to life. Which makes more
sense to you? Why?
 ES stances in
EXERCIS a r e th e in
a p h o r a and what t e c h nique?
is a n f th is
1. What m a kes use o
which the
p o e t
s S m ith use it to
e
o li s m a n d how do
symb re ?
2. What is the theme of natu
contribute
to
s im p ly b ecause
,
v e r fe lt d epressed u t w hat to do
o u e e a b o
3. Have y eling lost or unsur relationship with
fe n
you were ? E x p lo r e your ow holy and
life ss, melan
c
with your s s a d n e
ch a
moods su
n.
depressio

ESSAY QUESTION
1. Critically discuss the theme of religion as brought
out in Stevie Smith’s poem, “Away, Melancholy.”
2. “The speaker has achieved nothing by the end of
the poem.” Discuss to what extent you agree with this
statement, in reference to “Away, Melancholy”.
3. Examine the way in which Smith portrays the
relationship between humans, nature and God in the
poem.

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