On my first read it was difficult to pinpoint a meaning of this poem, but giving a closer look at the final lines I saw the comparison between performing this great swimming feat for glory as opposed to for love. After mentioning this difference in reasoning for the swim, he says “For he was drown’d and I’ve the ague,” or that Leander drowned doing this swim and that the speaker got sick from it. I could read this one of two ways, either that the speaker is a better swimmer than the hero of Greek myth which is an idea that fits with Lord Byron’s love of self promotion, or that since both drowning and getting sick is bad, that maybe both of these motivations are silly since it did not end up going well for Leander or for the speaker.
I chose to write about this poem because it carried a tone of self deprecating humor and is also rife with brags which I found quite funny. The poem opens with talking about this great athletic feat done in myths, which the speaker also completed so the speaker makes it known from the very title like “hey, I am now writing this poem after I did this cool thing.” This tone of self promotion was supported by the meter of the poem with five quatrains at iambic tetrameter, which carries that epic feel to it.
