Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 9-12
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
- Well, this is sort of an anti-carpe diem moment for you. The day returns too soon, and the night is meant for loving, so why not seize the day and go roving, right?
- Right, but wrong. The speaker has decided that he (or they) will not rove any longer, for reasons he's already explained, and even though the night is perfect for it.
- The reference to "loving," which we've had before (8), makes us think of sex just a little bit. It's Byron. He loved sex. Maybe's he finally going to give up his lecherous ways and chill out.
- He might also just mean he's going to give up going out and getting crazy (things he loves) with all the friends he loves. The 29-year-old frat boy in him no longer wants to be a frat guy.
He's going from this guy to one of these guys.