when we two parted (Lord Byron)

Structure (WWTP)

• Semantic field of cold throughout (represents unfulfilling lover and relationship)

• → lover like a dead body?

• Pathetic fallacy

• Cyclical structure = trapped in mourning for relationship

• First person to show how personal it is

• Insular environment through narrative = isolation

• Fixated on individual emotions and expresses them readily = desperation + buildup

• Poem starts with first line as the title = establishes intense tone

• Accentual verse = traditional but flexible to express emotions freely

• Repetitive rhyme scheme (ABAB) = endless

• Line length = conversational

• Tone of despair, perpetuated by allusion to silence = implication some is left unsaid

• Last stanza uses more punctuation = moving on

• Enjambement = lines split in 2, mirroring romantic divide

Context (Byron)

• Leading Romantic poet

• Often know for unconventional and liberal ideas, chasing scandals

• Crated the “Byronic hero” archetype (e.g. sexual, self destructive etc)

• Written about his alleged affair with a wide of his close friend

“When we two parted // in silence and tears”

Themes (WWTP)

• Romance (negative)

• Death

• Winter

• Stuck

“Pale grew thy cheek and cold”

• Harsh alliterative sound = angry + bitter + upset

• Connotations of death/dead body (mourning relationship and love?)

• ”grew” = never concluded just changed

“the vows are all broken”

• Promises made when together = no longer valid

• Alt: marriage vows highlight past unity

“Knell in mine ear”

• Funeral bell = continues morbid tone + grieving dead relationship

• Introduces synesthesia = all consuming + overwhelming nature of love

• Personal pronoun = how closely impacted he is

“In secret we met- // in silence I grieve”

• Rare use of collective pronouns = alludes to an affair

• → highlights significant event in poem

• Past tense = used to be united but reverted to separation

• makes it feel like an internal monologue, not publicised poem

• Sibilance = uncomfortable to read

• Almost anaphora

• Contrast between positive, plural first line and and negative, isolated second line

After long years

• Hope they’ll reunite

• Repeated “long” from before = how deep impact is

• Separation still haunts him

“How should I greet thee? //with silence and tears”

• Alludes to his solitude

• Ends emphatically with a full stop = only left with silence and tears

• A response to the earlier rhetorical question = Unconventional

• → represents controversy of relationship?