When We Two Parted

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“Half broken-hearted”

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When We Two Parted by Lord Byron

11 Terms

1

“Half broken-hearted”

Severed, but still longing.

Only one of them is broken-hearted

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2

“Pale grew thy cheek and cold / Colder thy kiss”

Semantic field of death, symbolises the death of feelings and the relationship.

‘Pale’ and polyptoton of ‘Cold’ and ‘Colder’ gives the idea of a corpse, and the subject having died and moved on.

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3

“Thy vows are all broken / And light is thy fame; / I hear thy name spoken / And share in its shame.”

The subject’s reputation is ruined.

Their relationship was illicit.

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4

Lady Frances Wedderburn-Webster

Lord Byron was thought to have written this poem about married aristocrat Lady Wedderburn-Webster after hearing others gossip about her other affairs and the subsequent impact on her reputation. She had broken up with him.

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5

“They name thee before me / A knell in mine ear”

The subject’s name is like a funeral bell to the poet, symbolising the death of a relationship.

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6

“Long, Long shall I rue thee / Too deeply to tell”

The poet regrets his relationship with the subject, unable to express the true extent of his regret.

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7

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

The nature of this relationship was secret.

‘Grieve’ shows the death of the relationship and his feelings of sorrow.

‘The personal pronouns ‘we’ and ‘I’ show that they were once unified but now are separated.

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8

“That thy heart could forget / Thy spirit deceive”

Subject is shown as heartless, painless (for her), and that she moved on quickly while he is still mourning the death of their relationship.

‘Spirit’ = core of her being, which has betrayed the poet. ‘Deceive’ is resentful and accusatory language.

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9

“When we two parted / In silence and tears”

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

Cyclical structure emphasises the ongoing turmoil for the poet and how he will never forget their relationship.

‘parted’ vs ‘greet’ show that even after years he still has the same feelings about the subject.

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10

Silence’ , ‘tears’, ‘sever’, ‘sorrow’ , ‘secret’

sibilance shows the illicit nature of the relationship, as well as the violent severing of the relationship.

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11

Romantic poet

Lord Byron was a romantic poet.

Spontaneous feelings, emotion and imagination over reason and logic.

The Sublime.

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