When We Two Parted

silence (ongoing pain)

silence and tears

• sibilance creates a tone of despair to help present the melancholic mood

• ‘silence’ and ‘tears’ have funeral-like connotations which could help describe the end of the relationship as a death, Byron is feeling like he’s mourning someone

• repetition of this phrase at the start and end creates a cyclical structure which displays his never ending suffering

• ends poem with a full stop, but its a response to a rhetorical question which is unusual and could possibly mirror the unconventional dynamic of their relationship

• as a poet being silent could be viewed as significant, perhaps he is so overwhelmingly upset that he can’t even describe it with words

dew (sadness)

dew of the morning

• pathetic fallacy is used to show his sadness, but mornings connote hope and so its changed from positive → negative, this transition represents how he’s full of despair, despite time passing and he should be over it and have a fresh start

• “dew” connotes tears and so could show how the magnitude of his sadness as even nature seems upset

pale (sadness)

pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss

• ‘pale’ and ‘cold’ has death-like connotations, implying Byron is mourning the death of the relationship

• metaphor of comparing his former lover with a dead body could portray her as having no warmth/love, she’s dead to him

• contrast between things that should be warm and loving; ‘cheek’, ‘kiss’ , but are portrayed as cold, highlighting the coldness and sadness surrounding his relationship

• this line (5) is where the accentual verse is temporarily broken, from 2 stressed syllables a line to 3. This broken accentual verse could mirror Byron’s broken heart, and how he rejects the rules is like how his love feels rejected

vows (anger)

thy vows are all broken

• Byron feels betrayed

• The imagery of something being broken helps to emphasize his pain, but also pins the blame on the woman and makes him appear as a passive victim who is left miserable

• This line is where the Shakespearean Sonnet rhyme scheme is broken, and so this could reflect how his love for her is gone

• ‘vows’ connote marriage and so show how Byron has lost a significant relationship even though it was just an affair, this perhaps implies he was really emotionally involved

rue (anger+ ongoing pain)

Long, long shall I rue thee

• rue = regret, as well as sadness he’s full of anger directed at her

• repetition of adjective ‘long’ emphasizes that the pain from separating won’t leave, it will haunt him. The helps to present him as being in a state of hopelessness