FULL POEM - SCROLL DOWN FOR LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS
I visited the place where we last met.
Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended,
The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet;
There was no sign that anything had ended
And nothing to instruct me to forget.
The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees,
Singing an ecstasy I could not share,
Played cunning in my thoughts. Surely in these
Pleasures there could not be a pain to bear
Or any discord shake the level breeze.
It was because the place was just the same
That made your absence seem a savage force,
For under all the gentleness there came
An earthquake tremor: fountain, birds and grass
Were shaken by my thinking of your name.
LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS
STANZA 1
I visited the place where we last met.
The poem is a dramatic monologue written from the perspective of the speaker who is revisiting a place where they and the person they are addressing ‘last met’. The tone is reminiscent, creating an impression of finality to their last meeting.
Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended,
The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet;
Physically, nothing about this place has changed, with the gardens remaining ‘well-tended’ and the fountains spraying ‘their usual steady jet’. There’s a calm continuity in nature that juxtaposes the speaker’s state of mind.
There was no sign that anything had ended
And nothing to instruct me to forget.
On a physical level, nothing has ended, however, it can be inferred that psychologically the speaker is mourning the loss of their former companion (though the form of loss remains unknown). They revisited this place for comfort, but ‘nothing instructs [them] to forget’, perhaps aggravating the pain as on the surface everything appears unchanged, but beneath it the opposite is true.
STANZA 2
The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees,
Singing an ecstasy I could not share,
The birds are personified as ‘thoughtless’ because they sing cheerfully. This personification emphasises how the speaker finds it insensitive and insulting that life and nature can go on with normality whilst they suffer from this grief. The fact that the speaker is unable to share the happiness with people around them and these people cannot share his/her grief, alienates the speaker from society – causing this feeling of ‘absence’ (the title and main theme of the poem).
Played cunning in my thoughts. Surely in these
Pleasures there could not be a pain to bear
Or any discord shake the level breeze.
The speaker struggles to balance their emotions, conflicted between torment and pleasure amidst their current surroundings. They question the tangibility of their grief, wondering if it can coexist with the feelings of pleasure from being surrounded by nature. The juxtapositions between ‘pleasures’ and ‘pain to bear’ and ‘discord’ and ‘level breeze’ (with ‘discord’ suggesting disagreement and disharmony, which contrasts with the tranquil stability of the ‘level breeze’) highlight this emotional conflict felt by the speaker.
STANZA 3
It was because the place was just the same
That made your absence seem a savage force,
The familiarity of the place and the good memories of their last meeting that the speaker associates with it intensify the severity of grief. The good memories that the speaker was seeking comfort and closure from have further reminded them of what they have lost, knowing that they will never experience them again.
For under all the gentleness there came
This is the ‘gentleness’ of nature, the unchanged tranquillity that was described in the previous two stanzas.
An earthquake tremor: Fountain, birds and grass
Were shaken by my thinking of your name.
The ‘earthquake tremor’ that shakes the triplet ‘fountain, birds and grass’ is a metaphor for the emotional torment suffered by the speaker. The metaphor embodies the sudden emotional shockwave of grief that hit the speaker as an earthquake destroying their physical surroundings. It is a powerful and emotive image, capturing the brutal, life-changing impacts of grief.
