When we two parted - Lord Byron

• Written By:

  Lord Byron
• Themes:

  Loss, Heartbreak, Longing
• Tones:


  Anger, Bitterness, Grief
• Summary:

  Speaker is reflecting on a breakup as the speaker feels a sense of loss unable to share his pain due to his illicit relationshi, forcing himself to grieve in secret
• Big Ideas:

  Pain of love is like grief
• "half- ...

  broken hearted"
• "half broken-hearted to sever for years"

  - Enjambment to reflect ongoing sadness

  - Violent connotations of verb 'sever' depict a hard break-up
• "thy vows are...


  all broken"
• "thy vows are all broken"

  - Vows are said at weddings, which symbolises commitment, implying his lover had a lack of commitment OR the sacred promise is broken
• "pale grew thy...

  cheek and cold"
• "pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss"

  • Adjective 'cold' and 'pale' has death-like connotations, speaker is mourning the death of his relationship or blaming lovers dying feelings for him
  • Guttural alliteration of ‘c’ sounds like choking , speaker feels suffocated due to trauma
  • Verb 'grew' implies relationship never concluded, just changed over time
  • Repetition emphasises the emotional detachment
  • Pronoun 'thy' sets accusational tone, blaming her for their relationship breakdow
  • juxtaposition of ‘kiss’ - kisses supposed to be warmth and romantic but for her the relationship was about desire not about emotions
• "colder...

  thy kiss"
• "a knell...


  in mine ear"
• "a knell in mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me"


  - Noun 'knell' is a funeral bell, showing the speaker is mourning and the overwhelming nature of the senses mirror all-consuming nature of relationship

  - Verb 'shudder' expresses the physical impact of his sadness, and how even hearing her name effects him
• "in silence...

  I grieve"
• "long, long...


  shall I rue thee"
• "thy spirit...


  deceive"
• "In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive"
• "in silence and tears" , "with silence and tears."

  - Repeated refrain at beginning and end of poem to create cyclical narrative to show lack of progression

  - Sibilance creates an uncomfortable sound, and has funeral-like connotations

  - At the end, responds to question to show unconventional dynamic of relationship

  - End-stop to end emphatically to show speaker is left with silence and tears

  - Noun 'tears' establishes sad tones
• "with silence...

  and tears"
• "share thy...

  shame"
• "I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame"

  - Sibilant alliteration to emphasises the shame he felt after public breakdown of relationship
• "The dew of the morning / Sank chill on my brow"

  - Enjambment speeds up the pace to build on intensity that reflects the speaker intense sadness

  - Fresh, Natural connotations and imagery of 'dew' is subverted to denote the speaker's sadness

  - Verb 'sank' intensifies his feelings as they are weighing him down

  - Sibilance of 'sank' could mirror the wind, to create a chill and cold tone
• Cyclical narrative shows...


  no progression in the poet's feelings
• Number of stresses per line:

  2
• Accentual Verse with 2 stresses per line shows...

  the two people that are seperated and no longer together
• Rhyme Scheme:


  Alternative and Repetitive
• The alternate rhyme scheme is used to...

  emphasise the couple as seperated
• The repetitive rhyme scheme is used to...

  underline the repeated sadness that does not go away for the poet
• Infrequent use of collective pronouns shows...

  the separateness, they are referred to as separate entities as opposed to a couple