Quotations

• "In silence I grieve" --> illicit relationship; unable to share his pain

  
  

  "In silence and in tears" --> cyclical structure; despite the progression of time throughout the poem, the speaker is encapsulated by inescapable sadness, and is unable to move on; cycle of sorrow

  -repetition signifies the depth of the feeling of loss
• "They name thee... A knell in mine ear" --> exaggerated sense of loss due to dark imagery, through theme of death: "knell" = a funeral bell; emphasis/ symbolic of the end of the relationship that he now mourns. May also be symbolic of her haunting him
• "Pale grew thy cheek and cold" --> "pale" = connotation of death, further links to theme of death/ death of relationship

  "grew" --> gradual separation

  "cold" --> pathetic fallacy; connotates coldness of relationship
• AO3: Byron was described as being "mad, bad and dangerous" as he was known to have multiple affairs (due to travelling) --> suggesting he did recover. However these themes of despair and difficulty emphasise the universal difficulties related to breaking up.
• "Thy vows are all broken" --> theme of betrayal/ resentment
• "They name thee before me"

  
  

  "They know not I knew thee" --> arouses reader's curiosity as the lover's identity remains concealed: AO3

  
  

  Irony --> those who gossip about the lover in front of the speaker are unaware she was the speaker's lover
• "If I should meet thee after long years" --> "if" conditional verb reinforces the speaker's feelings of grief are likely to persist; may also be symbolic of the speaker hoping to meet his lover again

  
  

  "long years" --> further displays depth of his grief through continuation of mourning
• "Half broken-hearted" --> one-sided heartbreak

  
  

  "sever" --> harsh verb, the relationship has been cut away from narrator against his will
• Language devices:

  "In secret we met- In silence I grieve" --> alliteration, the hushed sibilant sound reflects the illicit relationship (continued in stanza --> "They spirit deceive")