Analysis

• "Betwixt" Archaic language to relate to the Greek and Roman period where the story originates from. Shows this feeling of regret is a synonymous love story sustained through time.
• "Between the kisses and wine" - The relationship epitomised the decadent period, with the couples love being very self-indulgent and relaxed.
• "I have been faithful to thee, Cynara, in my fashion." - Refrain. "In my fashion" relates back to the decadent period where civillians would act in elaborate and flamboyant manner.
• "Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind" The speaker is trying to calm himself down from the situation by indulging in leisurely acts like the decadent people would. Yet the refrain "But i was desolate and sick of an old passion" returns, re-iterating his sense of loss.
• Perversity is explored through how the speaker is "desolate and sick of an old passion" meaning his old love, so instead he gets a pleasure of thinking about his old woman whilst having intercourse with another woman.
• Explores toxic Masculinity and egotism as the speaker thinks he has been loyal despite meeting other women. "I have been faithful to thee, Cynara, in my fashion!" Similar to Tom Buchanan who claims "Once in awhile i go off on a spree, and make a fool of myself but i always come back"
• "I am not as i was under the reign of the good Cynara"
• "There fell thy shadow Cynara!" Metaphor - her presence infiltrates everything. Much like in TGG where Nick details Tom and Gatsby's obsession over Daisy "Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, i had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices" Daisy to them is also a shadow in the dark, her love is consuming.
• "Upon my soul between the kisses and wine" Decadent image of comfort and pleasure. Much like how Nick describes Tom and Daisy's marriage. They "drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together"
• "I was desolate and sick of an old passion" Despite Tom and Myrtle's affair, when Myrtle dies all Tom wants to do is to be with Daisy again. They re-establish an "unmistakable air of intimacy" that perhaps Tom was missing.
• "Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet" - Mimics Myrtle's process of seduction "She wet her lips" "Looking him flush in the eye" Tom is trying to seek out other forms of pleasure to rest his wandering eye. The fact that Tom's eyes are described as "restless" and Myrtle looks him "flush" in the eye, demonstrates her captivating nature to obtain his attention. Myrtle similarly to the prostitute, appear seductive in order to sell their body for money and materialism.
• "When i awoke and saw the dawn was grey" Pathetic fallacy utilised by Dowson. Illustrates the now bored mood of the speaker who is missing his former partner still. Similar to Tom, who when Myrtle dies, he seeks out Daisy to replace his restlessness. Nick details how they "retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness"
• "i have forgotten much Cynara! Gone with the wind" Relates to Gatsby, he is forced to forget Daisy through his death and her and Tom are gone with the wind upon his death, they don't even bother calling or showing up to the funeral. Instead they retreat back into their riches.
• "Flung roses riotously with the throng" - Cynara can be paralleled to Daisy who on her wedding day with Tom changed her mind and wanted to call off the wedding. "She cried and cried" much like the emotional description of Cynara leaving. Daisy almost took off and cancelled everything. This was Gatsby's last true hope at her love and it was diverted by "pearls around her neck"
• "I cried for madder music and stronger wine" Epitomises decadent period but also replicates Tom's desire for more and more. Even after the tragic turn of events that causes Gatsby to die, we see Nick and Tom reunite, where Tom leaves the scene to "buy a pearl necklace - or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons" He has not learnt his lesson.
• The form is unconventional in that it doesn't use a traditional love poetry form like a sonnet similar to the unconventional love between Tom and Daisy where although Tom had the affair with myrtle, and Daisy willingly visited Gatsby, they remain together.
• Outside appearance of form = unconventional. Not a sonnet. like Tom and Daisy's marriage, unconventional. Inside regularity in form = 4 stanzas of 6 lines, repeated refrain, cyclical structure. The Buchanan's, much like the poems structure, have a controversially immoral outside image to their relationship. Yet internally, their motives have always been the same. They both deal with their urges to venture outside of the marriage, but then they both "always come back" to eachother and return to their comfort.
• ABACBC Rhyme Scheme repeated. "Passion" and "fashion" always remains the C rhymes. Much like the Buchanan's, their everlasting "passion" for materialistic "fashion", jewellery, their home and their other various expensive possessions always remains.
• "When the feast is finished and the lamps expire" can be paralled to when Tom loses his temper. Like when the party in New York finishes and him and Myrtle have an argument leading to Tom hitting her.