When We Two Parted

• Lord Byron: '"When we two parted In silence and tears"'
• "we two parted"


  Something mutual about the separation, they both decided to part, and the pain that was felt as if something insurmountable has thwarted their love
• "To sever for years"


  Sever means to divide or remove by cutting, implying the breakup was very painful and sudden, the unity they had as a couple has been broken apart in a violent way
• "Pale grew thy cheek and cold"


  Suggests her physical coldness but also reflects an emotional detachment (separation), connotations of death, she is metaphorically 'dead' to him
• "Colder thy kiss"


  Reflects an emotional detachment (separation), connotations of death
• "Her name is 'A knell to mine ear'"


  Means a bell ringing to indicate a funeral, linking to the connotations of death - their relationship has died, or a part of the speaker has died or that she is metaphorically 'dead' to him
• "In silence I grieve"


  The semantic field of death and loss with 'grieve', made more painful as he must do it silently, because the affair was 'secret'
• "How should I greet thee?"

  With silence and tears
• Tears suggests his ongoing pain, but the silence indicates anger and resentment at how he has treated her
• Circular structure - 'silence and tears' is repeated at the end, as if he is 'stuck' in the memory and keeps repeating it, unable to move on from his grief
• The poem forms a circular pattern, suggesting the speaker is trapped in his feelings of love, regret and self-pity, and that when relationships end, we may well move on, but perhaps we never truly get over them
• The structure contrasts with 'Winter Swans' which contains a volta (turning point) where they see the swans - symbolising unity and hinting at reconciliation
• The poem moves through time - the narrator shifts through past, present and future. The juxtaposition of past and present emphasises how there is no change in his feelings.