When We Two Parted Analysis

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sank chill on my brow—
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me—
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:—
Long, long shall I rue thee
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met—
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?—
With silence and tears.

.: :.

There was always speculation that Lord Byron had become involved with his half-sister, Augusta. After these rumours surfaced, Byron left England to live in Italy.
The lines "I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame," articulate the disgrace Byron could have felt when the rumors were spread. Another point is, "In silence we met, in silence I grieve" convey that his relationship with his lover was clandestine and if the affair with the married woman was clandestine, perhaps not as many people would know about it now.
However this is just my view on the poem, I am only fourteen and it is extremely likely that I am incorrect. :)

| Posted on 2008-10-04 | by a guest

.: :.

I love this poem, Byron is depressed over losing his secret lover, who is married. "Pale grew thycheek and cold, colder thy kiss..." says that she is turning away from him to be with her husband. She is trying to just break all ties without any further infadelity. Byron is heartbroken over the fact that if he ever sees her again that she will have lost the feelings that they once shared. He does not know if she will still love him or just go on with her life like he never happened. This poem shows that Byron did have some feelings for the women that he was with, although he wasn't perfect, he was perfectly capable of falling in love.

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: I don't think it;'s a dea :.

I don't think the poem is about a death as it talks about shame that Byron felt which wouldn't normally be attributed to a death.
I can't find it at the moment, but there is an unpublished verse for the poem which makes it clear that the person is still alive.

| Posted on 2007-03-01 | by a guest

.: A break-up or a death? :.

When I first read this poem, I found myself automatically assuming that it was just Byron's way of breaking up with yet another one of his numerous partners. However, I soon discovered that, when I read it over a few more times, it seemed to be about (perhaps) a death of one of his lovers.
It seems that the line, "Pale grew thy cheek and cold," is our first tip-off that the subject matter of this poem had passed away. Later on in the poem, it says, "Thy vows are all broken," which stuck out at me right away. This is because, in my private knowledge of Byron, I know that he did once have an affair with a women who was married. Now that she is dead, it appears that both her marriage vows as well as vows to Byron, are broken.
What also supports my hypothesis that this is about a women that cheated on her husband with Byron is shown majorly in the line, "In secret we met," which quite obviously points out that their affair was anything but advertised.

| Posted on 2006-06-16 | by Approved Guest