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Never Seek to Tell thy Love Analysis
Author: Poetry of William Blake Type: Poetry Views: 2113
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1Never seek to tell thy love
2Love that never told can be;
3For the gentle wind does move
4Silently, invisibly.
5I told my love, I told my love,
6I told her all my heart,
7Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears--
8Ah, she doth depart.
9Soon as she was gone from me
10A traveller came by
11Silently, invisibly--
12O, was no deny.
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||| Analysis | Critique | Overview Below |||
Blake scribbled this in one of his notebooks sometime around 1800 but it only came to light when Dante Gabriel Rosetti deciphered it and published it in 1863. The version in the notebook has a lot of crossing out and changes (the whole first stanza is crossed out) and there are two alternative last lines (the one on this page and the one in the second comment above). So there is no "right version".
What he is saying is: don't pour your heart out to the object of your desire, it's more than likely to scare her off. Watch the traveller and take notes.
Weird metre, isn't it?
PS -- I much prefer "He took her with a sigh", too.
| Posted on 2007-10-05 | by a guest
I believe Blake is trying to show that love is like the 'wind'. It is 'silent', 'gentle' and importantly 'invisible'. Thus he shows that love is a natural occurence not something that can be forced or explained and that it should be natural whereby no physical or verbal communication is required. He also seems to warn of the dangers of professing our love.
| Posted on 2007-09-08 | by a guest
The version of this poem that I am familiar with has the last stanza "Soon as she was gone from me/ A traveller came by/ Silently, invisibly/ He took her with a sigh". I like the version I'm familiar with better, and it seems to make more sense. This poem means to me a communication of a lesson learned-- never seek to tell thy love. Specifically, the sense that unrequited love is no less unrequited once it's professed. Love that works should come more naturally, "as the gentle wind does move", and should be formed between two people. I get the sense that one-sided love that is "told" unfortunately never works out, as it's against the "nature" of love.
-Chaz Rogers
| Posted on 2005-11-29 | by Approved Guest
The flow was a little choppy in just a couple places, but i definatly liked the back beat.
i liked the way the author turned the sentence around backwards in the second line, and i loved the short criptic sentences.
I was left a little bit hanging by the ending, but perhaps this is the purpose, ne?
i hear the message quite clearly, beward admiting your heart because it could be the path to distruction.
i love the sing-song way he says "i told my love, i told my love, i told her all my heart" it's just so catchy.
| Posted on 2005-10-07 | by TT
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