Others because you did not keep
That deep-sworn vow have been friends of mine;
Yet always when I look death in the face,
When I clamber to the heights of sleep,
Or when I grow excited with wine,
Suddenly I meet your face.
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repetition of "face"
From guest Jill (contact)
Dare I have a sneaking suspicion that Yeat's repetition of "face" was an oversight? -
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'Face'
From guest Lesser (contact)
The third and the sixth (final) line both end with 'face.' Isn't that interesting. Because of that I read it this way: When I look death in the face ... I meet your face. (Emphasis on 'your.') -
I think those first two lines are there for a purpose, because of the title itself. It is about a lost love, and she comes to him in memory when he's having thoughts of death or going to sleep. I imagine also when he drank LOL. I think we all have someone that we loved and lost.. the first love.. whatever. This is a great picture of that .. one could almost paint it. I think he was bitter about her.
Edited on Oct 16, 6:01 p.m. because ''. -
Yes, this is about Maude Gonne--but it is also about everyone's first love, the one who drifted away--unrequited love. It is the most succinct poem about the lingering love for that person you will always miss that I have read in my fifty years of studying poetry.
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I think this is one of the many poem of Yeats that reflects his unrequited love for Maude Gonne. He maintained a romantic dream of her throughout his life and she was the inspiration for much of his work.
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Chris, try reading the first two lines like this...
Others, (because you did not keep
That deep-sworn vow), have been friends of mine;
You could take the bracketed text out and read it after.
I noticed simular pieces in other poems by W.B, I believe he wrote in this style to give his poetry that wonderful lyrical swing.
Andrew
Edited on Dec 05, 6:52 p.m. because ''. -
pretty. a bit elusive. it seems as if love is mixed up in everything
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oh to be drunk and full of memories
lol -
Beautiful
I don't think its about being stabbed in the back at all. I think its about a love that he misses. The first two lines separate his friends of past and present from the one person he wishes was closer, the one with whom he made the promise, the close-whispered, "deep-sworn vow." He nods to these friends, who he values, but the one person who enters his mind at moments of great anguish, as he stares blankly at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come, or as he comes to that stage in a night of introspective drinking(as we all have) where outside factors are stripped away and only the emotion is left, that person is absent, but filling his thoughts. -
Very good
Basicly the poem is about someone who was betrayed by a dear friend. He has kept other friends bc "...you did not keep/ that deep-sworn vow..." You stabbed me in the back, etc. therefore i hang with a new crew. The next three lines are the different moments when he "meet[s] your face." Deep inside he is still hurt by the friend's betrayal and in subconcious moments [notice each thing listed are times when the mind wanders off on strange tangents] he recalls his friend or "suddenly I meet your face" as the last line says. -
I'm trying to understand the second line. Sounds like a list of feelings seperated, by blank thoughts that just seemed to never exist. I really like it though.
Peace
Chris
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