Since U Went Away

The speaker uses past-tense verbs to create a sense of nostalgia. The words “galloped” and “named” in lines 9 and 11 indicate that the past has escaped. The use of the word “thought” in the fourth stanza shows how the speaker remembers the past (Dove 22, 24). The word “bothered,” and its context, shows the speaker to miss the past (Dove 29). These verbs immediately make the reader

This last stanza uses more elevated language to express more complicated emotions such as awe, humility and repentance. The early verses express simple anger in simple terms. This last stanza differs noticeably from the first two in the language it uses and the sentiments it expresses. To start off he admits he has made a mistake “I see that I’ve been carried away” l.43. This is the first time he uses a 1st person narrative. It helps the reader believe he is sincere. The poet adopts a humbled tone when he expresses embarrassment at his earlier attack on the “coward trees” and feels ashamed: “foolish in my judgments” l.46. Instead of denying his previous statements he takes responsibility for them.

As we move onto the fourth and final stanza, we understand more about the lover, who sits quietly on the other end of the line without saying a

The second stanza shows that there’s no emotion reflected to the character’s mood when everything is blank in the mirror.

The writer makes use of diction to express his feelings towards the literary work and to set the dramatic tone of the poem. Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the word “I”, which shows the narrator’s individual feeling of change in the heart, as he experiences the sight of hundreds of birds fly across the October sky. As the speaker effortlessly recounts the story, it is revealed how deeply personal it is to him. Updike applies the words “flock” and “bird” repetitively to the poem, considering the whole poem is about the sight of seeing so many birds and the effect this has on a person. When the speaker first sees the flock of birds in lines 8-10, alliteration is applied to draw attention to what the narrator is witnessing. In line 29, Updike

In the first stanza, the writer uses many techniques to convey the feeling of loss, when he says,

The fourth stanza is the depiction of an open book. This symbolizes revelation of that which is hidden. However, like any book the judgment is based on the perception of the reader. For this reason, this becomes a moment of courage, where the revelation can be accepted by the outside world or rejected if the views are not in concordance.

There is lots of imagery in stanza 4. Line 1 shows that the hawk has lots of time; ‘fly up and revolve it slowly’. ‘I kill where I please because it is all mine’. This line suggests that the hawk could be the only bird there. Sophistry means false but clever argument, so the line ‘there is no sophistry in my body’ kind of means that the bird doesn’t argue; which suggests that he is a perfect bird. The last line in the stanza: ‘my manners are tearing off heads’ thinks that killing other things and ‘tearing off heads’

without warning”. Then in the third stanza, where he illuminates the allure of letting go of

Stanza 4- When the poet is older he will tell this story of the choice he needed to make. He made the less popular choice, and took the road many others don’t take, and that changed his life.

These two seemingly opposite tones and moods existing in one poem simultaneously resemble the ambiguity in the speaker that he reveals when he describes his condition very ambiguously. For instance, in the first line, he portrays himself as a “dead man”(1), but in the line immediately after, the dead man is moaning, which is biologically impossible. The unclear subject raises the issue of who the speaker is, if he should not be able to comment on himself because he is already dead. When the speaker uses the same pronouns, “he” and “him” from both the first person and the third person perspectives to refer to himself, this becomes even more puzzling; the readers are no longer sure of who the speaker is and who the subject of the poem is. One possible cause of these uncertainties is the discrepancy between the speaker’s real self and his public self; one that resembles who he

The second stanza addresses the helplessness of Reuben in his personal life and the inevitability of his wife’s passing.

Stanza four introduces the "Bell" as a metaphor for the heavens, and goes on to say that "Being (is), but an Ear". The bell is representative of a church bell, and all the mourners (Beings) are listening to its ring. The use of the word bell in the poem’s context forms a vision of a slow ringing church bell, characteristic to a funeral. The next line, of the fourth stanza, pairs up the poet and silence as castaways. They are strangers in a foreign place, and are all alone. One could infer from the poem that "here" represents purgatory. This

In the fourth stanza, the speaker begins to explain more items that have been lost and it apparent that the

Again, the author selects a new set of imagery, such as stars, moon, sun, ocean, and wood to remind of the heaven in which the speaker used to live, and then to sweep it off right away. The last statement “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (16) finally reinforces the speaker’s loss and unhappiness. In loneliness, the speaker’s love becomes fiercer and more truthful. It is the fierceness and truthfulness that lead the speaker to the last stair of hopelessness. The end of the poem is also the hopeless end of the speaker’s life because of “nothing …good.”