A Song (absent From Thee)

Question 1

What is absent from thee about?

Answer 1

A man is cheating on his partner, and has done multiple times. He is aware of what he is doing and is constantly racked with guilt.
There are frequent references to religion - I believe she is god and he sins which brings him further from his relationship with God. He also describes her as holier than the other women so perhaps he is sparing her of the sin of sex. A modern reader sees this as a pitiful excuse but an old reader would find this admirable
Sense of addiction for what he is doing, he can’t stop even though he wants to.

Question 2

What is the structure of absent from thee?

Answer 2

4 stanzas with ABAB rhyme scheme.
Regular iambic tetrameter to signify how this is a regular and relentless guilt that he bears.
Song structre, it would have been sung in the 1600s

Question 3

‘Absent from thee I languish still,
Then ask me not, when i return?’

Answer 3

-Thee is before I, genuine tenderness and love, he puts her before him. She has a greater value than him
- ‘languish’ infers torment and self loathing, he gets nothing beneficial from his experiences
- ‘still’ implies that he has done this before and it is a regular thing
-‘Then ask’ is trochee, focuses on a particular thing. Thoughts of her disrupt his routine of cheating. It also shows how difficult it is to explain and justify how he is feeling
- she has asked him the question, we hear her pain. Pathos - he is not the only one suffering.

Question 4

‘The straying fool twill plainly kill’

Answer 4

• he refers to himself as ‘the straying fool’, as if he is playing a role. ‘Straying’ implies its not where he is supposed to be, he is happier with the addressee
  -‘plainly kill’ is hyperbolic

Question 5

‘Dear, from thine arms then let me file,
That my fantastic mind may prove,’

Answer 5

‘Dear’ trochee, emphasise on his sincerity towards her
He wants her to let him go so that thoughts of her don’t haunt him - modern reader sees this as unfair as he is partially blaming her for his actions
- the word ‘fantastick’ refers to fantasy. He is driven by his convulsions like a madness or addiction. He’s allowed to have fantasies but she isn’t

Question 6

‘The torments it deserves to try,
That tears my fixt heart from my love.’

Answer 6

-‘tears’ is violent, involuntary, if you tear something it is permanently scarred and ruined
-‘torments’ refer to biblical torture of hell, horrific. Hell is ‘absent from’ god
‘My fixt heart’ hell never find someone else like her because she owns his heart. Possessive pronoun
- stanza starts with ‘dear’ and ends with ‘my love’. She is his start and end, reference to eternal life and religion?

Question 7

‘When wearied with a world of woe,
To thy safe Bosom I retire’

Answer 7

Trochee at start of stanza three
The pace is slowed down with trochee and ‘w’ alliteration. Sad and dismal.
Contrast of pace in these two lines, the first is the depressive nature of he outside world and the second is the happiness and brightness of when he is with her
‘Safe bosom’ refers to her heart rather than sexual. It is easy to interpret it in a double meaning which shows how easy it is to stray from her/god and sin

Question 8

‘Where love and peace and truth does flow,
May i contented there expire’

Answer 8

-‘Where love and peace and truth does flow’ godly features. Polysyndeton (and…and…and). Childish and unusual, refers to her innocence and virginity. It is simple to show the simplicity of how he truly loves her and also puts her on a pedestal compared to him
-‘expire’ exhale, sigh of relief, sexual exhale or reference to death (rhymes with retire)

Question 9

‘Lest once more wandering from that heav’n
I fall on some base heart unblest;’

Answer 9

• starts with a trochee, difficult to justify his actions
  -‘lest’ rhymes with the last word. Circle of life - religion
  -‘wandering’ confused, lost needs her guidance
  ‘Fall’ refers to falling from grace into hell
  ‘Base heart’ mediocre compared to her
  ‘Unbelst’ she is holy because they’re aren’t having sex. These women (prostitutes?) are the sinful ones

Question 10

‘Faithless to thee, False, unforgiving,
And losing my everlasting rest’ (last words)

Answer 10

-harsh ‘f’ sounds, emphasises his self loathing.
-‘unforgiven’ is the opposite to grace, absent from god because of his sins
‘My’ possessive of her, she is his only hope of redemption and get to heaven
- ‘everlasting rest’ refers to their relationship but also the afterlife. He is damned to hell, contrasts to previous reference to heaven. Him and her are completely different, on a whole other plain
- rest rhymes with ‘lest’ first word of stanza. Refers to religious circle of life.