When We Two Parted (P)

Question 1

Exposition

“Pale grew thy cheek and cold,/Colder thy kiss”

Answer 1

A01:
Byron complains about the distant cooling of their relationship

A02:
The cool tone and references to pallor suggest discomfort and the cooling of their relationship/her feelings
The Chilled polyptoton (repetition of word in a slightly different form) emphasises the lady’s cool rejection of the speaker: comparative adjective “colder” kiss intensifies the distancing effect/sense of rejection

A03:
Lord Byron complains about his break up with Lady Frances Webster as she shuns him to marry a more eligible bachelor

Question 2

Mid-point

“A shudder comes o’er me—/Why wert thou so dear?”

Answer 2

A01:
The speaker explores his devastated feelings as his lover breaks the relationship

A02:
Physical, bodily response “shudder”; implies a heightened emotional impact almost like sobbing further portraying speaker as damaged victim
**The dramatised intensifier “so” **suggests not only that he regrets his closeness to her and adoration of her but also that he can no longer understand his passion for her he is almost like

A03
Byron’s lifestyle was debauched and promiscuous so perhaps this poem is less unrequited love and more melodramatic whining

Question 3

Denouement

“How should I greet thee? - / With silence and tears.”

Answer 3

A01
The narrator describes how melancholic he would be if him and his ex lover should meet.
A02
cyclical reference back to the opening couplet where he also mentions “silence and tears”, the phrase is now in future tense suggesting his pain persists with him even into the future.
the hushed sibilance emphasises his displeasure and reinforces his bitter tone.
A03
captures the pain experienced by those who are rejected in the breakdown of a relationship