somewhere i have never travelled
“somewhere i have never travelled,gladly “any experience,your eyes have their
beyond” silence:”
The words, "somewhere" and "travelled" The "your" indicates that the speaker is
imply that the speaker is about to tell the talking to another person, who for some
reader about a journey that he has taken reason has silent eyes. The reader can
or will take. determine that the speaker is discussing
metaphysical concepts, abstract ideas
While he might not have the words to
that cannot be experienced by one's
describe exactly what this experience is,
physical senses.
he has an idea. It is something “glad,” or
that he is pleased to dwell on. In the real world, eyes do not have the
Additionally, if he were to embark on this capability of producing noise, so they
experience, it would take him “beyond” are, by default, silent. The discussion of
any other he has been through in the the person's eyes, along with the use of
past. the word "gladly," gives the reader a first
indication that this might be a love
This journey is a happy one, as the word
poem. Eyes are thought by many to be a
"gladly" indicates - although the reader
window into a person's soul, and poets
does not, at this point, know where the
often describe their lovers' eyes in
destination is of this journey. At the end
positive terms.
of the first line and the beginning of the
second line, the speaker clarifies that this
journey is "beyond / any experience" that
he has ever had.
“in your most frail gesture are things “or which i cannot touch because they
which enclose me,” are too near””
In the third line, the use of the words At the same time, although these
"frail gesture" indicates that the person feelings surround him, he cannot touch
to whom the speaker is dedicating this them, because they are so all consuming
poem is most likely a woman. that they have become a deeply
ingrained part of him.
The speaker notes that this woman's frail
gestures contain "things which enclose At this point, the reader can see that
me," or which he "cannot touch because when the speaker discusses the
they are too near." The speaker is not "somewhere" to which he is travelling,
saying that these things are literally he is not talking about a literal, physical
enclosing him. Instead, these things - the journey. Rather, his journey is
feelings that are produced in the speaker metaphysical, and the woman's eyes are
by this woman's enchanting glance - are the means by which the speaker makes
so powerful that he feels enclosed by this journey.
them.
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, “your slightest look easily will unclose me “you open always petal by petal myself
as Spring opens
though i have closed myself as fingers,”
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first
rose”
The speaker underscores the power of In the third line of the stanza, the
the woman's glance with the first two speaker elaborates on how the woman
lines of the second stanza. The speaker opens him up, using the analogy of a
notes that the woman can easily rose opening up in spring. In this poem,
"unclose," or open him, even though he however, the speaker personifies the
has until that point "closed myself as season of spring.
fingers." When the poet notes that "Spring
The speaker’s lover is able to break down opens / (touching skilfully, mysteriously)
those emotionally protective walls he had her first rose," he is referring to spring as
built around himself at will. This is a person, who is physically opening up
unusual for a man to be fragile hence the the rose.
comparison to a flower.
Spring is seen as a Goddess (the Greek
Here, the speaker is talking about the goddess of love, beauty and
power of love to change a person's fertility[Spring] was Aphrodite) whose
perspective. The speaker could be talking impact is almost magical on the speaker.
about his feelings about love. Perhaps he She forces him to open up emotionally
has been hurt in the past and so has and display vulnerabilities like a flower
closed himself off from the idea of love. opening up to bloom in Spring.
Alternatively, he could be closed in the
sense of being pessimistic about the
current state of society.
“or if your wish be to close me,i and “as when the heart of this flower
imagines
my life will shut very
beautifully,suddenly” the snow carefully everywhere
descending;”
The speaker continues his discussion of Again, the poet uses personification.
the woman's power, noting that just as While a flower is alive in the organic
she can easily open him up, "if your wish sense, it does not have the human
be to close me, i and / my life will shut quality of imagination. By describing the
very beautifully, suddenly." The speaker rose in this way, the poet paints a unique
is in the woman's complete control, to picture.
the point that she has power over his life The rose, coming to the end of its
and his death. seasonal life in the fall, is imagining the
While death is generally considered a snow that will soon be falling, a sign of
negative concept, in the context of this the flower's impending and unavoidable
poem, the speaker describes it as death in winter.
beautiful, equating his hypothetical death Since the lifecycle of the rose is eternal
with the impending death of a flower, (the flower will experience a rebirth
which "imagines / the snow carefully again in spring) its death is not tragic. By
everywhere descending." equating his own hypothetical death at
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