Byron's "When We Two Parted"

Byron’s poem “When We Two Parted” is very interesting. It is quite different from many of the poems we have read so far for this class in that it still has a distinct length of stanzas and a distinct rhyme scheme, but it doesn’t have any type of exact meter. It changes the number of syllables and where the accents are line by line, for example:

“Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.”

What is consistant throughout the poem is that each line has two strong emphasized syllables, though they are not in the same place. To me, this helped propel the reader through the poem, but at an inconsistent pace so as to mirror the pattern of his thoughts, racing by and then lingering on certain memories. Additionally, something that struck me is that while the poem started out sad, it actually got sadder and more depressed over time. As the idiom goes, “Time heals all wounds,” but in this case it just makes it worse and worse. At first reading, I thought that his love in the poem had passed away, but after going through it a couple times it is evident that the reason for his increased sorrow is that he still must see her and hear about her, but he still doesnt have her.