As other posters have noted, the melancholy simplicity and
abbreviated nature of Byron’s “When We Two Parted” was something that
immediately drew me to this poem. Although the poem clearly presents the
intense sorrow and heartbreak felt in the ending of a meaningful relationship,
the connection of this idea with death and burial imagery is used throughout. Uses
of words like “sever” (4), “sunk chill” (10), and “grieve” (26) as well as
images like “pale grew thy cheek and cold,/ colder thy kiss” (5) all seem to
suggest a death or a funeral. In stanza 3, the way his friends speak about her
as if she is gone, perhaps even criticizing her (as her name brings Byron ‘shame’), also suggest that she is not only out of
Byron’s life, but that she has passed away. In following this theme, then the
last stanza would present a meeting not in this life, but in the next. This could present something of what Bryon thought of the afterlife, as he meets her with the ever-present "silence and tears." Following the depressing tone of the poem, this could suggest that, even in death, forgiveness is not possible between these two former lovers, and that theirs is a relationship that is irreparable.
I did not originally notice how the death imagery would relate to the reunion that is discussed by Byron; however, I think Carly is right when she says that "even in death, forgiveness is not possible between these two former lovers." The added imagery of death gives the terminated relationship a permanence that would otherwise not be as strong if other language were to be used.
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