Synthesized answer
The repeated phrase "You did not know" in "A Confession" creates a tone of wistful remembrance and veiled admiration [1]. The speaker repeatedly states what the other person was unaware of, highlighting how their presence and essence profoundly impacted the speaker's inner world. The speaker reveals that the other person "stood for" much more than they realized, embodying "Eden dew" and providing a constant source of "clear Deep draughts of purity" for the speaker's soul [1]. This phrase emphasizes a one-sided perception of the relationship, where the speaker's deep feelings and the profound influence of the other person were not reciprocated or even recognized by the object of their affection.
This repetition suggests a relationship where the speaker's inner life and experiences were largely secret or unacknowledged by the other. The speaker "used your name / To conjure by," finding its "potency," and saw romance "garnered in your smile," which "touched my thoughts with beauty" [1]. The speaker's joy was "weighed" by the other's joy, and their "debts your sweetness paid," creating a "lovely melody" from the "heart's deep silence" [1]. This underscores a profound emotional and…
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From the book
← The Draught of Life Poems by Agnes Louisa Storrie A Confession I'll Explain → 4516514 Poems — A Confession Agnes Louisa Storrie A Confession. You did not know, how could you, dear, How much you stood for? Life in you Retained its touch of Eden dew, And ever, through the droughtiest year, My soul could bring her flagon here And fill it to the brim with clear Deep draughts of purity. And time could never quench the flame Of youth, that lit me through your eyes, And cozened winter from my skies Through all the years that went and came. You did not know I used your name To conjure by, and…
ite serenity, The smooth and flawless beauty of the brow. And that was Adrienne. You knew her. Ah! Why should you wince? I face it every day, This bright young innocence, and every day I see the stain new fallen, every day I know the horror indescribable That came upon this unsuspecting soul. For I was innocent! Then I awoke To know myself a thing abhorred, and stained A girl of seventeen, poor, unhappy child, Who, when she stepped into the net outspread My diabolic cunning, was as pure Of every thought of sin as when she lay A day-old infant in her Mother's arms. And she, my Mother—ah! you…
eld me from exposure, and across The naked, shivering spectre of my life Throw as a cloak your warm and sheltering name. And, dazed and helpless, stricken with despair, A graven image of sheer misery, And aged just seventeen! I married you At her command. Oh, Heaven! what a farce, A bride whose heart was dead before it lived. Whose brain was seared. Oh, Tom! Oh! generous heart! What fatal instinct made you lend yourself To such a plan, so futile, and so wrong, As if an empty marriage could atone! As if two wrongs could ever make a right. A marriage—that! when scarcely had the words Been…
ease, The death of earthly satisfactions and —— — He— I almost could believe you do not know What loving means! Yet, no! Forgive me, dear. Some other time I'll follow you, and feel What you would have me feel, but now my soul, And mind, and spirit are grown sick and numb, And I am nothing but a man, not dead, Nor risen, nor transfigured—just a man Alive and loving you, whose pulses beat Loud drums of revolution, whose hot blood Is surging through his veins like liquid fire, Whose heart is thundering out with every throb The death-knell of delay. In vain you hold His happiness before mine eyes…
not know the cruelty of this. I love you, dear. Have loved you all your life. Although you never guessed. Yet it is so. Your Mother, penetrating deeper knew, And when that terrible misfortune fell I leaped to help you, and my love made sweet And precious to me any aid I gave —— — Adrienne— Don't tell me—hush! Oh, hush! I cannot bear— I never knew—I did not guess, and now— Since so you love —— — (Oh, what a selfish wretch To trade upon his sheer nobility! But I am desperate.) Forgive me, Tom, I am not worth it. Only let me live, Promise you will not raise a hand to stay My…
More questions about this book
- How do the opening poem (implied "Ultimate Nothingness") and "A Confession" explore different facets of profound human connection, and what distinct emotional journeys do they invite the reader to experience regarding presence and absence?
- Select one potent metaphor from the opening poem (e.g., "a string is snapped") and one from "A Confession" (e.g., "Life in you Retained its touch of Eden dew"). Explain the literal image each creates and the deeper emotional or philosophical concept it conveys, as if simplifying it for someone new to poetry.
- Consider "A December Posy" in conjunction with the other two poems. How do its themes of nature, season, and unspoken words complement or contrast with the more direct expressions of grief and profound personal influence found in the first two poems, enriching Storrie's overall thematic landscape?
- If you were to characterize Agnes Louisa Storrie's poetic voice and primary thematic concerns based solely on these three excerpts, what would you highlight as her most distinctive qualities, and how do specific literary choices (e.g., imagery, tone, structure) contribute to establishing that voice?