1.) Describe the form and structure of the poem. What is the occasion of the poem? What two reasons does the speaker give for refusing to promise a committed love? What does she suggest at the end?
-This poem has 3 stanzas of equal length (eight lines each) with alternating rhyme (ababcdcd) The occasion of the poem is the speaker is explaining why she does not want to be with whoever wants to be with her. She says she doesn’t want to be with him because they can’t no the truth about each other’s pasts, “For I cannot know your past, And of mine what can you know?” (7-8) Her other reason is because there is no way to tell if there will still be love in the future, “Fades the image from the glass And the fortune is not told.” (15-16). She suggests that they should just be “the friends they were” (21).
2.) Analyze the effect on meaning of such devices as syntax, repetition, parallelism, and paradox.
– The repetition of promise, Lines 4 & 6 paradox through repetition and parallel structure. 7, 8 – syntax implies it is the same for both of them. Paradox –“nothing more…” Repetition is used in the first two lines of the play to make the reader understand how seriously she takes a promise. Lines 1 and 2 read, “Promise me no promises, So will I not promise you;” The emphasis is always on promise, and on herself and her suitor (This establishes that a commitment between the two of them would be binding, and she doesn’t want him to promise her anything that she can’t promise him because that is unfair) Syntax is used in lines 7 and 8 to make the meaning of what the speaker says clearer. Lines 7 and 8 read, “For I cannot know of you past, And of mine what can you know?” The emphasis is on the word “know” and she clearly states that she knows nothing of his, and by asking him what can he “know” about hers , she implies that she I quite sure he knows, and has no way of surely knowing about hers ever. (placing know at the end of the question drives the message home). The parallel structure of line 4 and 6 relate the two subjects. Line 4 reads, “Never false and never true” while line 6 reads, “Free to come as free to go”. Both of these lines suggests that either choice is okay with her. They can either keep their false sense of freedom, or a true sense of freedom, and they can either leave each other or stay friends. (she has no particular preference) Line 22 presents the paradox of their relationships. She implies that their friendship will be “nothing more, but nothing less;” which means that their relationship as it stands will not improve its weaknesses, and it wont end because of this awkward rejection.
3.) Analyze the effect on meaning of the imagery and figurative language.
- The meaning of the imagery and figurative language in this poem helps us understand the speakers wariness of marriage and commitment. Line 5 presents us with the imagery of gambling, it reads “Let us hold the die uncast “ this statement implies that marrying him is a gamble because there is no way to tell what you are going to get. Lines 15 reinforces the idea that marrying him is a gamble because as “the image from the glass fades” their pasts will be less clear to themselves and even more so to each other (you can’t be honest about something if you don’t really remember it)  (all that stuff is figurative language I think) The imagery in lines 11-12 implies that the speaker is cold towards her suitor, they read“I, so cold may once have seen sunlight, once have felt the sun”. This imagery makes us picture the bright warm sun and feel happy, as the speaker is implying she once was. From all of these devices in the poem we can gather that she doesn’t want to take the chance with love again because she already felt it before with someone else and hasn’t gotten over it because she is still blocking out other’s “sunlight” and She believes it is possible that her suitor could have experienced something of a similar nature because both their pasts are “unknown” (the fact that she knows hers and is sure he knows nothing of hers points out that he should fear her past as she probably should his)