Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 19-24
(To one, it is ten years of years.
…Yet now, and in this place,
Surely she lean'd o'er me—her hair
Fell all about my face….
Nothing: the autumn-fall of leaves.
The whole year sets apace.)
- Here we get more details about the people that the damozel has left behind—well, one of those people anyway.
- For "one," it doesn't feel like the woman has been in heaven for ten years. It feels way longer than that—"ten years of years." That's a long time.
- And yet, it feels like this woman is leaning over that same person, whom we now see as a "me" in line 21. This is the first time we have a first-person speaker, which explains why this stanza is put in parentheses. It's like he's entered into the picture to give us this little commentary. Check out "Speaker" for more.
- So what's he saying? To this person, it feels like the damsel's hair is falling over him, but then he seems to snap out of this fantasy. It's just leaves falling from the trees in autumn—bummer.
- The year just speeds on ("sets apace") and this person—whoever he is—is still separated from the woman. Sniff.