Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 17-24
If 'twere not so, what did become
Of my heart when I first saw thee?
I brought a heart into the room,
But from the room I carried none with me.
If it had gone to thee, I know
Mine would have taught thine heart to show
More pity unto me; but Love, alas!
At one first blow did shiver it as glass.
- Anyone want to argue with our speaker's descriptions of love? Well, he gives us his defense in this stanza.
- If love wasn't so totally devastating, then how do you explain what happened to him when he first saw "thee"? That "thee" is important. This is our first clue that the speaker is having a direct conversation in this poem. Sure, he's talking to us through the poem, but he's also talking to someone in particular, someone with whom he's fallen in love. Again, check out "Speaker" for more on this.
- As it turns out, the speaker walked into a room, first saw this "thee," and then walked out of the room again—only missing his heart.
- So, what gives? Did this "thee" person capture his heart and keep it? Not exactly—if she (and we're just going to guess that "thee" is a she at this point) had done that, the speaker's heart would have become a kind of personified teacher, showing the beloved's heart how to be kind and merciful towards his own heart.
- That's not what happened, though. The speaker's heart wasn't captured by the beloved. Instead, personified love smashed his heart into smithereens—ka-pow. Using a simile, the speaker tells us that his heart shattered ("shiver[ed]") like glass. Now he's out one heart—bummer.