Point of View

This poem is told from the first-person point of view using the pronoun “I”: “If I were young as once I was” (Line 1). This perspective is retained consistently throughout, even as the poem shifts from the present moment into the speaker’s memories and moves from one setting to another. The speaker uses a series of figurative images to describe their emotional state in leaving one half of themself behind. Even as the speaker becomes what would appear to be a material, impersonal object — in this case a set of violin strings — they remain personified and alive. As the poem progresses and moves into its closing stanza, the speaker shifts their attention to the way they’re feeling currently, and their attitude to the world around them, and what they hope for as they reach the end of their life.

Language and Meaning

“The Fairy...