# XVII: Because Your Voice Was at My Side explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by James Joyce.

## What happens

The speaker reflects on how the beloved's presence led them to betray a friend, and now that friend has become a stranger, with no possibility of reconciliation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Isolation and Connection

The speaker's connection to the beloved isolates them from a former friend, turning that friend into a stranger.

### Memory and Nostalgia

The irreversible loss of a friendship is mourned, with no word or sign able to amend the past.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The speaker who acted on the beloved's influence and caused pain to a friend.

### Beloved

The beloved whose voice and hand guided the speaker's actions.

### Love

Implied as the force or personification behind the beloved's influence.

## Key lines

> Because your voice was at my side I gave him pain

Because I heard your voice beside me, I hurt him.

_The beloved's presence directly caused the speaker to inflict pain on a friend._

> He is a stranger to me now who was my friend

The person who was once my friend is now a stranger to me.

_The friendship is irrevocably broken, leaving only estrangement._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_11_se/chapters/xvii-because-your-voice-was-at-my-side
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_11_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_11_se/chapters