Poetry · Chapter
On Hearing the Bag-Pipe and Seeing “The Stranger” Played at Inverary explained
The speaker describes being torn between two exquisite pleasures: the mournful sound of the bag-pipe and the sorrowful sighs of a stranger in a play.
What happens
The speaker describes being torn between two exquisite pleasures: the mournful sound of the bag-pipe and the sorrowful sighs of a stranger in a play. Each alternately captivates and charms him, leaving his heart unable to choose and ultimately forced to part with both.
Themes in this chapter
Sorrow and Melancholy
Both the bag-pipe's mournful notes and the stranger's sighs evoke a deep sense of melancholy and emotional conflict.
Love and Loss
The speaker's inability to choose between the two dainties and his eventual parting from both reflects a theme of love and loss.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Of late two dainties were before me plac’d Sweet, holy, pure, sacred and innocent, From the ninth sphere to me benignly sent That Gods might know my own particular taste”
Recently, two exquisite pleasures were set before me, so sweet and pure that they seemed sent from heaven, allowing the gods to see my unique preferences.
The speaker introduces the two competing delights as almost divine in nature.
“O Bag-pipe, thou didst steal my heart away— O Stranger, thou my nerves from Pipe didst charm— O Bag-pipe thou didst re-assert thy sway— Again thou. Stranger, gav’st me fresh alarm—”
Oh bag-pipe, you captivated my heart; oh Stranger, you drew my attention away from the pipe; then the bag-pipe regained its hold, and the Stranger alarmed me anew.
The speaker describes the back-and-forth struggle between the two attractions.
“Alas! I could not choose. Ah! my poor heart Mum chance art thou with both oblig’d to part.”
Alas, I could not decide. Ah, my poor heart, perhaps you are forced to part with both.
The speaker laments his inability to choose and the inevitable loss of both pleasures.