← All chapters

Poetry · Chapter

Gone, Gone Again explained

The speaker reflects on the passage of time as months slip by unnoticed, drawing a parallel between the decaying orchard and an abandoned house.

What happens

The speaker reflects on the passage of time as months slip by unnoticed, drawing a parallel between the decaying orchard and an abandoned house. The war's devastation is recalled, transforming young men into 'dung.' The old house stands empty and broken, yet the speaker, though similarly worn, remains alive and observant.

Themes in this chapter

  • Memory and Time

    The speaker marks the unnoticed passage of months and years, contrasting past presence with present emptiness.

  • War and Mortality

    The war is directly invoked as it 'began to turn young men to dung,' linking personal loss to collective death.

Characters to notice

  • Unknown

    The speaker who observes the passage of time and the decay of the house, reflecting on loss and survival.

  • The Child

    Referenced implicitly through the memory of youth and the lost one who was here.

Key passages

  • “Gone, gone again, May, June, July, And August gone, Again gone by, Not memorable Save that I saw them go, As past the empty quays The rivers flow.”

    The months have slipped away unnoticed, their only significance being that I witnessed their departure, like water flowing past deserted docks.

    The speaker emphasizes the fleeting, unremarkable nature of time.

  • “And when the war began To turn young men to dung.”

    And when the war started reducing young men to nothing but fertilizer.

    A stark metaphor for the dehumanizing and fatal impact of war.

  • “Look at the old house, Outmoded, dignified, Dark and untenanted, With grass growing instead Of the footsteps of life, The friendliness, the strife; In its beds have lain Youth, love, age and pain: I am something like that; Only I am not dead, Still breathing and interested In the house that is not dark:”

    Observe the old house—old-fashioned, dignified, empty and dark, with grass overtaking where people once walked and lived. It has held youth, love, age, and pain. I resemble that house, but I am still alive, breathing, and curious about the house that still has light.

    The speaker compares himself to the abandoned house, highlighting his own endurance despite decay.

Read this chapter freeBook page