About the poet William Walsh

William Walsh (1662-1708) was a critic and a poet. He studied at Wadham College, Oxford, but left the university without a degree. He was the MP for Worcestershire in 1698, 1701, and 1702. During the reign of Queen Anne, he was made 'gentleman of the horse', a post which he held till his death. Walsh is primarily known as the friend and correspondent of Alexander Pope. Walsh's famous works include Women, being a Defence of the Sex, Letters, and Poems, and Amorous and Gallant.

About the poem :

This poem is a lament over rejection and the grief that follows it. The poem stands out for its humorous treatment of the theme. The poet, with the use of the line breaks, describes the frustration and finally the acceptance on the part of the despairing lover. The lover is still in pain but is no longer concerned

Summary

The poem 'The Despairing Lover ' is written by William Walsh, a critic, and a poet. This poem is a lament over rejection and the grief that follows it. The poem stands out for its humorous treatment of the theme. The poet used the line breaks, it describes the frustration and finally the acceptance on the part of the despairing lover. The lover is still in pain but is no longer concerned.

In the first stanza of the poem, the poet declares that Damon's lover leave him and did not come to him. He has despaired of life because he has lost his lover. He was distracted by her care who was an honest lover but he express his grief & pain of a rejected love. He expresses his grief in the line "since nothing could move her, poor Damon, her lover, resolves in despair." He express that he had done everything that he could do for his love but nothing could move her from her decision and she can not come to him. He presents himself as 'poor Damon'. He was frustrated because he has lost his love, so he used the word 'poor' for himself.

He completely lost the hopes in his life and resolves into despair. The lover grows weak in his love but now he no longer bears so much mental pain and suffering from his rejected love. But he was mad at his love. The lover is frustrated, so he decides to go to a. precipice where he leaps from the above and would soon finish his sorrow. Here, the lover 'Damon' decided to commit suicide and end his life, because he thinks that he can't live without his love and he cannot hear the mental suffering of his rejected love.

In the second stanza of the poem, the poet expresses Damon's frustrating situation and his realization about committing suicide. Here, the poet tells us the heartache of the loss of the person he loved and how it nearly drove him to suicide. The poet tells us that 'Damon', the lover goes to the precipice in rage and he saw carefully how 'steep' the sides of the precipice and he thinks that his pain is also hard as the 'steep' of this precipice.

When he came there and saw from the above he realises how 'deep' the bottom of the precipice was. Here, the poet used the contrast image, 'steep' and 'deep' and it suggests to us the jumbling of the mind of the lover. When he saw the bottom his torments were projecting and sadly reflecting from this. Here, he wants to tell us the painful situation of his heart in which the lover feels that like the deep bottom of the precipice his mental pains are also 'deep' because his love cannot come to him and he cannot live without his love.

The lover is thinking about finishing himself by committing suicide from the precipice and at the same time he thinks about a 'new love'. He expresses this in the line "A new love may get; But a Neck, when once broken, can never be set"; from this line, the poet tells us that, perhaps he may get a new love means he find a new lover in his life and live happily but he is not sure that he becomes successful in his love. He thinks that as like a Neck when it has once broken, it can never be set, his first love which he lost, can never be filled by any other. From this line, we saw the honest and true love of 'Damon' for 'Phillis'. As well as the frightened at the thought of quick.

In the last stanza of the poem, the poet expresses how the lover becomes bold and courageous and takes back his decision about committing suicide. In the last stanza, the poet expresses that the lover is frustrated and nervous because of rejected love. He is accepted himself as a despairing lover. He is alive but completely dead without his love. It is his love, so he could die whenever he wants but he could live also as long means only physically he is alive but mentally he is dead because he lost as he could. Here, the poet expresses the positiveness of the lover towards his life. The lover thinks how grievous it was to live with the frustration of rejected love and maybe his torments might grow. Now he can not bear all this and he hates to try hard to finish his woes. He cannot able to bear his mental suffering. But he becomes unconcerned about the thoughts of the pain that he gets after losing his love. After then Damon finally decides that it is better to live than to die, with love or without love. Here, the lover becomes unconcerned about his feelings & love. And he calmly returned to his cottage again.

Short Questions

In stanza 1, what does Damon decide to do and why?

Ans: The poem The Despairing Lover' is written by William Walsh. The poem is a lament over rejection by a lover. Daman's lover Phillis deceived him and she leave him. He has despaired of life because he has lost his lover. He was distracted by her care and resolves in despair. Damon grow weak in his love and now he could not bear the mental pain and suffering of his rejected love. So, he decided to go to a precipice and leap from above to finish his suffering.

b) Why does Damon change his mind?

Ans: Damon is frustrated because his lover Phillis did not come to him. He has despaired of life and he could not bear the mental suffering and pain of his rejected love. So, he decides to commit suicide and finish his pain. He goes to a precipice to leap from above, but he saw how 'steep' of sides of the precipice and when he saw from the above he realizes how 'deep' the bottom of the precipice is. He thought about jumping from the above but he was frightened and changed his mind. Because he thinks that his lover forsaken him but perhaps a new love may get him but a neck when once broken, can never be set. Here, he becomes conscious about himself & his life. Because he thinks that it is better to live a life than to die, with love or without love and he returned to his cottage again.

What does Damon think he will have to endure if he lives?

Ans: Damon is frustrated because his lover leaves him alone. He is despaired and cannot bear frustrated love's mental pain and suffering. So, he decides to commit suicide but when he goes to a precipice to leap from the above he becomes frightened and thinks that perhaps he may get a new love in his life but a neck if once broken can never be set. He thinks that if he lives he will have to endure his pain & mental suffering. But, he becomes bold and courageous and becomes unconcerned about the thoughts of pain, which lead him to the hopes of living life with love or without love. And he returned to his cottage again.

Essay-Type Question

Q:- How are the ideas of love and life connected in the poem?
Give examples to support your answer.

Ans: - The poem, "The Despairing Lover, is written by William Walsh, a critic, and a poet. In this poem, the poet expresses the frustration of a lover who did not get his love. The lover, Damon can not bear the mental pain & suffering of the rejection by his lover and he tries to commit suicide. But, after the realization of his decision, he comes back to his cottage again and is ready to live life.

At the beginning of the poem Damon has been presented as a lover who was frustrated because he lost his love, Phillis his lover did not come to him and he was distracted by her care. The lover has done everything to move her but she did not come back.

He becomes frustrated and resolves into despair. He cannot bear the mental pain & suffering of his rejected love. So, he decides to commit suicide, and very soon he goes to a precipice where he leaps from the above and would have soon finished his sorrow. When he approaches a precipice, he saw the 'steep' of the precipice and realizes how 'deep' the bottom of it. The lover thinks that like the deep bottom, his torments are also deep. His torments were projecting and sadly reflecting from the bottom of the precipice. When he was about to commit suicide, he thinks of New love.' He says, 'A new love may get! But a neck, when once broken can never be set.' Here we saw the honest & true love of 'Damon' and Phillis.

In the last stanza, we saw the lover is in the condition in which he could die whenever he would, but he could live as long as he could. He cannot live with growing torments. Now he decides to be bold and courageous and he becomes unconcerned to the thoughts of the pain of his frustrated love. And finally, he decides, it is better to live than to die, with love or without love. Damn calmly returned to his cottage again. In this way, the poet expresses the correlations between love and life.

Reference to Context

1)Distracted with care
For Phillis the Fair;
Since nothing could move her, Poor Damon, her lover,
Resolves in Despair.

Reference :

The above lines are taken from the poem, "The Despairing Lover, written by William Walsh. The poem deals with a lover's frustration and nervousness whose lover did not come to him and so, he resolves into despair.

Context:

The poem describes the grief of a lover and a lament of the lover over rejection by his lover. Damon is a poor lover. His beloved Phillis leave him alone and he was distracted because of her care. Damon her lover does all his best to convince her but nothing could move her from her decision. The poor Damon becomes upset because he could not think of anything except her; without her, he could not live. His life becomes unbearable without his lover.

So, he resolves in despair thinking about his lover, bearing the mental pain and suffering of his lost love. Conclusion: The above-quoted lines express the true and honest love of the poor Damon for his beloved Phillis Who leaves him alone.

2)
That a lover is forsaken
A new love may get;

But a Neck, When once broken,

Can never be set;

Reference :

The above lines are taken from the poem, "The Despairing Lover, written by William Walsh. The above lines describe the frustration and finally acceptance on the part of the despairing lover. Context:

At the beginning of the poem, the poet explains that the lover Damon is distracted with the care for Phillis, who leave him alone and did not come to him. He does all his best to convince her but nothing could move her from her decision. The lover lost the hopes of his life and resolves in despair. He did not bear the mental pain & suffering of his rejected love and decided to go to the precipice to finish himself by Jumping from the above.

He goes to a precipice and saw how steep the sides of the precipice and when he reaches the top of the precipice and saw from above he realise how 'deep' was the bottom of the precipice. He is frightened to leap from above and thinks that perhaps he may get a new love in his life but if a Neck when once broken can never be set. Here, he was frightened at the thought of death. And decides not to commit suicide, because he thinks it is better to live than to die, with love or without love.

Conclusion :

The above lines describe the frustrated and nervous situation of the lover in which he cannot decide about himself. But at last, he realizes the pain of finishing his life is greater than losing his love.

But Bold, unconcerned,
At thoughts of the pain,

To his cottage again.
He calmly returned

Reference :

The above lines are taken from the poem, "The Despairing Lover, written by William Walsh. The poem describes how a lover becomes frustrated in love and decides to commit suicide but at last, he realizes that it is better to live than to die.

Context:

The poet describes the lover 'Damon' as distracted by his lover Phillis who left him alone. He grows weak because he lost his love and he could not bear the mental pain & suffering of his love. Then he decides to commit suicide and go to the precipice to finish his life as well as his woes. But when he reached the precipice he realized that it is very hard to finish his life and he was frightened at the thought of suicide.

He try to finish his woe he try to forget his wounds of love but he could not. But he could not dare to finish his life when he saw the deep bottom of the precipice. He thinks that perhaps he may get a new love but a Neck when once broken can never be set. He becomes frightened but he decides to become bold, and courageous and he becomes unconcerned at the thoughts of the pain of his dejection and calmly he returned to his cottage again.

Conclusion:

The above lines describe the changing attitude of the lover about committing suicide which drives him from death to life. And he comes to his cottage with the decision that it is better to live than to die, with love or without love.