“Renouncement” Summary

“Renouncement” Themes

• 

  The Intensity of Unattainable or Forbidden Love

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• 

  Will vs. Desire

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Renouncement”

• Lines 1-4

  I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong,
  I shun the thought that lurks in all delight—
  The thought of thee—and in the blue heaven's height,
  And in the sweetest passage of a song.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Oh, just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng
  This breast, the thought of thee waits hidden yet bright;
  But it must never, never come in sight;
  I must stop short of thee the whole day long.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  But when sleep comes to close each difficult day,
  When night gives pause to the long watch I keep,
  And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,
  Must doff my will as raiment laid away,—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  With the first dream that comes with the first sleep
  I run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart.

  

  

  

  

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“Renouncement” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Epizeuxis

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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“Renouncement” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Thee/Thy
• Shun
• Lurks
• Throng
• Breast
• Needs must loose apart
• Doff
• Raiment
• Laid away

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Renouncement”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Renouncement” Speaker

“Renouncement” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Renouncement”

More “Renouncement” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Renouncement." 

  • Meynell's Biography — Learn more about Alice Meynell's life and the inspiration for "Renouncement."

  • An Introduction to Victorian Poetry — Check out a brief overview of the era in which Meynell wrote.

  • The Poems of Alice Meynell — View a  a June 1923 issue of The Atlantic in which a posthumous review of Meynell's collected poems appears.