As when, with downcast eyes...
As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood, And ebb into a former life, or seem To lapse far back in some confused dream To states of mystical similitude; If one but speaks or hems or stirs his chair, Ever the wonder waxeth more and more, So that we say, “All this hath been before, All this hath been, I know not when or where”. So, friend, when first I look’d upon your face, Our thought gave answer each to each, so true— Opposed mirrors each reflecting each— Altho’ I knew not in what time or place, Methought that I had often met with you, And each had lived in the other’s mind and speech.
As when, with downcast eyes... - meaning Summary
Recognition Beyond Remembered Time
Tennyson's short lyric describes an instantaneous, uncanny recognition between two people. Using the image of contemplative reverie—when a small movement makes past lives or dreams flood back—the speaker likens meeting a friend to opposed mirrors reflecting one another. The poem emphasizes a preexisting, mutual familiarity: each mind answers the other, as if they had often met before and already lived within one another's thoughts and speech.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.