As When With Downcast Eyes - Analysis

Introduction and overall impression

This short lyric conveys a contemplative, slightly uncanny tone as the speaker describes a moment of déjà vu and intimate recognition. The mood shifts subtly from inward, dreamy meditation to warm personal connection when the speaker addresses a friend. The language is elegiac and reflective, underscored by a quiet wonder rather than drama.

Authorial and historical context

Alfred Lord Tennyson, a leading Victorian poet, often explored memory, time, and interpersonal sympathy; this poem fits that concern by treating recollection and emotional mirroring. The poem's restrained diction and emphasis on inner experience reflect Victorian poise and an interest in psychological subtlety.

Theme: Memory and déjà vu

The poem centers on the recurrence of past impressions: images of musing with "downcast eyes" and "ebb into a former life" frame the opening. Phrases like All this hath been before and "I know not when or where" articulate an uncanny repetition of experience, suggesting memory's power to blur temporal boundaries.

Theme: Recognition and interpersonal reflection

The second half turns from solitary reverie to relational revelation: meeting the friend produces "Opposed mirrors each reflecting each." The mutuality—"Our thought gave answer each to each"—develops the idea that minds can echo one another, creating the sense of having "often met" through shared inner life.

Imagery and symbolic motifs

Key images are mirrors, dreams, and rehearsal of past lives. The mirror motif emphasizes reciprocity and exact correspondence, while dreamlike diction ("confused dream," "mystical similitude") lends a spiritual or preternatural cast to recognition. The chair-stirring detail anchors the uncanny in ordinary gesture, making the wonder feel immediate.

Ambiguity and possible interpretations

The poem leaves open whether the felt prior acquaintance is metaphysical, psychological, or simply intense sympathy formed at first sight. One could read it as a commentary on souls predisposed to meet, or as an observation about how empathy creates the illusion of shared history.

Conclusion and final insight

By moving from inward meditation to mutual recognition, Tennyson links memory and intimacy: the past seems to recur precisely where two minds resonate. The poem's quiet wonder suggests that deep connection can dissolve time, making a single present moment feel like something that has always been.