So Glad We Are a Stranger’d Deem

So Glad We Are a Stranger’d Deem - meaning Summary

Joy and Grief Entwined

The poem contrasts expectation and disappointment: where a holiday or celebration was expected, the speaker finds sorrow instead. Being "stranger'd" produces mixed feelings, and the poem suggests grief and joy have become so alike that the self cannot be reconciled or justified. The final image—an optician unable to distinguish between the two—emphasizes emotional ambiguity and blurred perception of inner states.