The Spirit Wooed
The Spirit Wooed - meaning Summary
Attraction and Fading Faith
The speaker recalls an early, unquestioning devotion to a presence called "you" that arrived as sudden novelty and authority. That presence shaped the speaker’s feelings and moral certainty without argument, bringing clarity absent before. Over time the intimacy weakens and distance grows, leaving the speaker to wonder whether their excessive attachment caused the departure or whether the absence is final. The poem probes the ache of lost conviction and fading influence.
Read Complete AnalysesOnce I believed in you, And then you came, Unquestionably new, as fame Had said you were. But that was long ago. You launched no argument, Yet I obeyed, Straightaway, the instrument you played Distant Down sidestreets, keeping different time, And never questioned what You fascinate In me; if good or not, the state You pressed towards. There was no need to know. Grave pristine absolutes Walked in my mind: So that I was not mute, or blind, As years before or since. My only crime Was holding you too dear. Was that the cause You daily came less near—a pause Longer than life, if you decide it so?
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