To Mary in Heaven
written in 1795
To Mary in Heaven - meaning Summary
Grief for a Lost Beloved
The poem is a direct lament addressed to a deceased beloved named Mary. The speaker mourns their separation while recalling a treasured meeting by the winding River Ayr and a final embrace they did not know would be the last. Natural details — the river, birch, hawthorn, singing birds, and sunset — are tied to memory and intensify the speaker’s grief. Across repeated addresses to Mary and questions about her rest, the poem emphasizes the persistence of memory and the physical and emotional pain of loss, turning landscape into a repository of mourning.
Read Complete AnalysesThou lingering star, with lessening ray That lovest to greet the early morn, Again thou usherest in the day My Mary from my Soul was torn. O Mary! Dear, departed Shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? Seest thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget, Can I forget the hallowed grove, Where by the winding Ayr, we met, To live one day of Parting Love? Eternity can not efface Those records dear of transports past; Thy image at our last embrace, Ah! little thought we 'twas our last! Ayr gurgling kiss'd his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild-woods, thickening green; The fragrant birch, and hawthorn hoar, Twined, am'rous, round the raptured scene: The flowers sprang wanton to be prest, The birds sang love on every spray; Till too, too soon the glowing west Proclaimed the speed of winged day. Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes, And fondly broods with miser-care; Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear, My Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest! Seest thou thy Lover lowly laid! Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast!
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