T.S. Eliot

Eyes That Last I Saw in Tears

Eyes That Last I Saw in Tears - meaning Summary

Vision of Enduring Loss

The speaker recalls a pair of tearful eyes that persist as an inner vision after a separation or death. The remembered “golden vision” returns, but the tears are gone; this sustained image becomes an affliction because the eyes are no longer accessible in life. The poem registers mourning and the uneasy persistence of memory, suggesting that some images outlast their emotional source and can feel mocking rather than consoling.

Read Complete Analyses

Eyes that last I saw in tears through division here in death’s dream kingdom the golden vision reappears I see the eyes but not the tears this is my affliction. This is my affliction eyes I shall not see again eyes of decision eyes I shall not see unless at the door of death’s other kingdom where, as in this, the eyes outlast a little while a little while outlast the tears and hold us in derision.

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