Strangers

            The speaker of the poem is an observer, a bystander (although he describes inner feelings and private sensations that could have been his own). The author functions as a voice telling us about this couple, warning us from getting to the same situation of alienation and distancing.
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             In the first two verses the setting is abstracted, as though it's in someone's head. There's a strong feeling of suffering, darkness, doom. By contrast, the last two verses' setting is very real, practically taken from an ordinary everyday life. The feeling of alienation becomes more vivid, when we realize the impact it has on these people's lives. The man and the woman are sitting by a table. It's evening time and they are having supper under the stars. .
             The main theme of the poem is a relationship between a man and a woman. The author chose to illustrate a failing relationship that becomes more and more unbearable. The horrible loneliness, the feeling of desperation and alienation seem to surround everything. .
             The poet use simile to demonstrate the close relationship the man use to have with the woman; the man is compared to a child, and the woman to his mother ("like a child -). The woman gives life and comfort to her child, nursing and feeding him. .
             In addition the relationship is compared to a knot, which had been cut (a metaphor- "their knot had been cut -). .
             The influent structure of the poem evokes the feeling of confusion, as though someone speaks in an incomprehensible manner. This adds up to the puzzling atmosphere of the poem. .
             The poem is rhymed in two structures:.
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             Verse 1: .
             line 1 there.
             line 2 nursed.
             line 3 athirst.
             line4 pair.
             Verse 2:.
             line 1 knife.
             line 2 stay.
             line 3 away.
             line 4 life.
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             Verse 3: Verse 4:.
             line 1 overhead line 1 evaded.
             line 2 bread line 2 divided.
             line 3 stayed line 3 blade.
             The structural difference between the first two verses and the last two indicate that there's a difference in their content.