Analysis (Annotation) of the third stanza
• " wet mead" creates a sense of sadness, reflecting the speaker is longing for his wife- a cold and melancholy atmosphere.
• The sense of doubt introduced in stanza 2 is developed here as the speaker realises it may only be the wind he hears " or is it only the breeze "
• The words " listlessness" and "whistlessness" feel awkward and cheasy - as if the rhyme has been forced. Again we are reminded of the speaker's difficulty moving on with his life.
• There is also the sense of that the spekaer is afraid of forgetting the woman / his wife. " You being ever dissolved to wan whistlessness" " Heard no more far or near? " suggests her memory is slowly fading.
• The sense of doubt introduced in stanza 2 is developed here as the speaker realises it may only be the wind he hears " or is it only the breeze "
• The words " listlessness" and "whistlessness" feel awkward and cheasy - as if the rhyme has been forced. Again we are reminded of the speaker's difficulty moving on with his life.
• There is also the sense of that the spekaer is afraid of forgetting the woman / his wife. " You being ever dissolved to wan whistlessness" " Heard no more far or near? " suggests her memory is slowly fading.
