Loneliness
by Katherine Mansfield
Now it is Loneliness who comes at night
Instead of Sleep, to sit beside my bed.
Like a tired child I lie and wait her tread,
I watch her softly blowing out the light.
Motionless sitting, neither left or right
She turns, and weary, weary droops her head.
She, too, is old; she, too, has fought the fight.
So, with the laurel she is garlanded.
Through the sad dark the slowly ebbing tide
Breaks on a barren shore, unsatisfied.
A strange wind flows…then silence. I am fain
To turn to Loneliness, to take her hand,
Cling to her, waiting, till the barren land
Fills with the dreadful monotone of rain.
With this poem Mansfield manages to take a feeling many of us know but she does not just describe it, she draws a picture of what it is like to live with loneliness. Loneliness is portrayed as an older woman who appears to have gone through a lot. This personification allows for a deeper understanding of that feeling. She comes at night and accompanies the speaker, but she is almost welcome, someone you understand. In the second stanza, Mansfield then creates a sombre atmosphere by connecting loneliness to parts of nature one might associate with sadness: the slowly ebbing tide in the dark, a barren shore, the barren land and the dreadful monotone of rain. I chose this poem because I believe Mansfield managed to capture what loneliness is like. And yet, the speaker takes her hand and clings to her.
