Because I Liked You Better
Rhyme scheme and structure
The poem has four stanzas, written in trimetre, with every second line rhyming.
This structure is restrictive, rigid and very structured, which mimics the restrains of the Victorian society on homosexuality, in which the poet was immersed in. The stance that Victorian society took on homosexuality meant that the poet’s love was essentially forbidden- forbidden both by the persona’s surroundings, and also by the subject, who is “irked” and rejects the persona’s love.
The rhyme scheme is also song like, suggesting the simplicity of love- but this juxtaposes to the complexity of the relationship and the complexity of the persona’s emotions on his unrequited love.
Themes: The Passage of Time
"To put the world between us / we parted stiff and dry" The persona agrees to allow seperation to come between him and his subject- seperation in the form of ‘the world’, which suggests that worldly occurences, such as time and society’s view on homosexuality, has parted the two. Furthermore, later on the poem, with the allusions to death and related death imagery, the persona suggests that time, and the death which only time can bring, will signal the final act of seperation between the persona and his subject.
Death Imagery
"And say the lad that loved you/ was one that kept his word"
The poem is written in first person perspective, like a letter from the persona to his subject- and the persona ends with images of death, which would be the final seperation of the two. This ‘final seperation’ is shown by ” was one who kept his word“, referring to how the persona imagines that he will forever keep his promise of “throwing the thought [of liking the subject] away” (ironic because the persona, in writing this poem, demonstrates that he has not thrown the thought of liking the subject away). Through the final line, “Was one who kept his word“, he persona wistfully imagines that his subject will never know the full extent of the perona’s
The poem has four stanzas, written in trimetre, with every second line rhyming.
This structure is restrictive, rigid and very structured, which mimics the restrains of the Victorian society on homosexuality, in which the poet was immersed in. The stance that Victorian society took on homosexuality meant that the poet’s love was essentially forbidden- forbidden both by the persona’s surroundings, and also by the subject, who is “irked” and rejects the persona’s love.
The rhyme scheme is also song like, suggesting the simplicity of love- but this juxtaposes to the complexity of the relationship and the complexity of the persona’s emotions on his unrequited love.
Themes: The Passage of Time
"To put the world between us / we parted stiff and dry" The persona agrees to allow seperation to come between him and his subject- seperation in the form of ‘the world’, which suggests that worldly occurences, such as time and society’s view on homosexuality, has parted the two. Furthermore, later on the poem, with the allusions to death and related death imagery, the persona suggests that time, and the death which only time can bring, will signal the final act of seperation between the persona and his subject.
Death Imagery
"And say the lad that loved you/ was one that kept his word"
The poem is written in first person perspective, like a letter from the persona to his subject- and the persona ends with images of death, which would be the final seperation of the two. This ‘final seperation’ is shown by ” was one who kept his word“, referring to how the persona imagines that he will forever keep his promise of “throwing the thought [of liking the subject] away” (ironic because the persona, in writing this poem, demonstrates that he has not thrown the thought of liking the subject away). Through the final line, “Was one who kept his word“, he persona wistfully imagines that his subject will never know the full extent of the perona’s