Perhaps
by Vera Brittain
Perhaps some day the sun will shine again,
And I shall see that still the skies are blue,
And feel once more I do not live in vain,
Although bereft of You.
Perhaps the golden meadows at my feet
Will make the sunny hours of spring seem gay,
And I shall find the white May-blossoms sweet,
Though You have passed away.
Perhaps the summer woods will shimmer bright,
And crimson roses once again be fair,
And autumn harvest fields a rich delight,
Although You are not here.
Perhaps some day I shall not shrink in pain
To see the passing of the dying year,
And listen to Christmas songs again,
Although You cannot hear.’
But thought kind Time may many joys renew,
There is one greatest joy I shall not know
Again, because my heart for loss of You
Was broken, long ago.
ANALYSIS
Alliteration
- Perhaps some day the sun will shine again (stanza 1, line1)
- And I shall see that still the skies are blue (stanza 1, line 2)
Assonance
- And I shall find the white May-blossoms sweet (stanza 2, line 3)
- Perhaps the summer woods will shimmer bright (stanza 3, line 1)
Metaphor
- Perhaps some day I shall not shrink in pain (stanza 4, line 1)
INTERPRETATION
It spoke of a life that she wished to have once more but happiness, joy and love are absent
as her heart was broken the moment her fiancé left the world of the living.
( The poem spoke of the poet’s wants to move on from her fiance’s death.
The poet wants to feel happiness, joy and love once more, even if it means living without someone she deeply loves.
The poem talks about time that seemed to bring new joy every year,
but to her, in the end, she still could not move on as her heart was broken a long time ago. )
INSPIRATION
a) First world war happened.
b) She was out there at the front as a nurse
c) Friends, family, brother and fiance killed in the war
d) The poem is dedicated towards her fiancé
POET BIODATA
Name: Verra Brittain
Born: 29th December 1893
Died: 29th March 1970
Spouse: Sir George Catlin
Occupation (s): Writer, Author, Journalist
Life events:
- Study English Literature despite her father’s objections
- Her fiancé, Roland Leighton, close friends Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow, and her brother Edward, were all killed in the war.
- She met Winifred Holtby, and a close friendship developed, both aspiring to become established on the London literary scene.
- Holtby died from kidney failure in 1935
- Brittain married George Catlin (political scientist)
- Vera had a bad relationship with her son, John Brittain-Catlin.
- Her newly found pacifism came to the fore during WW2
- She was a practical pacifist
- Suffered a fall in a badly lit London street en route to a speaking engagement.
- Suffered a fractured left arm and broken little finger of her right hand
- She went through a physical decline after that
- She didn’t remember about her late fiancé, Roland Leighton
- Her will requested that her ashes be scattered on her late brother’s grave in Italy.
“…for nearly 50 years much of my heart has been in that Italian village cemetery”