Analysis of " A Complaint" by William Wordsworth

"A Complaint" analysis

There is a change - and I am poor;

Your love hath been, nor long ago,

A fountain at my fond heart's door,

Whose only business was to flow;

And flow it did; not taking heed

Of its own bounty, or my need.

What happy moments did I count!

Blest was I then all bliss above!

Now, for that consecrated fount

Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,

What have I? shall I dare to tell?

A comfortless and hidden well.

A well of love - it may be deep -

I trust it is, - and never dry:

What matter? if the waters sleep

In silence and obscurity.

- Such change, and at the very door

Of my fond heart, hath made me poor.

-William Wordsworth

structurally this poem is a 3 stanzas of 6 lines extended metaphor with an ABABCC rhyme scheme. the extended metaphor is the love is a fountain/well thing.

context- many people believe this poem was about Samuel Taylor Coleridge who Wordsworth worked with for a long time before drifting away from. Coleridge took opium in order to inspire his poetry but in the space between losing touch with Wordsworth and meeting him again his addiction got out of hand and basically ruined his life. Wordsworth is devastated by this and feels like he has lost the precious relationship he had prompting him to write this poem. (this is according to my English teacher so correct me if I got something wrong)

the first stanza says "there is a change-I am poor" this expresses from the first line that wordsworth values his relationship with Coleridge so that he feels poor without it. he goes on to describe the love he once had as "a fountain at my fond heart's door who's only business was to flow" this suggests that his love was a consistent thing in Wordsworth's life and the phrases "fond heart" and "only business" both also suggest a loving and committed relationship. what I think is interesting is how throughout the first stanza he seems to take both sides of the relationship into account.

in the second stanza this changes as he seems to be reflecting on what he had and I think this is what really shows how much he loved Coleridge. the first line is a rhetorical question with the exclamation point really emphasising that there were so many that one really couldn't count the happy moments.

The second line says "Blest was I then all bliss above" this is basically saying that his love was like being in heaven, even, that he was more blessed by love than he would be if he was in heaven. this is a very powerful and romantic statement today but in the context of the very religious time period the poem was written in it's basically the epitome of 'you're great'. After this he goes on to describe the Coleridge's love ,using the fountain metaphor, as "murmuring, sparkling, living love", this is interesting both structurally and in terms of language choice. the phrase uses the power of three which makes it stand out and emphasises the point being made and the words "murmuring, sparkling, living" heavily imply a loving, caring and thriving relationship which contrasts drastically with the image given by the following lines; "what have I? shall I dare tell? A comfortless and hidden well". this the sudden change in tone could reflect how wordsworth's experienced of a sudden and unexpected change in their relationship. The use of rhetorical questions is also interesting because they could be questions that need not be answered but could also be questions that Wordsworth doesn't know how to answer. This leads on to him resenting Coleridge in the final line of the stanza.

the last stanza shows him Wordsworth wobbling on the line between hope of finding love again and well... not. He says "A well of love-it may be deep-I trust it is-and never dry" I think this is certainly him having faith that he will find love again but still being unsure and wary of it ,shown by the pauses in his speech, however what I'm not certain of is who this love could potentially be with. I personally think he could be saying he trusts that Coleridge's love for him isn't gone and they're relationship is still salvageable but he could also be referring to hope of a future relationship with anyone and not specifically Coleridge. I think this part's very open to interpretation.

in the final two lines of the poem he says "such change and at the very door of my fond heart, hath made me poor." he uses repetition from the very beginning of the poem here in order to emphasise how the loss of his love has made him poor. something I didn't mention earlier is that the idea that the fountain/well being at his hearts door is quite literally saying that Coleridge is close to his heart which is really really sweet.

ok so that was my analysis of "A Complaint". I hope it helps someone and isn't a complete rambling mess. it kind of ended abruptly but I kind of need sleep. also I'm still learning as well so if you disagree with my interpretation or I just down right got the facts wrong then comment and say :)