Spring+in+War-Time

== =’Spring in War-Time’= =Edith Nesbitt=

The female speaker of the poem addresses a lost lover. She laments the passing of the seasons and the fact that she will no longer walk down “lover’s lane” with her lover.

Spring, which holds connotations of new life, only serves to remind the speaker of the poem of what she has lost and will not experience. She remembers the previous spring when she and her lover were, like the birds, ready to build a nest (home).

The comparison of the lovers to the nesting birds emphasizes the lost opportunities of the women left behind. “Lover’s lane”, named so because it was often frequented by lovers, is evocative of the marital tradition of showering newly weds in confetti, as the blossoming flowers scatter their petals on the road.

THINKING POINTS

 * 1) Nesbit has chosen a ballad form for the poem. Why is this appropriate?