I SAW THEE WEEP, George Gordon, Lord Byron

 

 

 

 

I saw thee weep-the big bright tear

 

Came o'er that eye of blue;

 

And then methought it did appear

 

A violet dropping dew;

 

I saw thee smile -the sapphire's blaze

 

Beside thee ceased to shine;

 

It could not match the living rays

 

That fill'd that glance of thine.

 

Meaning

 

George Gordon Byron's <I Saw You Cry> is a poem that expresses the beauty and sadness of a loved one. The speaker of the poem sees his beloved crying and admires its beauty. Also, my heart aches for the grief of my loved one.

 

 

 

In the first part of the poem, the speaker sees his beloved crying and admires its beauty. The sight of large, sparkling tears welling up from blue eyes is like clear dew on violets. This shows how pure and beautiful it is to see a loved one cry.

 

 

 

In the second part, the speaker sees the smile of his loved one and is heartbroken by the sadness. Even the sparkle of a sapphire fades when you are close to someone you love. This shows how genuine and beautiful your loved one's smile is. It also shows how deep your loved one's grief is.

 

 

 

The contemporary meaning of this poem can be broadly viewed in two ways. First, it reflects the view of love during the Romantic era. Love during the Romantic era emphasized emotional passion rather than rationality. Therefore, the speaker of the poem expresses emotional admiration and sadness rather than rational judgment about the crying and smiling face of his loved one.

 

Story

 

Once upon a time, a man and a woman fell in love. The two loved each other so much that they promised to get married. But men had to go to war. On the day they broke up, the two hugged each other tightly and shed tears.

 

 

 

The man returned from the battlefield wounded. He tried to reunite with his lover, but she was already married to someone else. The man could not forget her beloved and continued to miss her.

 

 

 

One day, the man accidentally met his beloved on the street. She was still beautiful, but she was already someone else's wife. The man was silent as he looked at his lover. And he burst into tears.

 

 

 

The man saw his loved one crying. Those tears were the sorrow of love. The man was heartbroken by the sorrow of his loved one. And the thought that he would never see his loved one again filled him with sorrow.

 

Question

 

Student: Professor, in <I Saw You Cry>, what does the phrase mean, "I saw you cry. Big, sparkling tears welling up from your blue eyes, like clear dewdrops on violets."

 

Professor: That phrase expresses how beautiful it is to see a loved one cry. Big, sparkling tears are like clear dew on violets. This shows how pure and beautiful the sight of a loved one crying is, and also how sad it is.

 

 

 

Student: Professor, what does the phrase mean, "I saw you smile - even the sparkle of the sapphire dimmed next to you and could not match the vivid light that flooded your eyes."

 

P: That phrase expresses how sincere and beautiful the smile of a loved one is. Even the sparkle of a sapphire fades when you are close to someone you love. This shows how pure and beautiful the smile of a loved one is, and also how sad it is.