"Absence" was written by British poet Elizabeth Jennings and first appeared in her 1958 collection A Sense of the World. The poem explores the pain of losing someone when the rest of the world doesn't seem to care. The speaker revisits the gardens where they last saw this "absent" loved one only to find that nothing has changed: the birds still sing their beautiful song, the fountain still bubbles, and the steady breeze still blows. The jarring mismatch between these pleasant surroundings and the speaker's inner grief makes that pain doubly isolating and difficult to bear.

• Read the full text of “Absence”

• “Absence” Summary

• “Absence” Themes

  • 

    Loss, Grief, and Isolation

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-15

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Absence”

  • Lines 1-3

    I visited the ...
    ... usual steady jet;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-5

    There was no ...
    ... me to forget.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-10

    The thoughtless birds ...
    ... the level breeze.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-15

    It was because ...
    ... of your name.

    

    

    

    

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• “Absence” Symbols

  • 

    The Level Breeze

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 10: “the level breeze.”

• “Absence” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “gardens were well-tended”
    • Line 3: “fountains sprayed,” “steady”
    • Line 6: “thoughtless,” “birds,” “shook,” “trees”
    • Line 7: “Singing,” “ecstasy,” “share”
    • Line 8: “Surely,” “these”
    • Line 9: “Pleasures,” “pain,” “bear”
    • Line 10: “discord shake,” “breeze”
    • Line 11: “was because,” “place,” “was just,” “same”
    • Line 12: “absence seem,” “savage force”
    • Line 14: “earthquake”
    • Line 15: “shaken,” “thinking”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended, / The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet;”
    • Lines 6-7: “The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees, / Singing an ecstasy I could not share,”
    • Lines 8-10: “Surely in these / Pleasures there could not be a pain to bear / Or any discord shake / the level breeze / .”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-5
    • Lines 6-10
    • Lines 11-15

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended, / The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet;”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-8: “The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees, / Singing an ecstasy I could not share, / Played cunning in my thoughts.”

• “Absence” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Played cunning in my thoughts
  • Well-tended
  • An ecstasy
  • Bear
  • Discord
  • Level
  • Savage
  • Tremor
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Absence”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Absence” Speaker

• “Absence” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Absence”

• More “Absence” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Brief Biography of the Poet — Learn more about Jennings via the Poetry Archive, which also has readings of some of her other poems.

    • The Elizabeth Jennings Project — A scholarly website about Jennings with more information on her life and work. 

    • An Interview with the Poet — Check out an informative article from the Catholic Herald in which Jennings talks about her poetry and her faith. 

    • Jennings Obituary — Read a Guardian write-up about the poet's life.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Elizabeth Jennings

    • In Praise of Creation

    • One Flesh

    • The Enemies

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