"Darling" is Jackie Kay's elegy for her close friend Julia Darling. In it, the poet/speaker recalls keeping watch by her dying friend's bedside. Though frustrated that she can't remember all the precise details of her friend's appearance, voice, etc., the simple act of remembrance helps her feel more connected to the person she's lost. In fact, she argues that her friend hasn't "really gone" and that the dead never "go till [we] do"—because their spirits linger with us, because our memories keep them alive, or both. What begins as a description of profound loss ends as a vision of profound connection. "Darling" appears as the title poem of Jackie Kay's Darling: New & Selected Poems (2007).

• Read the full text of “Darling”

• “Darling” Summary

• “Darling” Themes

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    Grief, Love, and Memory

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

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

  • Lines 1-4

    You might forget ...
    ... a half moon,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-7

    when smaller than ...
    ... in the world.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-12

    I held her ...
    ... face almost smiling.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    And what I ...
    ... holding our hands.

    

    

    

    

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• “Darling” Symbols

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    The Blossoming Trees and Sun

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “when the blossom was on the trees / and the sun was out, and all seemed good in the world.”

• “Darling” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You might forget the,” “sound of her”
    • Line 2: “her face”
    • Line 3: “You might forget the,” “sound of her”
    • Line 7: “and,” “and”
    • Line 12: “her,” “her face”
    • Line 15: “The dead”
    • Line 16: “The dead”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-9: “I held her hand and sang a song from when I was a girl— / Heel y'ho boys, let her go boys / —”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “sound,” “voice”
    • Line 2: “face,” “sleeping”
    • Line 3: “sound”
    • Line 4: “shape”
    • Line 5: “smaller,” “self,” “she seemed”
    • Line 6: “she,” “blossom”
    • Line 7: “sun,” “seemed”
    • Line 8: “sang,” “song”
    • Line 10: “stopped singing she,” “slipped”
    • Line 11: “slip,” “skipping”
    • Line 12: “face almost smiling”
    • Line 13: “see”
    • Line 14: “she”
    • Line 16: “still”

• “Darling” 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.

  • Heel y'ho boys, let her go boys
  • A slip of a girl
  • (Location in poem: Lines 9-9: “Heel y'ho boys, let her go boys / —”)

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

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Darling” Speaker

• “Darling” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Darling”

• More “Darling” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Jackie Kay reads "Darling" with a short introduction.

    • More About Julia Darling — A 2005 obituary for Julia Darling, the subject of Kay's poem.

    • Interview with the Poet — Watch a PBS News Hour feature on Jackie Kay.

    • Kay and Angela Davis — A conversation between the poet and legendary activist/professor Angela Davis.

    • "The Mingulay Boat Song" — Listen to a performance of the song quoted in "Darling."

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Jackie Kay

    • Dusting the Phone

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