Isaac Rosenberg
Girl To A Soldier On Leave
Love! You love me — your eyes
Have looked through death at mine.
You have tempted a grave too much
I let you — I repine.
I love you – Titan lover,
My own storm-days Titan.
Greater than the son of Zeus,
I know whom I would choose.
Titan — my splendid rebel —
The old Prometheus
Wanes like a ghost before your power —
His pangs were joys to yours.
Pallid days arid and wan
Tied your soul fast.
Babel-cities smoky tops
Pressed upon your growth
Weary gyves. What were you
But a word in the brains ways,
Or the sleep of Circes swine.
One gyve holds you yet.
It held you hiddenly on the Somme
Tied from my heart at home.
O must it loosen now? — I wish
You were bound with the old gyves.
Love! you love me — your eyes
Have looked through death at mine.
You have tempted a grave too much.
I let you – I repine.
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poem, “Girl To A Soldier On Leave,” evokes a complex mix of love, longing, and a sense of loss, set against the backdrop of war. The speaker addresses a soldier, whose experiences with death and conflict have profoundly altered him. The phrase “your eyes / Have looked through death at mine” suggests a connection formed not just by love, but by the shared reality of war—a gaze that transcends the usual romantic ideal and instead acknowledges the soldier’s lived horrors.
The speaker refers to the soldier as a “Titan lover,” drawing a direct comparison to the mythological Prometheus, a figure of rebellion and punishment, and elevates him above even the son of Zeus. There’s an intensity to the way she describes him, and a clear sense that his suffering has transformed him into something greater. The line “His pangs were joys to yours” suggests that the soldier’s suffering is so extreme that it dwarfs the agonies of mythological figures. The poem seems to grapple with the idea of heroism, or perhaps the perverse grandeur, that comes from enduring such extremes. The soldier, in her eyes, has grown beyond the ordinary human experience, becoming a larger-than-life figure whose pain is both a source of power and tragic beauty.
There’s a noticeable tension between the soldier’s transformation and the woman’s feelings of helplessness. The “old gyves” (shackles) are symbolic of the chains that once bound the soldier’s fate—presumably the limitations of society or pre-war life—and they still hold some power over him. The mention of the “Somme” ties the poem explicitly to a historic war, bringing to mind the brutal trench warfare of World War I, where the horror of battle seemed endless and overwhelming. The speaker wishes for the soldier to remain bound by these “gyves,” perhaps because she fears what will happen if he is freed from them—if the war has already changed him in irreversible ways.
The repetition of “Love! you love me” both opens and closes the poem, reinforcing the cyclic nature of the speaker’s thoughts—her desire for the soldier and her simultaneous fear of losing him. The juxtaposition of intense love with the knowledge that the soldier has “tempted a grave too much” reflects the emotional turmoil and complexity that often arises when someone you love has experienced deep trauma. There’s a sense of inevitability in the soldier’s transformation—he has crossed into a realm of violence and death that may have altered his humanity forever.
Ultimately, the poem explores the tension between love, war, and change. The speaker admires and fears the soldier’s newfound strength, but she is also burdened with the painful awareness that the man she loves is no longer the same, having been marked indelibly by his experiences. The “Titan lover” is both a source of admiration and of sorrow—a hero who is also irrevocably lost.