Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poem is written from a first-person perspective. The speaker is characterized by his caring and protective demeanor.
Form and Meter
The poem is written in free verse. It is made up fourteen stanzas, all of which are tercets with the exception of an ending quatrain.
Metaphors and Similes
N/A
Alliteration and Assonance
There is alliteration in the lines: "The light, love / the light we felt then," "brother, unused, untaken—," and "instant, saw me, myself" with the repetition of the L, U, and M sounds.
Irony
N/A
Genre
Love poetry, grief poetry
Setting
The setting is a bedroom where two lovers sleep in the night.
Tone
Loving, mournful
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the first-person narrator, the antagonist is the gray figure intruding in his bedroom
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between the narrator and the ghostly presence of his dead brother-in-law.
Climax
The climax occurs when the narrator witnesses the ghost of his lover's dead brother loom over the bed.
Foreshadowing
The opening lines ("I wanted so ably / to reassure you") imply that the speaker's wife is dealing with some sort of loss in her life and that the speaker is doing his best to provide her with solace.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
N/A
Onomatopoeia
N/A
