"As imperceptibly as Grief" Level 9 GCSE analysis English Literature

As imperceptibly as Grief


As imperceptibly as Grief
The Summer lapsed away—
Too imperceptible at last
To seem like Perfidy— * the state of being deceitful and untrustworthy
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon—
The Dusk drew earlier in— *the days get shorter as the summer wanes
The Morning foreign shone—
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, that would be gone—
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel *the keel on a boat provide stability
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.

This is a poem about the transience of time expressed by a series of
comparisons, thereby attributing an array of characteristics to the ‘Summer’
that passes by. The intangible nature of a ‘Summer’ is firstly compared to the
intangible, unseeing nature of ‘Grief’ by use of the adverb ‘imperceptibly’
which is then repeated by its counterpart adjective ‘imperceptible’. The
repetition not only emphasises that this is something that we cannot see but
it conveys the enigma of the passing of summer. The comparison to ‘Grief’
immediately gives the poem a serious and profound tone. Grief evokes an