A Complaint

Despite its introduction of radical elements into the province of poetry—namely, the private emotional turmoil of the poet—“A Complaint” is a conventional and, for Wordsworth’s time, recognizable poetic form that actually dated back to Renaissance Italy and the sonnets of Petrarch (1304-1374).

The poem is executed in three sestets, or stanzas of six lines. Each sestet closes in a period and hence each sestet furthers the argument. Indeed, each sestet can be read as a sort of stand-alone poem. The first is about the happiness of friendship, the second the reality of the loss of friendship, and the third the impact of being left alone.

The first sestet renders the poem’s exposition. Here the poet lays out the happiness that had been his, set against that abrupt opening line. For the reader to understand the depth of the change, the poet first revels in the delight the friendship gave him. The second sestet shatters that sense of delight. This sestet pivots on the word “Now” (Line 9), introducing the critical temporal dimension of the poem. The poem pivots in the middle of a stanza, not at the beginning of one as might be expected. The shift in the middle of the sestet emphasizes the enormity of the change and how the change so deeply interrupted what the poet has assumed was love unending.