We Have Been Friends Together

“Old Friends” by Caroline Norton (1830)

“Old Friends” is another ballad in The Undying One and Other Poems. It focuses on how friendship changes through time or depends on which social group one is in. The speaker mourns youth as a happy time and is upset that as an adult “dark suspicion wakes, and love departs” (Line 21). This is similar to the fight between the friends in “We Have Been Friends Together.” Norton also uses similar descriptions to describe faces in “Old Friends.” There is a “well-feigned smile” (Line 23), which can’t quite hide “cold distrust” (Line 23) much like the “coldness dwell[ing] within thy heart” (Line 5) in “We Have Been Friends Together.”

“When Poor in All But Hope and Love” by Caroline Norton (1830)

This is another ballad with a similar subject matter to “We Have Been Friends Together.” The poems are printed side by side in The Undying One and Other Poems. In this poem, the speaker has worked for fame and fortune to win a love they had in their youth. While the speaker is wealthy, their love is no longer there. This makes all the wealth, fame, and praise seemingly meaningless.