Life in a Bottle

Life in a Bottle

Escape me?
Never--
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear:
It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed.
But what if I fail of my purpose here?
It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And, baffled, get up and begin again,--
So the chace takes up one's life, that's all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound
At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope goes to ground
Than a new one, straight to the self-same mark,
I shape me--
Ever
Removed!

Robert Browning

The first thing that one notices in this poem is the shortness of the first three verses:this is because they are an answer to something that the speaker has heard. First he ponders about the statement (verse one). Then in verse two he answers sharply and quickly with a "Never-"; finally he concludes in verse three his remark by exclaiming "Beloved!". Here it is understandable that the speaker is replying to his loved one. A similar format is used in the last three verses. The main bulk of the poems seems to be a monolgue of the speaker where he is emphasizing the idea of his beloved one never escaping him. In verse four, five, six and seven the idea of the speaker and the beloved being together is expressed. The comparison of the speaker and the lover occurs throughout these four verses: "I am I, You are You", "Me and You", "While One, must the other" (verse four,six,seven, respectively). The poet afterwards expresses his fear of loss, of failure of purpose (verse eleven), of scarce succeeding (verse ten). This probably is the fear of the loss of his beloved. In the final part of the poem the speaker talks about some of the consequcnes of failure, like "hope going to ground" (verse eighteen), and "dust and dark" (verse seventeen). Finally, the poem is concluded with "Ever" and "Removed" (verse twenty one and twenty two), probably representing the eternal loss of his loved one.

This poem conveys the Fear of Loss of one's partner: here is how to overcome it