The Village Street Poem Analysis

Have you ever suddenly felt as if you were being watched? Maybe the next door neighbor distractedly trimming a bush in your peripheral vision became a vaguely threatening figure lurking in the shadows, or the dark sky seemed to prelude the arrival of something far more sinister than rain. Or maybe you’ve felt overwhelmingly guilty, possibly for no good reason at all, and listened as the sound of the wind rushing through the trees morphed into condemning whispers, or watched as every person within a mile seemed to turn and stare at you with eerily accurate conviction. It’s highly unlikely that the little old woman pruning her rose bush was stalking you, or that the darkened sky was foreboding any horrific event other than your brand new shoes getting soaked. Likewise, it’s improbable that every resident of your town, along with nature itself, was judging you. You might realize all of this at a later time when you’ve calmed down or gotten some rest, but in the moment, you were so consumed by the way you felt that it influenced everything you saw or experienced. “The Village Street”, by Edgar

This understanding brings a definite change in the way the setting is perceived and described, but first in the way he perceives and describes the woman. “She the silent, scornful maiden, / Walking calmly at my side, / With a step serene and stately, / All in beauty, all in pride.” This section is distinctly reminiscent of one in the first stanza, and yet the two sections have vastly dissimilar implications. Here, the woman’s beauty remains, but her gentleness and purity have been replaced with complacency. It’s as though a mask has been removed, and he can now see her for who she is in reality, without the filter of his affection. But the loss of love not only takes his blindness away from him, it also takes all of the peace and hope from him, and subsequently from his companion, and the