Because of the time period this poem was written in, I believe the dialogue occurs between a man and a woman who are attempting to understand one another 's perspective on their shared relationship. Differences in the tone and manner of voice are extremely apparent throughout the entirety of the poem. I believe the woman is struggling to communicate her intimate feelings to her male counterpart because the male is not reciprocating the same affection towards her. This can be seen in the first line of the poem where the two say: “‘I thought you loved me. ' 'No, it was only fun. '” (Stuart 514, Line 1). The reason I believe this is between a man and a woman is because of the manner by which they speak to each other. One character mentions to the other: “‘With your head turned up, and the flower in your hair,’" (Line 8). …show more content…
Typically in love stories, women are the ones to decorate their hair with flowers, and typically the male is the one to admire this feature. The woman is clearly fighting to make the man understand the strength of her affection towards him. After she states how awful she has seen some men treat others, especially to creatures like the stoning of the blackbird or the drowning of thee kitten, the man replies “‘Well, boys are like that...’" (Line 16) to which she exclaims in response: “‘Yes, I know. But you, so lovely and strong! Not