Critical Analysis Of Marilyn Dumont's 'When You Walk Through My Door'

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The poem "When you walk through my door" is a lyric poem written by Marilyn Dumont. A lyric poem is a short poem in which a single speaker expresses personal thoughts and feelings, in this case, on the subject of unrequited love. The repetition of the word "I" allows the readers to put themselves in the speaker 's position as Dumont invites the readers to feel the heartbreak the speaker is going through. One can interpret this heart wrenching interpretation of love to have been inspired from Dumont 's own trauma of a failed relationship. With the influence of word such as "I watch you drift by" (12) and "I want/ to reach out" (18,19) readers are able to interpret that perhaps the person the speaker loves is not too far away, distance- wise. …show more content…

The first stanza describes the depth of despair that the speaker is feeling, without further explanation on its causes. The short length of the lines add a sense of incompleteness and hesitance the speaker feels towards his/ her emotions. This is successful in sparking the interest of the readers, as it makes the readers wonder about the events that lead to these emotions. The second and third stanza describe the agony the speaker is in, and the long lines work to add a sense of longing and the outpouring emotion the speaker is struggling with. The last stanza, again structured with short lines, finally reveals the speaker 's innermost desire to "make love" to the person the speaker is in love …show more content…

The speaker introduces the idea of the natural cycle of life, where something becomes born and eventually dies. This reflects back to the Native culture where the cycle of life was much celebrated. The idea of "death and birth" symbolizes the speaker 's love that was once born to die in the end. It also symbolizes the pleasure and pain that comes with falling in love. She was born again with the new knowledge and pleasure the love had to offer. However, it is an undeniable fact that the same love that gave her so much joy at one point, gave her just as much pain. A part of her past- self had to die in order for the speaker to be reborn. Dumont often incorporates blank spaces between words for emphasis. In line three, there is an unusual spacing between the word "born" and "from the belly". This emphasizes the depth of the speaker 's emotion, allowing the readers to interpret that the love the speaker feels is sincere and deep. The blank spaces also illuminates a sense of distance, describing the relationship the speaker now shares with the person he/ she

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