Summer by James Russell Lowell

Auf wiedersehen is German for "until we meet again" or "until we see each other again." In the final stanza, the speaker reflects that saying the same thing in English would have seemed "too fain" — too eager, too openly romantic. By using a foreign phrase, she could convey genuine feelings while maintaining a bit of distance through the formality of another language. It was a subtle, clever way to protect her emotions.

Lowell never makes it explicit, which adds to the poem's charm. The details — the hesitant farewell, the "delicious pain," the thirteen years of cherished memories — suggest a young love that was either never fully expressed or never fully experienced. It's unclear whether they separated due to circumstances, choice, or something more definitive, leaving it open to interpretation.

The poem leaves out certain details, and that silence is intentional. What’s important is that when he comes back, the place brings back such strong sensory memories that he can hear her voice and smell the lilacs. The thirteen-year gap only makes that memory feel even more vivid.

It's Lowell's way of expressing that bittersweet longing—it's that ache you almost cherish because it shows how much you truly care. The speaker stands in the dark, observing her lamp flicker throughout the house, experiencing a mix of pleasure and pain all at once.

The poem consists of five stanzas, each with five lines. Every stanza concludes with a variation of Auf wiedersehen, serving as a refrain. The rhyme scheme follows ABAAB, and the meter is mostly iambic tetrameter. This repeated refrain imparts a song-like, nearly hypnotic quality to the poem, reflecting how the phrase lingers in the speaker's memory.

It portrays the woman lingering at the gate in the evening light, wearing light or white clothing. The term "vision" serves two purposes: it captures what the speaker sees and also transforms her into an almost dreamlike figure, one that will linger in his thoughts long after she has left.

There's no specific biographical event that directly relates to the poem. While Lowell faced loss and longing in his life—his first wife, Maria White, passed away at a young age—this poem feels more like a carefully crafted lyric in the Romantic style rather than a straightforward diary entry. The "I" in the poem should be seen as a speaker, not necessarily as Lowell himself.

It means the grassy ground of the lane softens his footsteps as he walks. But "silences" also adds an emotional layer — the lane feels still, as if time has paused there. This creates a subtly eerie, respectful atmosphere, like stepping into a space that has been patiently awaiting someone.