Sudden Light Literary Elements

Speaker of the poem unnamed; Point of view: first person

three stanza poem, quintet, alternate rhyme: ABAB

"And shall not thus time's eddying flight"-line 12
-metaphor for passing of time; time flies

"The sweet keen smell"-line 4
-Assonance: repetition of /i:/

There is no example of use of the irony figure of speech in the poem.

lyric poetry

The setting of the poem is a familiar place to the speaker of the poem, with grass, shore, and it takes him back in time.

serene, tranquil

Protagonist is the speaker of the poem who confesses his love to the person he is addressing in the poem. There is no actual antagonist in the poem but time and death could be seen as having antagonising value.

The speaker of the poem has a feeling of déjà vu brought upon him by familiar smells and sounds in his surroundings.

The speaker of the poem makes a question to his lover, proposes that they take another chance at love since the person was his before, in his previous life.

"And shall not thus time's eddying flight
Still with our lives our love restore"-Lines 12-13
The speaker of the poem indirectly asks his addressee to spend the life together and foreshadows the love-filled life that lies ahead of them, considering his sudden light, his feeling that it happened before.

"In death's despite"-Line 14
Understatement of death as something that one could go against.

No examples of allusion in the poem.

"Your neck turn'd so,
Some veil did fall"-Line 9-10
-veil used as a representation of marriage

"Still with our lives our love restore
In death's despite"- Lines 13-14
-personification of death

The entire poem could be seen as an exaggerated confession of love as seen from the following lines:
"And shall not thus time's eddying flight
Still with our lives our love restore
In death's despite"-Lines 12-14

The sighing sound"-Line 5