# Romance explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Georgia Douglas Johnson.

## What happens

The poem traces the speaker's evolving relationship with the idea of romance, from youthful anticipation to mature doubt and finally to resigned despair, concluding that romance is dead and will never arrive.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Loss

The poem centers on the loss of romantic possibility, from hopeful anticipation to the final declaration that romance is dead.

### The Passing of Time and Mortality

The speaker's journey from youth to old age marks the passage of time, culminating in the death of romance itself.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker reflects on their changing expectations of romance across the stages of life.

### Life

Life is implicitly referenced as the context in which romance is awaited and ultimately lost.

## Key lines

> When I was young I used to say: Romance will come riding by And I shall surely smile And play with him awhile.

In my youth, I confidently believed that romance would arrive and I would happily engage with it.

_The speaker's early optimism about love's arrival._

> When I grew older then I said: Romance may come riding by I wonder shall I smile And play with him awhile?

As I aged, my certainty faded into doubt, questioning whether romance would ever come.

_The shift from certainty to uncertainty in middle age._

> But now⁠— Alas! I only say: Romance never will come by And I shall never smile He has been dead the while!

Now, in my later years, I lament that romance will never arrive; it has been dead all along.

_The final resignation and despair that romance is permanently lost._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_9_se/chapters/romance
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_9_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_9_se/chapters