The seasons return, but life does not
Désespoir
"In withered husks of some dead memory."
Poem
The seasons send their ruin as they go,For in the spring the narciss shows its headNor withers till the rose has flamed to red,And in the autumn purple violets blow,And the slim crocus stirs the winter snow;Wherefore yon leafless trees will bloom againAnd this grey land grow green with summer rainAnd send up cowslips for some boy to mow.But what of life whose bitter hungry seaFlows at our heels, and gloom of sunless nightCovers the days which never more return?Ambition, love and all the thoughts that burnWe lose too soon, and only find delightIn withered husks of some dead memory.
In brief
SummaryThe speaker sets the cycle of nature against a human life. The seasons bring ruin, but each brings its flowers: the narcissus in spring, lasting until the rose turns red, violets in autumn, the crocus stirring the winter snow. So the leafless trees will bloom again and the grey land grow green and send up cowslips. Human life has no such return. A 'bitter hungry sea' follows at our heels, sunless night covers days that never come back, and ambition, love and burning thoughts are lost too soon, leaving delight only 'In withered husks of some dead memory'.
Key themes
"The seasons send their ruin as they go"
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The octave argues that nature's losses are always repaid. 'The seasons send their ruin as they go', but in spring 'the narciss shows its head / Nor withers till the rose has flamed to red', in autumn 'purple violets blow', and 'the slim crocus stirs the winter snow'. 'Wherefore', the speaker concludes, 'yon leafless trees will bloom again', the grey land will grow green with summer rain, and it will 'send up cowslips for some boy to mow'.
The sestet turns with 'But what of life'. Human life is chased by a 'bitter hungry sea' that 'Flows at our heels', and the 'gloom of sunless night / Covers the days which never more return'. 'Ambition, love and all the thoughts that burn / We lose too soon'. What remains is a poor substitute: we 'only find delight / In withered husks of some dead memory'. Nature renews itself and a person does not, and the despair of the title comes from that comparison.
Themes
Nature renewed, life lost
The octave's argument rests on 'Wherefore': because every season sends up its flowers, 'yon leafless trees will bloom again'. The sestet denies the same comfort to people, whose days 'never more return'. The force of the poem lies in the turn at 'But what of life', between a world that renews itself and a life that only runs down.
Memory as a husk
The final image is harsh. Delight survives only 'In withered husks of some dead memory', dry shells with the living grain gone. Memory here is not a treasure but a remnant. Coming after the octave's flowers, narcissus, rose, violets, crocus and cowslips, the husk shows what is left once 'Ambition, love and all the thoughts that burn' are spent.
Time in pursuit
In the sestet time is an enemy on the chase. Life is a 'bitter hungry sea' that 'Flows at our heels', and the 'gloom of sunless night' buries the past. These images of pursuit and burial differ from the patient 'ruin' of the seasons in the first line, which destroys only in order to renew.
Context
Désespoir is French for 'despair'. The poem is a sonnet in the Italian manner, rhyming ABBAACCA in the octave and DEFFED in the sestet. The octave follows the flowers through the year, narcissus and rose, violets, crocus in the snow, cowslips after summer rain, and the sestet, turning at 'But what of life', sets them against the one thing that does not come back.
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