Locksley Hall : Summary

Summary

Synopsis of the poem: In the first part of this poem, a single speaker tells the story of his failed love. He loved his cousin Amy very passionately and Amy loved him too. But Amy’s love turns out to be false to him as Amy’s parents threaten her with a forced marriage, and Amy agrees to a heartless marriage under pressure. This failure of love makes the speaker passive to face his real life. He repeatedly bemoaned his poor economic condition. He criticized the Victorian people for their overly materialistic outlook. He said the whole world is run by commercial motives and rich people can do everything. He was orphaned because his father died in a war in India and his selfish uncle was his guardian. He wants to escape from the reality of life and imagines that he will settle in a place where there will be no economic competition and the European flag will not be seen. He wants to live among primitive people. But he comes back to reality with a great challenge that he will not remember what happened at Locksley Hall and he wants to accept the challenge with hope and courage.

Details Summary

The summary is written point-based so that you can understand it easily.

Speaker’s visit to Locksley Hall: The Speaker of the poem visits Locksley Hall. He tells his companions to leave him alone in front of Locksley Hall until morning. He goes back to his childhood and remembers his youth. His mind was filled with joy when he stayed there and when he observed through the window the seven stars in the galaxy (Orion and Pleiads) in the western sky. He would wander the seashore and imagine science fiction.

Amy’s Promise of Love: In the spring, he confesses to his cousin Amy that he loves her. Amy told him that she too loved him for a long time but she hid her feelings for him. These words made the world more beautiful and radiant for him. He and his lover roamed the swamps and seashores. His voice made his lover his own and their souls would soon be united by the touch of their lips.

Amy’s marriage due to parental pressure: But Amy loses her love for the Speaker. Amy’s love turns out to be false. Amy succumbs to her father’s threats and mother’s scolding. And Amy marries someone else. There was no romance with Amy’s husband. Because of this, the speaker brings out the harshness, roughness, and low intellectual quality of Amy’s husband in a sad, irritated tone. Amy agreed to marry a hard man with lower feelings and a narrow heart than the speaker. The speaker says that Amy’s husband is a Joker type of person whose rigidity and obstinacy will drag down Amy’s thoughts.

How Amy will be tortured in the future: The speaker continues to discuss the characteristics of Amy’s husband. The speaker tells Amy that her husband’s emotions will one day completely leave her. Then her husband will treat her no better than a dog or a donkey. Amy’s fancy and light thoughts would then be completely lost on her husband. The speaker laments that it would be better for Amy if she killed her husband with her own hands.

Criticism of the Victorian Environment: The speaker harshly criticizes the Victorian environment through Amy’s marriage. He deplores the tendency of Victorian people to seek some materialistic gain and achievement. He compares the Victorian mentality with the commercial mentality. To the Victorian people, money was everything, so there was no appreciation of love. Because of money, Speaker has to lose his love, Amy.

The speaker’s attempt to forget Amy: The speaker wants to forget Amy. He doesn’t want to suffer from his old memories anymore. When he remembers the memories of those happy days, his sorrows increase. She tells Amy to forget those memories because when her husband falls into a drunken slumber if she remembers the words of those happy times, she will suffer and weep on the pillow. He will become restless and whoever whispers in his ear will never regain the joy of those days. The speaker tells Amy that she may be comforted by her daughter.

Either way, the speaker wants to forget Amy. He wants to be busy with his own life. But he is disappointed because the world has completely changed. Social and economic status has become the main source of evaluating people. People have become very greedy now. People are judging people by their wealth and prestige.

The speaker wants to bury all memories of his past and be excited for his better future. He thinks time changes everything and time changes people. And consoled himself with this fantasy. He wants to hide Amy’s incident from his friends because he thinks his friends will laugh at him if they know about it.

Facing the speaker’s reality: The speaker says that he was born in India where his father died in the Mahratta war and was orphaned by a selfish uncle. He wants to settle in a place where he will not hear the sounds of commerce and where no European flag will be seen. However, the speaker abandons this project because it is only possible in imagination. He does not want to escape from reality. The world is moving forward with scientific discoveries that make him no longer want to remember what happened at Locksley Hall. Courage and hope return to him and he prepares to move on.