'Four Winds' Summary

The poem "Four Winds" by Sara Teasdale is a beautiful and moving exploration of the themes of love, loss, and hope. The speaker is a young woman who is asking the four winds for help in keeping her lover true. She tells the winds that she has seen many young women die because their lovers were not true to them. She asks the winds to protect her lover from temptation and to keep him faithful to her.

The poem is written in a simple and direct style, but the speaker's words are full of emotion and her plea to the winds is both urgent and heartfelt. The poem is a moving and powerful expression of the fear of loss and the desire for love.

The poem begins with the speaker addressing the four winds: "Four winds blowing through the sky, you have seen poor maidens die, tell me then what I shall do that my lover may be true." The speaker is asking the winds for help because she is afraid of losing her lover. She has seen other women suffer because their lovers were not true to them, and she does not want the same thing to happen to her.

The speaker goes on to tell the winds about the dangers that her lover faces: "He will go where the sunlight lies and the shadows are cool, and the wind will whisper to him of things I cannot tell." The speaker knows that her lover is attracted to other women, and she is afraid that he will be tempted to stray. She asks the winds to protect him from temptation and to keep him faithful to her.

The poem ends with the speaker expressing her hope that the winds will help her: "I will wait and watch and hope, and the winds will know, they will know." The speaker is hopeful that the winds will help her to keep her lover true. She knows that she cannot control his actions, but she believes that the winds can help her to protect him from temptation.

The poem "Four Winds" is a beautiful and moving expression of the fear of loss and the desire for love. The speaker's words are full of emotion, and her plea to the winds is both urgent and heartfelt. The poem is a reminder that love is a precious thing, and that we should cherish it when we find it.