Hope was but a timid friend;
This opening line establishes the fickle friendship the speaker shares with hope. By describing her as "timid," the speaker is setting up the reader's expectations that hope will not be supportive or helpful. This line also suggests that hope only offers itself tentatively, without strength or commitment. This becomes important as the poem progresses and the speaker describes her mounting frustration with hope's passivity and aloofness. This initial description provides helpful context for the rest of the poem.
Still, in strife, she whispered peace;
She would sing while I was weeping;
If I listened, she would cease.
The speaker again expresses frustration with the way in which Hope fails to reach her. In moments when she is experiencing strife, Hope only whispers "peace," implying that it is too faint to be adequate. Similarly, Hope's singing as the speaker is "weeping" suggests another failure to connect. Hope's actions do not align with the speaker's troubled state. Finally, the way in which Hope stops singing entirely if the speaker listens indicates the lack of communication between them. Each time the speaker expresses a need, Hope opts for something that does not help her. This passage drives home the idea that the speaker cannot form a solid relationship with Hope, as Hope refuses to give her an opening.
When my last joys strewed the ground,
Even Sorrow saw, repenting,
Those sad relics scattered round;
This passage shows the speaker in a state of despair. With her "last joys" tossed aside, she is in such a bad way that "Sorrow" even considers leaving her alone. She refers to these "joys" as "sad relics" now, as they have lost their former meaning to her. This passage is important to the poem as a whole, as it doesn't just depict her temporarily suffering, but actually shows her in the throes of a pain that may never pass. As she will go on to show later, this is a moment in which she might be accurately described as hopeless.
