“Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”
Prior to this line, he had been fantasizing about mermaids (women); watching them sing and “riding seaward on the waves combing the white hair of the waves blown back.” He only watched them because he didn’t think they would talk to him; even in his imagination, he couldn’t conceive of connecting with a woman. In the last line of the poem, he is snapped out of his reverie by society’s comments concerning his inadequacies. These criticisms most likely exist only in his head and stem from a severe lack of self-esteem. He magnifies his “flaws” to the point where he is afraid to leave the house, let alone approach women. The “we” he refers to in the last line could be interpreted two ways: it may signify himself and other socially inept people or perhaps he means his two different selves. One of his personalities is the lonely, balding, and middle-aged man that he sees in the mirror. The other, is the suave desirable man he wishes to be, but cannot force himself to become. The “and we drown” ending continues the ocean metaphor; he doesn’t just die, he drowns. This abrupt return to reality results in death, perhaps not death in a literal sense, but death of some kind. The part of him that tried to imagine his entrance into society ultimately died as a result of his inability to block out the human voices. Earlier in the poem, he came to the realization that even if he did dare to attempt a conversation, he would fail because he does not have the slightest idea of how to connect and communicate with people. All he is left with now is the unfulfilled side of him that yearns to enter society but has no hope whatsoever of accomplishing this feat.
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Your analysis on this line is very similar to my analysis. I too believe that the "we" he discusses is what he sees in the mirror and what he wishes he could be. However, I also believe that the "we" could be what he is now and what he used to be. Basically, his old aged bald headed self and his young self. But that's up for interpretation. Furthermore, I thought it was interesting that you discussed the mermaids because I connect this line with the line in the beginning, "Let us go then, you and I," and I believe that the "you and I" he is referring to is his youth and his present old aged self but also the person who he is and the person he wants to be but cannot. Lastly, I feel like you could have emphasized more of what exactly this line does with more in depth. You did a pretty good job though. Just remember to spell check your posts before you put them on your blog. Nice work!
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