The speaker is overwhelmed by how vast and empty the world feels around him. Space presses on him from every side, and turning into it scares him the way deep, clear water might scare a man in a small boat. Looking out, he sees only himself, isolated and tiny, his gestures no bigger than dust floating under the sky. A wind sweeps him along like a gadfly into the dark, and he does not know where he is going or why. Against such immensity, he feels it is useless to believe he can do anything that counts; he will be lost almost at once. The title hints at the ache behind this terror: being unloved leaves him feeling unanchored, small, and easily carried away. The mood is lonely, dizzying, and quietly despairing.
Song of a Man Who Is Not Loved — Summary
The space of the world is immense, before me and around me; If I turn quickly, I am terrified, feeling space surround me; Like a man in a boat on very clear, deep water, space frightens and confounds me.
I see myself isolated in the universe, and wonder What effect I can have. My hands wave under The heavens like specks of dust that are floating asunder.
I hold myself up, and feel a big wind blowing Me like a gadfly into the dusk, without my knowing Whither or why or even how I am going.
So much there is outside me, so infinitely Small am I, what matter if minutely I beat my way, to be lost immediately?
How shall I flatter myself that I can do Anything in such immensity? I am too Little to count in the wind that drifts me through.