Pierrot — Summary

In Sara Teasdale’s “Pierrot,” a speaker watches Pierrot in a moonlit garden as he plays a delicate tune on his lute. She is present but feels invisible: he may imagine he is performing for her, but she says she is “quite forgotten / Under the cherry tree.” The real rivalry is between the woman and the music. Pierrot is wrapped up in his own art, and even the roses seem to understand how much he loves it. The speaker, by contrast, loves Pierrot himself. The poem creates a wistful, slightly melancholy atmosphere—silver notes, a waning moon, and a quiet garden all suggest beauty mixed with fading or longing. The speaker aches not because Pierrot is cruel, but because his attention is elsewhere. Her love remains unspoken, while the music receives what she wishes were hers.