Sompsin's "Solitude" follows a person alone in a room, tracing how that aloneness changes over time. Each stanza opens with a single word, Silence, Clarity, Madness, Examining, Realisation, Peace, and these work like stages on a journey. At first the speaker is surrounded by mirrors, with nothing to look at but themselves. Thinking becomes clear, then tips into shouting and screaming, which collapses back into silence. The speaker then studies their own body in detail, from skin tones to the red veins in their eyes.
The turning point comes with the realisation that no one is coming, and the speaker isn't leaving either. Instead of despair, the poem ends in calm. The last stanza even steps down the page, as if the speaker is slowly settling. The mood moves from unease and tension to quiet acceptance, suggesting that being alone, once fully faced, can become comforting rather than frightening.