Repetition in poetry has the effect of impressing on the reader whatever the speaker is thinking or feeling. In this instance, the impression is that the speaker is overwhelmed by his fantasies about a woman who is absent and unlikely to return. The word “unhappy” (Line 1) is repeated twice in the first line and again with synonyms in succeeding lines. The poet, for example, “can hear no mirth” (Line 9). His language is solipsistic. Repeatedly turning inward and weltering in his feelings, he cannot engage with the world.

Anaphora is a form of repetition in which words and phrases are repeated successively at the beginning of each line, though the speaker also repeats words at the ends of lines, such as “or else” (Lines 4-5).