Symbol Analysis
Compared to some of the other images in this poem, this one kind of flashes by. Still, we think it's a really important representation of the speaker's feelings about herself. The image of the pebble in the stream helps us to understand how completely empty and powerless (but also peaceful) the speaker feels.
- Line 15: The speaker gives us plenty of images to help us understand how isolated and empty she feels. In this case, she uses a simile about rushing water and a pebble to let us know that she really doesn't feel so bad about being disconnected from the world around her. In fact, she seems to really like it. She can just sink to the bottom of a river, while the world rushes around her.