Analysis of A Song Of Sixty-Five
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Brave Thackeray has trolled of days when he was twenty-one,
And bounded up five flights of stairs, a gallant garreteer;
And yet again in mellow vein when youth was gaily run,
Has dipped his nose in Gascon wine, and told of Forty Year.
But if I worthy were to sing a richer, rarer time,
I'd tune my pipes before the fire and merrily I'd strive
To praise that age when prose again has given way to rhyme,
The Indian Summer days of life when I'll be Sixty-five;
For then my work will all be done, my voyaging be past,
And I'll have earned the right to rest where folding hills are green;
So in some glassy anchorage I'll make my cable fast, --
Oh, let the seas show all their teeth, I'll sit and smile serene.
The storm may bellow round the roof, I'll bide beside the fire,
And many a scene of sail and trail within the flame I'll see;
For I'll have worn away the spur of passion and desire. . . .
Oh yes, when I am Sixty-five, what peace will come to me.
I'll take my breakfast in my bed, I'll rise at half-past ten,
When all the world is nicely groomed and full of golden song;
I'll smoke a bit and joke a bit, and read the news, and then
I'll potter round my peach-trees till I hear the luncheon gong.
And after that I think I'll doze an hour, well, maybe two,
And then I'll show some kindred soul how well my roses thrive;
I'll do the things I never yet have found the time to do. . . .
Oh, won't I be the busy man when I am Sixty-five.
I'll revel in my library; I'll read De Morgan's books;
I'll grow so garrulous I fear you'll write me down a bore;
I'll watch the ways of ants and bees in quiet sunny nooks,
I'll understand Creation as I never did before.
When gossips round the tea-cups talk I'll listen to it all;
On smiling days some kindly friend will take me for a drive:
I'll own a shaggy collie dog that dashes to my call:
I'll celebrate my second youth when I am Sixty-five.
Ah, though I've twenty years to go, I see myself quite plain,
A wrinkling, twinkling, rosy-cheeked, benevolent old chap;
I think I'll wear a tartan shawl and lean upon a cane.
I hope that I'll have silver hair beneath a velvet cap.
I see my little grandchildren a-romping round my knee;
So gay the scene, I almost wish 'twould hasten to arrive.
Let others sing of Youth and Spring, still will it seem to me
The golden time's the olden time, some time round Sixty-five.
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFBGBG HIHIJDJD KBKBLDLD MNMNGDGD |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001111111101 010111110101 01010101111101 11110101011101 11110011010101 111101010010011 11111101110111 010010111111101 111111111111 01110111110111 10110100111101 11011111110101 011101011101010 010011101010111 111101011100010 11111101111111 11110011111111 11011101011101 11010101010101 11011111110101 010111111101101 01111101111101 11011101110111 11110101111101 1100110111101 11110011111101 11011101010101 1010101110101 11010111110111 11011101111101 11010101110111 1101101111101 1111011111111 0100100101010011 11110101010101 11111101010101 1111010010111 1101111110101 11011101111111 01010101111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,323 |
Words | 453 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 357 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 91 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:25 min read
- 93 Views
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"A Song Of Sixty-Five" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31959/a-song-of-sixty-five>.
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