Analysis of In Age

Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)



The wine of life was rough and new,
But sweet beyond belief,
And wrong was false, and right was true -
The rose was in the leaf.

In that good sunlight well we knew
The hues of wrong and right;
We slept among the roses through
The long enchanted night.

Now to our eyes, made dim with years,
Right intertwines with wrong.
How can we hear, with these tired ears,
The old, the magic song?

But this we know--wine once was red,
Roses were red and dear;
Once in our ears the truths were said
That now the young men hear!


Scheme ABAB ACAC DEDE FXFX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 01111101 110101 01110111 011001 0111111 011101 11010101 010101 111011111 1111 111111101 010101 11111111 100101 101010101 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 506
Words 103
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 99
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
28

Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books of children's literature. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later affiliated to the Labour Party. more…

All Edith Nesbit poems | Edith Nesbit Books

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