Analysis of My Lost Youth
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
Often I think of the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,
And catch, in sudden gleams,
The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,
And islands that were the Hesperides
Of all my boyish dreams.
And the burden of that old song,
It murmurs and whispers still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I remember the black wharves and the ships,
And the sea-tides tossing free;
And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,
And the beauty and mystery of the ships,
And the magic of the sea.
And the voice of that wayward song
Is singing and saying still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I remember the bulwarks by the shore,
And the fort upon the hill;
The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar,
The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er,
And the bugle wild and shrill.
And the music of that old song
Throbs in my memory still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I remember the sea-fight far away,
How it thundered o'er the tide!
And the dead captains, as they lay
In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay
Where they in battle died.
And the sound of that mournful song
Goes through me with a thrill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I can see the breezy dome of groves,
The shadows of Deering's Woods;
And the friendships old and the early loves
Come back with a Sabbath sound, as of doves
In quiet neighborhoods.
And the verse of that sweet old song,
It flutters and murmurs still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
I remember the gleams and glooms that dart
Across the school-boy's brain;
The song and the silence in the heart,
That in part are prophecies, and in part
Are longings wild and vain.
And the voice of that fitful song
Sings on, and is never still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
There are things of which I may not speak;
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,
And bring a pallor into the cheek,
And a mist before the eye.
And the words of that fatal song
Come over me like a chill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
Strange to me now are the forms I meet
When I visit the dear old town;
But the native air is pure and sweet,
And the trees that o'ershadow each well-known street,
As they balance up and down,
Are singing the beautiful song,
Are sighing and whispering still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair,
And with joy that is almost pain
My heart goes back to wander there,
And among the dreams of the days that were,
I find my lost youth again.
And the strange and beautiful song,
The groves are repeating it still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
Scheme | abaabcdDE fgfbgcdDE hbhhbcdDE idijdcdDE klkklcdDE xmnnmcdDE opoopcdDE qrqqrcdDE sassacdDE tptjxcdDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) |
Metre | 1011101001 1110101 10011101 010111111 0111111 0011011 11011001 0111011 001111111 11101001111 010101 011010101 0101001 111101 00101111 1100101 0111011 001111111 1010011001 0011101 010101101 00100100101 0010101 00111101 1100101 0111011 001111111 101001101 0010101 01111101 01101010010 0010101 00101111 1011001 0111011 001111111 1010011101 11101001 00110111 01110101 110101 00111101 111101 0111011 001111111 111010111 01111 0010100101 1110101111 01010 00111111 1100101 0111011 001111111 1010010111 010111 010010001 1011100001 110101 00111101 1101101 0111011 001111111 111111111 1111101 111110111 01010101 0010101 00111101 1101101 0111011 001111111 111110111 11100111 101011101 001111111 1110101 11001001 11001001 0111011 001111111 0111101 0111111 11111101 0010110110 1111101 00101001 01101011 0111011 001111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,221 |
Words | 633 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 90 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 254 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 14, 2023
- 3:15 min read
- 236 Views
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"My Lost Youth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18691/my-lost-youth>.
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