Analysis of The Old
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Oh bear with me, for I am old
And count on fingers five
The years this pencil I may hold
And hope to be alive;
How sadly soon our dreaming ends!
How brief the sunset glow!
Be kindly to the old, my friends:
You'll miss them when they go.
I've seen so many disappear
That I can scarce forget,
For death has made them doubly dear
And ripened my regret.
How wistfully I've wished them back,
With cherishing to show
The gentleness I used to lack
In years of long ago.
You, young and fit, will falter too,
And when Time's load you bear,
'Twill help if others turn to you
With comforting and car;
With loving look and tender touch . . .
Aye, in their twilight wan
Revere the old - for Oh how much
You'll miss them when they've gone!
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGDGD HXHXIXIX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 011101 01110111 011101 110110101 11011 11010111 111111 1111001 111101 11111101 010101 11001111 110011 01001111 011101 11011101 011111 11110111 110001 11010101 10111 01011111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 712 |
Words | 142 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 84 Views
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"The Old" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32601/the-old>.
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