Analysis of Youth And Age
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Verse, a Breeze 'mid blossoms straying,
Where HOPE clung feeding, like a bee--
Both were mine ! Life went a-maying
With NATURE, HOPE, and POESY,
[Image][Image]When I was young !
When I was young ?--Ah, woful WHEN !
Ah ! for the Change 'twixt Now and Then !
This breathing House not built with hands,
This body that does me grievous wrong,
O'er æry Cliffs and glittering Sands,
How lightly then it flashed along :--
Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore,
On winding lakes and rivers wide,
That ask no aid of Sail or Oar,
That fear no spite of Wind or Tide !
Nought cared this Body for wind or weather
When YOUTH and I lived in't together.
FLOWERS are lovely ; LOVE is flower-like ;
FRIENDSHIP is a sheltering tree ;
O ! the Joys, that came down shower-like,
Of FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, and LIBERTY,
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] Ere I was old !
Ere I was old ? Ah woful ERE,
Which tells me, YOUTH'S no longer here !
O YOUTH ! for years so many and sweet,
'Tis known, that Thou and I were one,
I'll think it but a fond conceit--
It cannot be that Thou art gone !
Thy Vesper-bell hath not yet toll'd :--
And thou wert aye a Masker bold !
What strange Disguise hast now put on,
To make believe, that thou art gone ?
I see these Locks in silvery slips,
This drooping Gait, this altered Size :
But SPRINGTIDE blossoms on thy Lips,
And Tears take sunshine from thine eyes !
Life is but Thought : so think I will
That YOUTH and I are House-mates still.
Dew-drops are the gems of morning,
But the tears of mournful eve !
Where no hope is, life's a warning
That only serves to make us grieve,
[Image][Image]When we are old :
That only serves to make us grieve
With oft and tedious taking-leave,
Like some poor nigh-related guest,
That may not rudely be dismist ;
Yet hath outstay'd his welcome while,
And tells the jest without the smile.
Scheme | abacx ddcecefgfghh ibibj xxkxkljjxlccccmm anaNj Nnxgoo |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111010 11110101 1011101 110101 1111 1111111 11011101 11011111 110111101 101101001 11011101 11110111 11010101 11111111 11111111 1111011110 1101101010 1011011101 10101001 101111101 11010100 11111111 1111111 11111101 111111001 11110101 11110101 11011111 11011111 01110101 11011111 11011111 111101001 11011101 1110111 0111111 11111111 11011111 11101110 1011101 11111010 11011111 1111 11011111 110100101 11110101 1111011 1111101 01010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,806 |
Words | 326 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 12, 5, 16, 5, 6 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 276 Views
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"Youth And Age" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34403/youth-and-age>.
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