Analysis of Sixty to Sixteen
Victor James Daley 1858 – 1905
If I were young as you, Sixteen,
And you were old as I,
I would not be as I have been,
You would not be so shy—
We should not watch with careless mien
The golden days go by,
If I were young as you, Sixteen,
And you were old as I.
The years of youth are yours, Sixteen;
Such years of old had I,
But time has set his seal between
Dark eyebrow and dark eye.
Sere grow the leaves that once were green,
The song turns to a sigh:
Ah! very young are you, Sixteen,
And very old am I.
Red bloom-times come and go, Sixteen,
With snow-soft feet, but I
Shall be no more as I have been
In times of bloom gone by;
For dimmer grows the pleasant scene
Beneath the pleasant sky;
The world is growing old, Sixteen—
The weary world and I.
Ah, would that once again, Sixteen,
A kissing mouth had I;
The days would gaily go, I ween,
Though death should stand anigh,
If springtime’s green were evergreen,
If Love would never die,
And I were young as you, Sixteen,
And you were old as I.
Scheme | ABcbabAB abababab abcbabab abaxabaB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 010111 11111111 111111 11111101 010111 11011101 010111 01111101 111111 11111101 11011 11011101 011101 11011101 010111 11110101 111111 11111111 011111 11010101 010101 01110101 010101 11110101 010111 01110111 11111 111010 111101 01011101 010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 998 |
Words | 196 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 182 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 58 sec read
- 92 Views
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"Sixty to Sixteen" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37521/sixty-to-sixteen>.
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