The Tragedy Of Age Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDEDE FGFGFHFH IAIAFJFJ KFKFLML| I HEARD an old man say today | A |
| 'A young man gives me orders now ' | B |
| A beardless youth gets better pay | A |
| And tells me what to do and how | C |
| While I have toiled for forty years | D |
| A stripling enters in the race | E |
| And with a single bound appears | D |
| And eagerly usurps my place | E |
| - | |
| 'I've seen them shake their heads at me | F |
| And I have often heard them sigh | G |
| As they my faltering hand would see | F |
| 'The times alas have passed him by | G |
| He isn't what he used to be | F |
| He's lost his grip ' and well I knew | H |
| hat youth at last had conquered me | F |
| As youth old age will ever do | H |
| - | |
| 'And now it's come and I behold | I |
| Young fighters stripped to face the fray | A |
| Exultant clear of eye and bold | I |
| Where I was wont to lead the way | A |
| My nerve they say is gone from me | F |
| I fear to do what youth will dare | J |
| I shrink from opportunity | F |
| My place is in an easy chair | J |
| - | |
| 'This has been so since time began | K |
| And to the end of time will be | F |
| Brief is the working time of man | K |
| Brief as the leaf upon the tree | F |
| The young man comes the old man goes | L |
| Old eyes old brains old bodies fail | M |
| Beyond our powers the struggle grows | L |
| Old age drops out So ends the tale ' | - |
Edgar Albert Guest
(1)
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