The Old Man Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABCCCB DDDBEEEB FFFBGHHB IIIBJJJB KKKBLLMB NNNBOOOB PPPBPPPB DDDBQQQB PPPBDDDB JJJBRRRB IIIBSSSB PPPBDDDB PPPBDDDB TTTBUUUB| Lo steadfast and serene | A |
| In patient pause between | A |
| The seen and the unseen | A |
| What gentle zephyrs fan | B |
| Your silken silver hair | C |
| And what diviner air | C |
| Breathes round you like a prayer | C |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| Can you in nearer view | D |
| Of Glory pierce the blue | D |
| Of happy Heaven through | D |
| And listening mutely can | B |
| Your senses dull to us | E |
| Hear Angel voices thus | E |
| In chorus glorious | E |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| In your reposeful gaze | F |
| The dusk of Autumn days | F |
| Is blent with April haze | F |
| As when of old began | B |
| The bursting of the bud | G |
| Of rosy babyhood | H |
| When all the world was good | H |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| And yet I find a sly | I |
| Little twinkle in your eye | I |
| And your whisperingly shy | I |
| Little laugh is simply an | B |
| Internal shout of glee | J |
| That betrays the fallacy | J |
| You'd perpetrate on me | J |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| So just put up the frown | K |
| That your brows are pulling down | K |
| Why the fleetest boy in town | K |
| As he bared his feet and ran | B |
| Could read with half a glance | L |
| And of keen rebuke perchance | L |
| Your secret countenance | M |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| Now honestly confess | N |
| Is an old man any less | N |
| Than the little child we bless | N |
| And caress when we can | B |
| Isn't age but just a place | O |
| Where you mask the childish face | O |
| To preserve its inner grace | O |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| Hasn't age a truant day | P |
| Just as that you went astray | P |
| In the wayward restless way | P |
| When brown with dust and tan | B |
| Your roguish face essayed | P |
| In solemn masquerade | P |
| To hide the smile it made | P |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| Now fair and square and true | D |
| Don't your old soul tremble through | D |
| As in youth it used to do | D |
| When it brimmed and overran | B |
| With the strange enchanted sights | Q |
| And the splendors and delights | Q |
| Of the old Arabian Nights | Q |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| When haply you have fared | P |
| Where glad Aladdin shared | P |
| His lamp with you and dared | P |
| The Afrite and his clan | B |
| And with him clambered through | D |
| The trees where jewels grew | D |
| And filled your pockets too | D |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| Or with Sinbad at sea | J |
| And in veracity | J |
| Who has sinned as bad as he | J |
| Or would or will or can | B |
| Have you listened to his lies | R |
| With open mouth and eyes | R |
| And learned his art likewise | R |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| And you need not deny | I |
| That your eyes were wet as dry | I |
| Reading novels on the sly | I |
| And review them if you can | B |
| And the same warm tears will fall | S |
| Only faster that is all | S |
| Over Little Nell and Paul | S |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| Oh you were a lucky lad | P |
| Just as good as you were bad | P |
| And the host of friends you had | P |
| Charley Tom and Dick and Dan | B |
| And the old School Teacher too | D |
| Though he often censured you | D |
| And the girls in pink and blue | D |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| And as often you have leant | P |
| In boyish sentiment | P |
| To kiss the letter sent | P |
| By Nelly Belle or Nan | B |
| Wherein the rose's hue | D |
| Was red the violet blue | D |
| And sugar sweet and you | D |
| Old Man | B |
| - | |
| So to day as lives the bloom | T |
| And the sweetness and perfume | T |
| Of the blossoms I assume | T |
| On the same mysterious plan | B |
| The Master's love assures | U |
| That the selfsame boy endures | U |
| In that hale old heart of yours | U |
| Old Man | B |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
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About The Old Man
The Old Man is a poem by James Whitcomb Riley. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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