Growing Old Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FGHIJ KLMNO PQRST UJSVW XYSZA2 B2SC2SD2| What is it to grow old | A |
| Is it to lose the glory of the form | B |
| The lustre of the eye | C |
| Is it for beauty to forego her wreath | D |
| Yes but not for this alone | E |
| - | |
| Is it to feel our strength | F |
| Not our bloom only but our strength decay | G |
| Is it to feel each limb | H |
| Grow stiffer every function less exact | I |
| Each nerve more weakly strung | J |
| - | |
| Yes this and more but not | K |
| Ah 'tis not what in youth we dreamed 'twould be | L |
| 'Tis not to have our life | M |
| Mellowed and softened as with sunset glow | N |
| A golden day's decline | O |
| - | |
| 'Tis not to see the world | P |
| As from a height with rapt prophetic eyes | Q |
| And heart profoundly stirred | R |
| And weep and feel the fulness of the past | S |
| The years that are no more | T |
| - | |
| It is to spend long days | U |
| And not once feel that we were ever young | J |
| It is to add immured | S |
| In the hot prison of the present month | V |
| To month with weary pain | W |
| - | |
| It is to suffer this | X |
| And feel but half and feebly what we feel | Y |
| Deep in our hidden heart | S |
| Festers the dull remembrance of a change | Z |
| But no emotion none | A2 |
| - | |
| It is last stage of all | B2 |
| When we are frozen up within and quite | S |
| The phantom of ourselves | C2 |
| To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost | S |
| Which blamed the living man | D2 |
Matthew Arnold
(1)
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About Growing Old
Growing Old is a poem by Matthew Arnold. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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