The Old Man's Funeral Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDD EFEFGG HIHIEE JGJGKK LMLMNN OPOQRR STSTII| I saw an aged man upon his bier | A |
| His hair was thin and white and on his brow | B |
| A record of the cares of many a year | C |
| Cares that were ended and forgotten now | B |
| And there was sadness round and faces bowed | D |
| And woman's tears fell fast and children wailed aloud | D |
| - | |
| Then rose another hoary man and said | E |
| In faltering accents to that weeping train | F |
| Why mourn ye that our aged friend is dead | E |
| Ye are not sad to see the gathered grain | F |
| Nor when their mellow fruit the orchards cast | G |
| Nor when the yellow woods shake down the ripened mast | G |
| - | |
| Ye sigh not when the sun his course fulfilled | H |
| His glorious course rejoicing earth and sky | I |
| In the soft evening when the winds are stilled | H |
| Sinks where his islands of refreshment lie | I |
| And leaves the smile of his departure spread | E |
| O'er the warm coloured heaven and ruddy mountain head | E |
| - | |
| Why weep ye then for him who having won | J |
| The bound of man's appointed years at last | G |
| Life's blessings all enjoyed life's labours done | J |
| Serenely to his final rest has passed | G |
| While the soft memory of his virtues yet | K |
| Lingers like twilight hues when the bright sun is set | K |
| - | |
| His youth was innocent his riper age | L |
| Marked with some act of goodness every day | M |
| And watched by eyes that loved him calm and sage | L |
| Faded his late declining years away | M |
| Cheerful he gave his being up and went | N |
| To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent | N |
| - | |
| That life was happy every day he gave | O |
| Thanks for the fair existence that was his | P |
| For a sick fancy made him not her slave | O |
| To mock him with her phantom miseries | Q |
| No chronic tortures racked his aged limb | R |
| For luxury and sloth had nourished none for him | R |
| - | |
| And I am glad that he has lived thus long | S |
| And glad that he has gone to his reward | T |
| Nor can I deem that nature did him wrong | S |
| Softly to disengage the vital cord | T |
| For when his hand grew palsied and his eye | I |
| Dark with the mists of age it was his time to die | I |
William Cullen Bryant
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Old Man's Funeral poem by William Cullen Bryant
Best Poems of William Cullen Bryant