Analysis of The Old Men
Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)
Old and alone, sit we,
Caged, riddle-rid men;
Lost to earth's 'Listen!' and 'See!'
Thought's 'Wherefore?' and 'When?'
Only far memories stray
Of a past once lovely, but now
Wasted and faded away,
Like green leaves from the bough.
Vast broods the silence of night,
The ruinous moon
Lifts on our faces her light,
Whence all dreaming is gone.
We speak not; trembles each head;
In their sockets our eyes are still;
Desire as cold as the dead;
Without wonder or will.
And One, with a lanthorn, draws near,
At clash with the moon in our eyes:
'Where art thou?' he asks: 'I am here,'
One by one we arise.
And none lifts a hand to withhold
A friend from the touch of that foe:
Heart cries unto heart, 'Thou art old!'
Yet reluctant, we go.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EXEX FGFG XHXH IJIJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 100111 11011 1111001 1101 1011001 10111011 1001001 111101 1101011 01001 11101001 111011 111111 011010111 01011101 011011 0110111 111010101 11111111 111101 01101101 01101111 11101111 101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 715 |
Words | 145 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 26, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 96 Views
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