Old Age. (Sonnet IV.)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
The course of my long life hath reached at last,
In fragile bark o'er a tempestuous sea,
The common harbor, where must rendered be
Account of all the actions of the past.
The impassioned phantasy, that, vague and vast,
Made art an idol and a king to me,
Was an illusion, and but vanity
Were the desires that lured me and harassed.
The dreams of love, that were so sweet of yore,
What are they now, when two deaths may be mine,--
One sure, and one forecasting its alarms?
Painting and sculpture satisfy no more
The soul now turning to the Love Divine,
That oped, to embrace us, on the cross its arms.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 76 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAABBACDECDE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 594 |
Words | 116 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Old Age. (Sonnet IV.)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/18697/old-age.-(sonnet-iv.)>.
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