Analysis of The Voice of Age
Edwin Arlington Robinson 1869 – 1935
She'd look upon us, if she could,
As hard as Rhadamanthus would;
Yet one may see,—who sees her face,
Her crown of silver and of lace,
Her mystical serene address
Of age alloyed with loveliness,—
That she would not annihilate
The frailest of things animate.
She has opinions of our ways,
And if we’re not all mad, she says,—
If our ways are not wholly worse
Than others, for not being hers,—
There might somehow be found a few
Less insane things for us to do,
And we might have a little heed
Of what Belshazzar couldn’t read.
She feels, with all our furniture,
Room yet for something more secure
Than our self-kindled aureoles
To guide our poor forgotten souls;
But when we have explained that grace
Dwells now in doing for the race,
She nods—as if she were relieved;
Almost as if she were deceived.
She frowns at much of what she hears,
And shakes her head, and has her fears;
Though none may know, by any chance,
What rose-leaf ashes of romance
Are faintly stirred by later days
That would be well enough, she says,
If only people were more wise,
And grown-up children used their eyes.
Scheme | AABBXBXX CDXXEEXX XXBXBBFF XXGGCDHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 11111 11111101 01110011 0100011 11111 1111010 0111100 110101101 01011111 110111101 11011100 1111101 10111111 01110101 11111 111110100 11110101 1101101 111010101 11110111 11010101 11111001 1111001 11111111 01010101 11111101 11110101 11011101 11110111 11010011 01110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,102 |
Words | 205 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 212 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 62 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Voice of Age" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10074/the-voice-of-age>.
Discuss this Edwin Arlington Robinson poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In