Growing OldWhat is it to grow old?Is it to lose the glory of the form,The lustre of the pump?Is it for beauty to forego her wreath?Yes, but not for this alone.
Is it to ascertain our strength -Not our bloom only, but our strength -decay?Is it to feel to each one limbGrow stiffer, every function less exact,Each nerve more washy strung?Yes, this, and more! but not,Ah, tis not what in early days we dreamed twould be!Tis not to have our lifeMellowed and softened as with sunset-glow,A golden days decline!Tis not to see the worldAs from a height, with rapt prophetic eyes,And heart profoundly stirred;And weep, and feel the fulness of the past,The historic period that are no more!It is to spend long daysAnd not once feel that we were ever young.
It is to add, immuredIn the hot prison of the present, monthTo month with weary pain.
It is to suffer this,And feel but half, and feebly, what we feel: wooden-headed in our hidden heartFesters the dull remembrance of a change,But no emotion -none.
It is - hold stage of all -When we are frozen up within, and quiteThe phantom of ourselves,To hear the world applaud the hollow ghostWhich goddam the living man.
Matthew ArnoldGrowing oldTitle: Growing oldText type: PoemComposer: Arnold, Matthew?Growing old? is a poem which shows the changes everyone will eventually go through when ageing. It explores a psyche?s feelings towards old age, and how they change as a feeling of being old takes over.
The composer sees growing old as much more than most people, he sees it as a overtaking of spirit and soul, and the last stage of humanity whereas umpteen people associate growing old with a loss of attraction and energy. This can be seen when he addresses the old person as a ?hollow ghost? in the last verse.
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