In Age
And art thou he, now "fall'n on evil days,"And changed indeed! Yet what do this sunk cheek,These thinner locks, and that calm forehead speak!A spirit reckless of man's blame or praise,--A spirit, when thine eyes to the noon's blazeTheir dark orbs roll in vain, in suffering meek,As in the sight of God intent to seek,'Mid solitude or age, or through the waysOf hard adversity, the approving lookOf its great Master; whilst the conscious prideOf wisdom, patient and content to brookAll ills to that sole Master's task applied,Shall show before high heaven the unaltered mind,Milton, though thou art poor, and old, and blind!
Words in this poem
- adversity n.
- Opposition; contrariety. Wyclif. [OE. adversite, F. adversité, fr. L. adversitas.]
- approving a.
- Expressing approbation; commending; as, an approving smile.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Age is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Lisle Bowles, In Age, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/in-age.html, id L09916.
Form and metre
In Age is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG daysA · cheekB · speakA · praiseB · blazeC · meekD · seekC · waysD · lookE · prideF · brookE · appliedF · mindG · blindG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And art thou he, now "fall'n on evil days," | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And changed indeed! Yet what do this sunk cheek, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| These thinner locks, and that calm forehead speak! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| A spirit reckless of man's blame or praise,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A spirit, when thine eyes to the noon's blaze | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Their dark orbs roll in vain, in suffering meek, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As in the sight of God intent to seek, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| 'Mid solitude or age, or through the ways | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of hard adversity, the approving look | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of its great Master; whilst the conscious pride | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of wisdom, patient and content to brook | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| All ills to that sole Master's task applied, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Shall show before high heaven the unaltered mind, | 11 | ·····/·˘/˘· |
| Milton, though thou art poor, and old, and blind! | 10 | /˘········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.