Wisdom Cometh with the Years
Now I am young and credulous,My heart is quick to bleedAt courage in the tremulousSlow sprouting of a seed.
Now I am young and sensitive,Man’s lack can stab me through;I own no stitch I would not giveTo him that asked me to.
Now I am young and a fool for love,My blood goes mad to seeA brown girl pass me like a doveThat flies melodiously.
Let me be lavish of my tears,And dream that false is true;Though wisdom cometh with the years,The barren days come, too.
About this text
Wisdom Cometh with the Years is in the public domain. This text is taken from Color, Project Gutenberg ebook #70543; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Countee Cullen, Wisdom Cometh with the Years, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/wisdom-cometh-with-the-years.html, id L01431.
Form and metre
Wisdom Cometh with the Years is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A credulous · bleedA · tremulous · seedA
- 2 ABAB sensitiveA · throughB · giveA · toB
- 3 A-A- loveA · see · doveA · melodiously
- 4 ABAB tearsA · trueB · yearsA · tooB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now I am young and credulous, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| My heart is quick to bleed | 6 | ······ |
| At courage in the tremulous | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Slow sprouting of a seed. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Now I am young and sensitive, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Man’s lack can stab me through; | 6 | ······ |
| I own no stitch I would not give | 8 | ········ |
| To him that asked me to. | 7 | ····˘·· |
| Now I am young and a fool for love, | 9 | ········· |
| My blood goes mad to see | 6 | ······ |
| A brown girl pass me like a dove | 8 | ········ |
| That flies melodiously. | 6 | ······ |
| Let me be lavish of my tears, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And dream that false is true; | 6 | ······ |
| Though wisdom cometh with the years, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The barren days come, too. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.