In Tempore Senectutis
When I am old,And sadly steal apart,Into the dark and cold,Friend of my heart!Remember, if you can,Not him who lingers, but that other man,Who loved and sang, and had a beating heart,--When I am old!
When I am old,And all Love's ancient fireBe tremulous and cold:My soul's desire!Remember, if you may,Nothing of you and me but yesterday,When heart on heart we bid the years conspireTo make us old.
When I am old,And every star aboveBe pitiless and cold:My life's one love!Forbid me not to go:Remember nought of us but long ago,And not at last, how love and pity stroveWhen I grew old!
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Tempore Senectutis is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, With a Memoir by Arthur Symons, Project Gutenberg ebook #8497; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ernest Dowson, In Tempore Senectutis, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/in-tempore-senectutis.html, id L01642.
Form and metre
In Tempore Senectutis is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCBA. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCBA oldA · apartB · coldA · heartB · canC · manC · heartB · oldA
- 2 ABABCCBA oldA · fireB · coldA · desireB · mayC · yesterdayC · conspireB · oldA
- 3 ABABCCBA oldA · aboveB · coldA · loveB · goC · agoC · stroveB · oldA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I am old, | 4 | ···· |
| And sadly steal apart, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Into the dark and cold, | 6 | ······ |
| Friend of my heart! | 4 | ···· |
| Remember, if you can, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Not him who lingers, but that other man, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who loved and sang, and had a beating heart,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When I am old! | 4 | ···· |
| When I am old, | 4 | ···· |
| And all Love's ancient fire | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Be tremulous and cold: | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| My soul's desire! | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Remember, if you may, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Nothing of you and me but yesterday, | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| When heart on heart we bid the years conspire | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| To make us old. | 4 | ···· |
| When I am old, | 4 | ···· |
| And every star above | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Be pitiless and cold: | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| My life's one love! | 4 | ···· |
| Forbid me not to go: | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Remember nought of us but long ago, | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| And not at last, how love and pity strove | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When I grew old! | 4 | ···· |
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.