Comment on the form and tone of the poem – The Panic of Growing Older.
FORM/STRUCTURE
The poem has a simple poetic form or structure, It is written in a total of thirty two lines, divided into eight stanzas. Each stanza forms a quatrain, that is, four lines in a stanza. The lines are short. The poem is written in simple language and it has run-on-lines. It is indeed difficult to determine the end of a line and the beginning of another. This flow makes the poem to achieve unity and cohesion.
TONE
The tone of the poem conveys different messages depending on one’s point of view. First, the tone conveys a message of urgency concerning the fast passage of time, as time passes, one grows older and this creates great tear especially when there is nothing to show for it. Besides this, the tone is equally informative and cautious. We are informed of the expectations of the world when one is full of blood and strength and hope. Dreams are better worked for at twenty because beyond thirty, Wings begin to change. A point comes when all hopes appear to h dashed when one has nothing to show for attaining the biblical three scores and ten years. There lies the tone of caution and hopelessness.