Am Getting Old Now
I 'm getting old now is a prose poem. It is quite vibrant and simple and presents the theme of cycle of life.It depicts the poet 's acceptance of death and links with with his nostalgic memories of his mother. The first part of the poem symbolize his dream while second part signifies that he is close to death. He address death as a long lost friend whom he seeks to meet in the near future. Realizing that he has got less time to spend on earth he reminisce his past memories and dream a lot. In his dream he recollects how much love and pride his mother had in him. The poem is very touching and it instills in us the pain we feel when we reminisce about good things long lost.
A few Key Points:
Meeting of different cultures: tourist comes from modern world, and thinks he can dispose of this irritating beggar. But when she speaks she casts a spell, and shows him who is really in control. Woman rooted in where she lives - identified with sky and hills, and draws power from them. Things not what they seem: woman has more power than the poet suspects.
Poem has a formal structure in triplets (three-line stanzas). Occasional half rhymes (“coin”/ “shrine”, “on”/ “skin”) and full rhyme to mark a pause: (“crone”/ “alone”). Lines are short but always with pattern of two stressed syllables, apart from in the final line, where the single stress brings the poem to a full stop. Most words monosyllables.
Poem refers to old woman with third-person pronoun “she” and tourist with second-person pronoun, “you”. This makes poem like an account of real experience, putting reader in tourist 's place.
Coin which woman begs at the start of the poem, gives the ending its enduring image. Tourist 's weakness is suggested in metaphor of “small change”, while “in her hand” indicates that woman has power over him. Her power also suggested by appearance - her eyes are “bullet holes”, dark spaces with nothing behind. “Cracks” (lines) in her face turn into cracks in sky, hills and temples,
A few Key Points:
Meeting of different cultures: tourist comes from modern world, and thinks he can dispose of this irritating beggar. But when she speaks she casts a spell, and shows him who is really in control. Woman rooted in where she lives - identified with sky and hills, and draws power from them. Things not what they seem: woman has more power than the poet suspects.
Poem has a formal structure in triplets (three-line stanzas). Occasional half rhymes (“coin”/ “shrine”, “on”/ “skin”) and full rhyme to mark a pause: (“crone”/ “alone”). Lines are short but always with pattern of two stressed syllables, apart from in the final line, where the single stress brings the poem to a full stop. Most words monosyllables.
Poem refers to old woman with third-person pronoun “she” and tourist with second-person pronoun, “you”. This makes poem like an account of real experience, putting reader in tourist 's place.
Coin which woman begs at the start of the poem, gives the ending its enduring image. Tourist 's weakness is suggested in metaphor of “small change”, while “in her hand” indicates that woman has power over him. Her power also suggested by appearance - her eyes are “bullet holes”, dark spaces with nothing behind. “Cracks” (lines) in her face turn into cracks in sky, hills and temples,