Mezzo Cammin Analysis

Half of my life is gone, and I have let

The years slip from me and have not fulfilled

The aspiration of my youth, to build

Some tower of song with lofty parapet.

Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret

Of restless passions chat would not be stilled,

But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,

Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;

Though, half way up the hill, I see the Past

Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,--

A city in the twilight dim and vast,

With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights.--

And hear above me on the autumnal blast

The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.

.: :.

Thiz is the || lulz || awesomezt poemz in the world, like lulz lulz lol lulz lulz

| Posted on 2009-10-14 | by a guest

.: :.

You're an idiot. Learn how to form sentences before criticizing other people or calling strangers "kids."

| Posted on 2009-09-01 | by a guest

.: :.

What you guys are not making any kind of sense the poem has a more deeper and emotional young kids.

| Posted on 2009-05-06 | by a guest

.: :.

This poem serves as a commentary on the extremely limited time mortal life provides to souls to hearken for greater achivement, and a potential self-fulfillment, only to be interrupted by the very trivialities that define what it means to live as a human. Mortality is an issue, and death is emphasizes as a concern, but it is not death itself that is feared, so much as what the speaker acknowledges as his shortcomings prior to death. He will die an unfulfilled life, and regret is the tone that is portrayed here. Although the poem is not utterly devoid of hope, it does carry a listless quality, as if the earlier passion of the poem's beginning gives way to a determinate acceptance of a final, inescapable fate. The speaker's life is only half way complete, however, and he now pauses, contemplating over the wasted, depressed majority of his the first sector of his life. He looks forward, seeing death. He looks at himself in the present, his thoughts during the poem, and elicits the need for change.
This poem is often compared/contrasted with Keat's "When I Have Fears."

| Posted on 2009-05-02 | by a guest

.: :.

This poem, a commentary on the extremely limited time mortal life provides to souls to hearken for greater achivement, and a potential self-fulfillment, only to be interrupted by the very trivialities that define what it means to live as a human. Mortality is an issue, and death is emphasizes as a concern, but it is not death itself that is feared, so much as what the speaker acknowledges as his shortcomings prior to death. He will die an unfulfilled life, and regret is the tone that is portrayed here. Although the poem is not utterly devoid of hope, it does carry a listless quality, as if the earlier passion of the poem's beginning gives way to a determinate acceptance of a final, inescapable fate. The speaker's life is only half way complete, however, and he now pauses, contemplating over the wasted, depressed majority of his the first sector of his life. He looks forward, seeing death. He looks at himself in the present, his thoughts during the poem, and elicits the need for change.
This poem is often compared/contrasted with Keat's "When I Have Fears."

| Posted on 2009-05-02 | by a guest

.: :.

I think that this poem expresses his sadness over his wife's death but also that he regrets not using all of his time for useful things but using it in grieving. (although he also knows that such was necessary) He is in a happier place now but there will always be an echo of sadness for his first love.

| Posted on 2009-02-24 | by a guest

.: :.

Hi. I'm in AP English. And we are assigned this poem.

| Posted on 2009-02-09 | by a guest

.: :.

The poets attitude is clearly one of approval and overall happiness. Although the poem's first few stanza's possess a regretful, remorseful tone, in the end the poet comes to the realization that although he may not have done everything he wanted to, he has made the best of his life thus far. He compares his life to a city with "soft bells, and gleaming lights." He also does not feel that death is overly close, he refers to it as a waterfall which is far thundering from the heights, meaning it is still far off.

| Posted on 2009-02-06 | by a guest

.: :.

I'm a senior in AP English, and I've been assigned to write an essay on it in about 30 minutes.
My analysis of the poem is that the speaker is in a state of worry about his current life, and he wants to make the best of it. He realizes, however, that he has done everything he can to live, and he is satisfied with what he sees when he "Looks to the Past"

| Posted on 2009-01-23 | by a guest

.: :.

I don't believe the entire poem is regretful. the first to stanzas have a regretful tone yet the last section compares his past to a city with soft bells gleaming lights and smoking roofs, all which have positive connotations. Therefore I believe that thought the first two stanzas have a regretful tone, the last stanza suggests that he is content with the life he led though it was not as lofty a life as he would have hoped

| Posted on 2008-12-08 | by a guest

.: :.

In this poem, Longfellow portrays the speaker as a man in a mid-life crisis who regrets not having acomplished much of what he wanted in his life. He feels great sorrow due to the death of his first wife. He regrets not having written great poetry and regrets not being a great poet. This is bascially it.

| Posted on 2008-07-09 | by a guest

.: :.

In this poem, Longfellow portrays the speaker as a man in a mid-life crisis who regrets not having acomplished much of what he wanted in his life. He feels great sorrow due to the death of his first wife. He regrets not having written great poetry and regrets not being a great poet. This is bascially it.

| Posted on 2008-07-09 | by a guest