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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD AGE, by ROBERT FROST Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: My old uncle is long and narrow
Last Line: But it is not necessarily serious.
Subject(s): Old Age
First Line: My old uncle is long and narrow
Last Line: But it is not necessarily serious.
Subject(s): Old Age
My old uncle is long and narrow.
And when he starts to rise
After his after-dinner nap
I think to myself
He may do it this once more
But this is the last time.
He lets one leg slip off the lounge
And fall to the floor.
But still he lies
And looks to God through the ceiling.
The next thing is to get to his outside elbow
And so to a sitting posture
And so to his feet.
I avert my eyes for him till he does it.
Once I said from the heart,
"What is it, Uncle? --
Pain or just weakness?
Can't we do anything for it?"
He said "It's Specific Gravity"
"Do you mean by that that it's grave?"
"No, not as bad as that yet, child,
But it's the Grave coming on."
Then I knew he didn't mean Seriousness
When he said Gravity.
Old age may not be kittenish
But it is not necessarily serious.
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