Analysis of A Song Of Going

Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931



I would not like to live to be very old,
To be stripped cold and bare
Of all my leafage that was green and gold
In the delicious air.

I would not choose to live to be left alone,
The children gone away,
And the true love that I have leant upon
No more my staff and stay.

I would not live to stretch my shrivelled hands
To an old fire died low,
Minding me of the long-lost happy lands
And children long ago.

Let me be gone while I am leafy yet
And while my birds still sing,
Lest leafless, birdless, my dull heart forget
That ever it had Spring.


Scheme ABAB XCXC DEDE FGFG
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11111111101 111101 111111101 000101 11111111101 010101 00111111001 111101 111111111 1111011 1011011101 010101 1111111101 011111 110111101 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 537
Words 113
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 106
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
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Katharine Tynan

Katharine Tynan was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. more…

All Katharine Tynan poems | Katharine Tynan Books

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