Analysis of Love Through the Ages

Alan Cook 1938 (Buffalo, New York)



When we first harnessed fire and lived in a cave,
And animal skins were in fashion,
You were my woman and I was your slave,
For I loved you with a passion.

So I gave you pelts and shiny stones,
And flowers for your hair;
You made me a necklace of grass and bones,
And we had a grand affair.

And the years rolled by, and the centuries sighed,
And the earth rotated and wobbled;
And people lived and people died,
And they loved and hated and squabbled.

In the time of Atlantis a captain was I,
Who sailed the azure sea;
But I always hated to say goodbye,
For you were the world to me.

So I brought you jewels and pieces of silk,
And we gathered saffron and fished.
We made pots and vessels of that ilk;
I had everything I wished.

In the days of knights I straddled my horse,
And many a rascal I slew;
And whenever I entered the tilting course
Your scarf from my helmet flew.

We lived in a castle with drawbridge and moat;
Our vassals to us bowed.
And you were the one on whom I'd dote
Out of all the madding crowd.

But to tell you the truth those rough skins itched,
And I never learned how to swim.
My armor was hard, with rivets stitched,
And my memories grow dim.

So I'd rather be here mid this hectic hustle,
With you in the current age.
We'll cling to each other with frantic muscle
Until history writes a new page.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN EOXO PQPQ
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 111101001001 010010010 1011001111 11111010 111110101 010111 1110101101 0110101 00111001001 00110010 01010101 011010010 001101001011 110101 11110111 1100111 11111001011 01101001 111010111 111011 0011111011 01001011 00101100101 1111101 1100101101 1010111 010011111 1110101 1111011111 01101111 110111101 0110011 111011111010 1100101 11111011010 011001011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,326
Words 299
Sentences 13
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 114
Words per stanza (avg) 29

About this poem

I am required by law to write four poems a year for my wife, Bonny. This is one of them.

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Written on September 28, 2017

Submitted by ALCookwriter on April 24, 2023

1:30 min read
45

Alan Cook

Alan Cook is an American poet whose early claim to fame was writing the lyrics to his high school's alma mater. more…

All Alan Cook poems | Alan Cook Books

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