Analysis of The Old Familiar Faces
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
I HAVE had playmates, I have had companions,
In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days--
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
I have been laughing, I have been carousing,
Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies--
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
I loved a Love once, fairest among women:
Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her--
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man:
Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly;
Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces.
Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood,
Earth seem'd a desert I was bound to traverse,
Seeking to find the old familiar faces.
Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother,
Why wert not thou born in my father's dwelling?
So might we talk of the old familiar faces--
How some they have died, and some they have left me,
And some are taken from me; all are departed--
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.
Scheme | xxA bxA xcA xda xxa cba dxA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111010 01111011011 11110101010 11110111010 101101111010 11110101010 11011100110 11011111110 11110101010 11010101111 1111111010 111110101010 1111101111 11010111110 10110101010 11110111010 11111011010 111110101010 11111011111 011101111010 11110101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 978 |
Words | 185 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 105 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 90 Views
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"The Old Familiar Faces" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5405/the-old-familiar-faces>.
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