The Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peter
The Poem
The panic
of growing older
spreads fluttering wings
from year to year.
At twenty
stilled by hope
of gigantic success
time and exploration.
At thirty
a sudden throb of
pain. Laboratory tests
have nothing to show.
Legs cribbled
in domesticity allow
no sudden leaps
at the moon now.
Copybook bisected
with red ink
and failures
nothing to show the world.
Three children perhaps
the world expects
it of you. No
specialists effort there.
But science gives hope
of twice three score
and ten. Hope
is not a grain of sand.
Inner satisfaction
dwindles in sharp
blades of expectation.
From now on the world has you
Content Analysis
The content discusses the experiences of man as well as the changes that take place in the body at different stages of life. The fear of growing older is described in the first stanza as spreading like “fluttering wings.”
At the youthful age twenty, human beings are very agile and their aspirations and desires are high and are not disturbed by any factor. The body is healthy and free of any disease.
At the age thirty, man experiences a sort of pains and changes in the body system. No laboratory test could find the cause of the pains and the changes, because it is caused by the effect of old age. Man is unable to run helter-skelter again, “leg cribbled.” All forms of test to decipher the cause of the changes yield no result.
The people believe that a person should give birth to three children without any problem. The scientists here say a man is expected to live for 130years, “twice three score and ten.”
When old age sets in, as a result of these changes in the body system, man would not be able to enjoy the body; there would be limitation to what a man can do.
Themes
Agility: At the youthful age of twenty, human beings are agile to run helter-skelter. They are healthy and full of goals and aspirations.
Fear: This is the major theme discussed in the poem. As a result of the expected changes in the body system at the older ages, there is fear in the mind of the people.
Nature: Nature is at walk when changes occur in the body system as one is growing older. That is why the cause of the changes cannot be detected by any laboratory test.
Fragility: As human being becomes older; the body system becomes less active and the body is fragile. Man is not able to run helter-skelter again. This calls for the “Panic of Growing older.”
Dis-satisfaction: At old age, with the inactivity in the body system, man is dis-satisfied with the body, because they are not able to use it like when they were young.
Poetic Devices
Metaphor: In the first stanza, the panic is metaphorically compared with “fluttering wings” (line 3)
In line 13, the less active leg is called “legs cribbled.”
Repetition: “Nothing to show” is repeated in lines 12 and 20. This means no laboratory test can tell us the reason for the changes.
Antithesis: Two ideas are discussed in the poem; the youth and the old age; they are antithetical in nature.
Enjambment: The poem runs on line; one line leads to the other.
Language: The poet makes use of simple language and the choice of words is appropriate for the better understanding of the subject matter.