Poetry · Chapter
XII explained
The speaker contrasts youth and age, expressing adoration for youth and defiance of age, while lamenting the delay of a young lover.
What happens
The speaker contrasts youth and age, expressing adoration for youth and defiance of age, while lamenting the delay of a young lover.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the dramatic climax because the speaker reaches an emotional and psychological peak of self-aware torm…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Time and Mortality
The poem contrasts the vigor of youth with the decay of age, highlighting the relentless passage of time.
- Beauty and Transience
Youth is depicted as beautiful and fleeting, while age represents the loss of that beauty.
Characters to notice
- Youth
Personified as full of pleasance, summer morn, sport, nimble, hot and bold, wild, and adored by the speaker.
- Age
Personified as crabbed, full of care, winter weather, bare, short of breath, lame, weak and cold, tame, and abhorred by the speaker.
- Love
Referred to as 'my love' who is young, and the speaker longs for their arrival.
Key passages
“Crabbed age and youth cannot live together: Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.”
Old age and youth are incompatible: youth is joyful, age is worried; youth is like a summer morning, age like winter; youth is splendid like summer, age is barren like winter.
The speaker establishes the fundamental opposition between youth and age.
“Youth is full of sport, age’s breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame.”
Youth is playful and energetic, age is breathless and slow; youth is agile, age is crippled; youth is passionate and daring, age is feeble and chilly; youth is untamed, age is subdued.
The speaker enumerates the contrasting qualities of youth and age.
“Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee; O, my love, my love is young! Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee, For methinks thou stay’st too long.”
I hate old age and love youth; my beloved is young! I reject old age: hurry, sweet shepherd, because you seem to be taking too long.
The speaker directly addresses age and youth, expressing strong emotions and impatience for the young lover's arrival.
