Analysis Of Mezzo Cammin By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The poem “Mezzo Cammin” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is an Petrarchan sonnet that has an octave followed by a sestet. It explains the type of feeling the speaker is having with a main theme of death. The poem contains Longfellow’s self-reflective thoughts. He thinks about the passed time, past mistakes, his lost aspirations, his current situation and the hopes that he has for the future. He starts feeling as though he has not accomplished what he had hoped to by this point in his life, and he is somewhat regretful. He sees that he cannot change the past, and though he is as close to death as he has ever been, it is still far away and there is still time for him to fulfill more in life.
In the first part of the poem, he says, “Half of my life is gone, and I have let / The years slip from me and have not fulfilled / The aspiration of …show more content…
Longfellow regrets that he wasted the time that he was given and let it slip from his hands, being unable to accomplish his aspirations. Longfellow allows the reader to have a vague understanding of why he did not accomplish his goals. The reader then can make a thought of maybe it was neither laziness, procrastination, nor any other distraction, but rather a great sorrow throughout his life that prevented him from doing what he desired. Near the middle of the poem, Longfellow says, “Though, halfway up the hill, I see the past / Lying beneath me with its sounds and sight” (9-10). The poet changes the tone from being regretful to being hopeful. He receives comfort and gratification from looking at his past, however with all his mistakes looking back at him. Longfellow hopes to achieve his goals with his remaining time, but is fully aware of death coming nearer and nearer with each passing day.
John Keats’ “When I have fears that I may cease to be” is a English sonnet that forms three quatrains and a closing couplet. It’s main theme is death with it expressing the