Mezzo Cammin By Longfellow

Everything Will Play Out In The End, “They” Said
“When I Have Fears” By Keats has comparable situations to the poem of “Mezzo Cammin” by Longfellow. Each of these poems are complex in their own way where there are contrasts in them too. Both the authors use similar style of poetic techniques, but have a different perspective on their situation and one deals with not accomplishing as much as possible in life, and the other not acting upon what they really want to do. One contrast between the two poems is that one is a person thinking about the present anxiously, and the other one (Longfellow’s poem) is an individual reflecting back at their past. Longfellow’s work is a consequence of what would happen if you don’t act upon your fears in an
Metaphors are actively present in this poem, such as “To build a tower of song with my lofty parapet”. This line here means that the reader wants to rise up in the world but can’t because a wall is halting him from doing so (parapet is a word that means a defensive wall on a building). Whether that wall would be because of reduced motivation due to old age, or people bringing him down, Longfellow is experiencing what Keats would if Keats would of lived on to say the least. To rise up in the world, Longfellow would need to skill his passions, but has cared too much what the outcome may be and does not act upon his fears, until it is too late (“But sorrow and a care that almost killed). Caring too much is a result of Longfellow’s inexperience of what he has done so far, while people at the same age of him have far more experience of what Longfellow wants to pursue as a skilled passion, rather than a passion that is “restless” (or stilled). The implications of these two metaphors influence the tone by it shifting from being jaded, negative, to something that is a determined and critical tone. Both of these metaphors are important lines in the poem and it outlines the author’s desires and reasons why they are not doing what they want to do. With Longfellow’s death coming soon due to old age, he looks back at the past and realizes it actually was very vast and full of opportunity; though half his life is gone, he still has another half to do what he wants to do despite his old age. The shift started at line 9, with the word “Though”, Longfellow is trying to think positively unlike Keats poem where it is mostly negative thinking. Longfellow is half way through his life, and still has another half to conquer that hill and finish the race with confidence, without looking back. This is the main