Analysis of Antique Song

Leonard Cohen 1934 (Westmount) – 2016 (Los Angeles, California)



Too old, too old to play the part,
Too old, God only knows!
I’ll keep the little silver heart,
The red and folded rose.

And in the arms of someone strong
You’ll have what we had none.
I’ll finish up my winter song
For you. It’s almost done.

But oh! the kisses that we kissed,
That swept me to the shore
Of seas where hardly I exist,
Except to kiss you more.

I have the little silver heart,
The red and folded rose.
The one you gave me at the start,
The other at the close.

He waited for you all night long.
Go run to him, go run.
I’ll finish up my winter song,
For you. It’s almost done.

**     **     **     **     **

The last poem written by Leonard Cohen


Scheme abaB cdCD efef aBax cdCD d
Poetic Form
Metre 11111101 111101 11010101 010101 0001111 111111 11011101 11111 11010111 111101 11110101 011111 11010101 010101 01111101 010101 11011111 111111 11011101 11111 1 01101011010
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 648
Words 132
Sentences 14
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 1
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 67
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on July 28, 2020

Modified on April 26, 2023

39 sec read
410

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen was a highly gifted and varied writer — novelist, playright, songwriter and poet. He was already quite famous as a poet before embarking on a music career as a singer-songwriter. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and his songs have been recorded by countless other performers. Born in Montreal, Canada, in 1934, Cohen had a long and productive career. He was working right up to his death, in 2016 at the age of 82. more…

All Leonard Cohen poems | Leonard Cohen Books

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