Summary

“Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” follows an old man taking refuge from the rain beneath a tree. He remembers what it was like to sit beside a fire, surrounded by intellectual friends. Within his society, young people are up in arms around perceived social injustices; meanwhile, the speaker considers the way the passage of time has transformed him from the young man he once was. He remembers the women he has loved, even though he’s not much to look at anymore. The man feels resentful of the erosion of time.

Analysis

“Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” is a poem that jumps around in time. It opens in the present tense: “Although I shelter from the rain” (Line 1), before moving into past tense: “My chair was nearest to the fire” (Line 3). Immediately there is a visual juxtaposition between sheltering from the rain and sitting...