I Look Into My Glass

I look into my glass,

And view my wasting skin,

And say, ‘Would God it came to pass
My heart had shrunk as thin!’

For then I, undistrest
By hearts grown cold to me,

Could lonely wait my endless rest
With equanimity.

But Time, to make me grieve,Part steals, lets part abide;
And shakes this fragile frame at eve
With throbbings of noontide.

The title of the poem suggests that it may be about the poet. The word glass means mirror so perhaps the poet is looking at himself in a mirror.

 The layout shows the composition consists of twelve lines arranged into a pattern with three quartrains rhyming (ABAB, CDCD; EFEF).

The poem opens with the personal pronoun ‘I’ in the line ‘I look into my glass’, which gives it a reflective and thoughtful tone and the pace which is raten slow. In this poem the poet revolves around the impact of ‘Time’ on the human identity. The main theme is the contrast between his aging physical body and his heart which is still young.

In the first stanza the poet is focusing on the contrast between his ‘wasting skin’ and his heart. The speaker wishes that is heart could be as thin as the his old skin. In the second stanza the speaker states that if his heart had ‘grown cold’ (maybe the poet’s admiration was not reciproca) just like his body had, he would wait peacefully his death (my endless rest). While in the final stanza are split down the middle with the use of commas. There is a perfect symmetry as the two lines mirror each other, this emphasizes how there is a contrast between Time’s functions: ‘Part steals, lets part abide’. However time makes him suffer because his heart is still young while his body is fragile.