The Panic Of Growing Older By Lenrie Peters

The Panic of Growing Older is a poem that can be categorized under growth and living. Its context is partly scientific and mainly biological since biology is the study of all life or living matters.

This poem is a creative effort of Lenrie Peters (1932 - 2009), a multi talented Gambian citizen who was widely known to be an author, a singer, a broadcaster, and to crown it all; a medical doctor.

The poem tabled the human sequences of aging and its accompanied fear. An adult in his twenties_ uses his one sided view of life, to occupy himself with sweet simple fantasized gigantic expectations until he clocks thirty and then reality begins to set in. All the simple expectations and hopes seem hard to attain while aging approach quicker than blinks.

With the sincere tone of the poem, a sober mood of realization is created through the 32 lines of the poem; in which the 8 stanzas are quatrains mostly linked by enjambments.

Stanzaic summary:-
Stanza 1 means that the fear of aging increases by year. Stanza 2 implies that one will be filled with sweet hope at twenty. Stanza 3 says the expectations began to wane. Stanza 4 adds more implication of growing older where one has long hours

of working. Stanza 5, little or no result for those hard works. Stanza 6; except have children which is not even a big deal at all. Stanza 7 speaks of the uncertainty of having a long life. Stanza 8 says that the uncertainty further makes humans highly unsatisfied in comparison between all that has been achieved and those yet to be achieved.

• Preoccupation Of Lenrie Peters In The Panic Of Growing Older

• Relate The Panic Of Growing Older By Lenrie Peters To A Stitch In Time Saves Nine

The Panic of Growing Older in Relationship to Religion:-
If we allude to the bible, procreation according to Genesis 1:28 which says "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it" can be seen from line 21-23 "Three children perhaps/ the world expects/ it of you". Hard labour and life struggles according to Genesis 3:19 which says "in the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread till thou return into the ground" instance of such can be seen in lines 13-16 "Legs cribbed/ in domesticity allow/ no sudden leaps/ at the moon". Mortality and death according to Ecclesiastes 9:5 which says "for the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten" such Bible verse can also be related to lines 25-28 in the poem "But science gives hope/ of twice three score/ and ten. Hope/ is not a grain of sand", etc.

MUST NOT MISS:-
>>>the Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peters
>>>Preoccupation of Lenrie Peters in the Panic of Growing Older
>>>Relate the Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peters to a Stitch in Time Saves Nine
>>>Factual Analysis of We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters
>>>The Use of Imagery in We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters
>>>Simple Summary of the Fence by Lenrie Peters
>>>Homecoming by Lenrie Peters

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Preoccupation Of Lenrie Peters In The Panic Of Growing Older

Lenrie Peters preoccupation in the poem: "The Panic Of Growing Older" can be considered as how some factors (time,ambition,hope,etc) affect the adult stage of human beings.

Lenrie Peters, the author of the poem, took age 20 upwards as his case study to show how the events of adulthood unfold. He revealed that a person begins adulthood with beautiful hopes:
"at twenty
stilled by hope
of gigantic success
and exploration"

Ten years later, one has gained the achievement of raising a family (which is not an achievement at all because such will surely occur as an adult), one becomes unnecessarily busy in domesticity that won't give room of seeing the moon, one begins to suffer emotional pains due to inability to achieve exp
ected goals. He puts it this way:
"Copybook bisected
with red ink
and failures_
nothing to show the world"

He further explains that the scientific prove of life longevity is uncertain because "hope is not a grain of sand" since human being can die at anytime.

The poem holds the following themes: (1)Uncertainty of human future and expectations (2)Varying challenges of adulthood (3)Personal and Public expectations of adulthood (4)Captivity of being an adult

The gigantic hopes that one have at age twenty are uncertain and at the age thirty brings emotional pains due to failure. Even the prove that one will live longer enough to achieve the expectations waiting to be achieved is not certain.

As one grows through adulthood, various challenges confront one's endeavors, affecting both the personal expectations and the public expectations (those things the world and the people around expect a person to achieve as a growing adult)

"From now on the world has you" shows that every adult is a captive or a slave to the world; one must impress with achievements to be regarded as a success.

MUST NOT MISS:-
>>>the Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peters
>>>Preoccupation of Lenrie Peters in the Panic of Growing Older
>>>Relate the Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peters to a Stitch in Time Saves Nine
>>>Factual Analysis of We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters
>>>The Use of Imagery in We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters
>>>Simple Summary of the Fence by Lenrie Peters
>>>Homecoming by Lenrie Peters

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring high)

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