Analysis of the Poem, "To a Poet that Died Young"

Minstrel, what have you to do
With this man that, after you, (2-3)
Sharing not your happy fate,
Sat as England's Laureate? (4)
Vainly, in these iron days,
Strives the poet in your praise, ((5 - 6)
Minstrel, by whose singing side (7)
Beauty walked, until you died. (8-9)

Still, though none should hark again,
Drones the blue-fly in the pane, (10-11-12)
Thickly crusts the blackest moss,
Blows the rose its musk across,
Floats the boat that is forgot (13)
None the less to Camelot. (14)

Many a bard's untimely death (15-16)
Lends unto his verses breath;
Here's a song was never sung; (17-18)
Growing old is dying young. (19-20)
Minstrel, what is this to you:
That a man you never knew,
When your grave was far and green, (21-22)
Sat and gossiped with a queen.

Thalia knows how rare a thing (23-24)
Is it, to grow old and sing,
When the brown and tepid tide (25-26)
Closes in on every side.
Who shall say if Shelley's gold (27-28)
Had withstood it to grow old?

An analysis of the above poem. Numbers are for the lines as I have them in the analysis, to help you find where I am in each instance. Since this is written to a poet that died young, most dialogue is to that poet.

Analysis:

The minstrel, in this poem, has to be the poet that died young. The narrator speaks of "this man that after you, sharing not your happy fate(2-3)." Why does the narrator say "sharing not your happy fate?" Why does he figure the poet that died young had a happy fate? Is death a happy fate? Also, "Sat as England's Laureate, (4)" - must also be in reference to the subject poet that died young.

In the fifth line, "Vainly in these iron days, strives the poet in your praise (line 5, 6)." - Is the narrator speaking of 'hard' or 'difficult' days (iron days)? The last two lines of the first stanza are quite clear, "Minstrel, by whose singing side/ Beauty walked, until you died (lines 7, 8)." - Here, the narrator is addressing the subject 'Poet,' and telling him how his poetry writing was 'beautiful until he died.' What was written before he died will continue to be beautiful.

"Still, though none should hark again," (line 9) - This tends to show us that no one will follow the poetic style of the 'poet,' (the author of the original poem). Also "Drones the blue-fly in the pane/ Thickly crusts the blackest moss/ Blows the rose its musk across (lines 10, 11, 12)." Why does the narrator mention a boat that is forgot, floats none the less to Camelot? (lines 13, 14)" - Perhaps this is a metaphor for the 'poet's Heaven, where he now dwells. .

"Many a bard's untimely death/Lends unto his verses breath (lines 7-8)," - Here the narrator is saying that if a poet dies young, he often receives more publicity and readers of his poetic work, which gives his poems increased reality and believability. Readers take his work to a higher level of the arts. "Here's a song was never sung,/Growing old is dying young (lines17-18)." - If his song was never sung - this statement tells me the poem was never published, and no one has read it, or possibly heard of the work. The implication is that when one grows old, the effect is the same as dying young. The 'poet's' writing ceases suddenly after death, or gradually as he grows old.

"Minstrel, what is this to you: that a man you never knew, (lines 19-20)." - Since we have concluded the minstrel is the 'poet,' this statement suggests the 'poet' did not know himself in some way - or what he was about. "When your grave was far and green/Sat and gossiped with a queen (lines 21-22)." - If the poet's grave was far and green, there possibly was no thought or fear of his death, therefore, he gossiped with a queen, and death was unexpected.

Thalia is the muse of Greek comedy, and "who knows how rare a thing/Is it to grow old and sing, (lines 23, 24)." - It is rare for a poet to grow old and keep producing beautiful poetry through his later years, also to read them on stage. "When the brown and tepid tide/Closes in on every side. (lines 25, 26)." - In the darkness of growing old, as it closes in around the poet, how can he carry on? "Who shall say if Shelley's gold/Had withstood it to grow old? (lines 27, 28)." - Does anyone know if Shelley's gold (poetry)/withstood the time as he grew older? Possibly, the poetry he had produced during his life is withstanding time. Shelley died by drowning at an early age.