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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMI GREEN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS

Poet Analysis

First Line: NOT 'A YOUTH WITH HOARY HEAD AND HAGGARD EYE'
Last Line: IS JUST ARRESTED GROWTH.
Subject(s): YOUTH;
NOT "a youth with hoary head and haggard eye,"
But an old man with a smooth skin
And black hair!
I had the face of a boy as long as I lived,
And for years a soul that was stiff and bent,
In a world which saw me just as a jest,
To be hailed familiarly when it chose,
And loaded up as a man when it chose,
Being neither man nor boy.
In truth it was soul as well as body
Which never matured, and I say to you
That the much-sought prize of eternal youth
Is just arrested growth.



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