The Old Flute explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Art and Poetic Vocation

  The poem centers on the musician's relationship with his art, the loss of ability, and the gratitude for having created beauty.

• Spiritual Peace and Rest

  The speaker accepts the end of his musical life with quiet gratitude, looking forward to 'Death’s dim hall of silence and of rest.'

Characters to notice

• Unknown

  The aging speaker who reflects on his lost ability to play the flute and his gratitude for having shared in music.

• Apollo

  Invoked as the Delian Apollo, lord of immortal sound, winds, echoes, and the sea of melody, thanked for the speaker's brief participation in divine music.

Key passages

• “The time will come when I no more can play This polished flute: the stops will not obey My gnarled fingers; and the air it weaves In modulations, like a vine with leaves Climbing around the tower of song, will die In rustling autumn rhythms, confused and dry.”

  A day will arrive when I can no longer play my flute; my aged fingers won't work the keys, and the music I create, which winds like a leafy vine around a tower, will fade into a dry, confused autumn sound.

  The speaker foresees the decline of his musical skill due to old age.

• “Then let me hang this faithful friend of mine Upon the trunk of some old, sacred pine, And sit beneath the green protecting boughs To hear the viewless wind, that sings and soughs Above me, play its wild, aerial lute, And draw a ghost of music from my flute!”

  Let me hang my beloved flute on an old sacred pine tree and sit under its branches, listening to the invisible wind play a wild, ethereal lute and coax a faint echo of music from my flute.

  The speaker imagines a peaceful retirement where nature itself continues his music.

• “So will I thank the gods; and most of all The Delian Apollo, whom men call The mighty master of immortal sound... Him will I thank that this brief breath of mine Has caught one cadence of the song divine; And these frail fingers learned to rise and fall In time with that great tune which throbs thro’ all; And these poor lips have lent a lilt of joy To songless men whom weary tasks employ!”

  I will thank the gods, especially Apollo, the master of eternal music, for allowing my short life to capture a fragment of the divine song, for teaching my weak fingers to move in rhythm with the universal tune, and for letting my lips bring a moment of joy to those burdened by labor.

  The speaker expresses gratitude for having participated in the divine harmony of music and for bringing joy to others.

• “My life has had its music, and my heart In harmony has borne a little part, And now I come with quiet, grateful breast To Death’s dim hall of silence and of rest.”

  My life has been filled with music, and my heart has played a small role in that harmony; now I approach death's quiet, dark chamber with a calm and thankful heart.

  The speaker accepts death peacefully, grateful for the musical life he has lived.