Poetry · Chapter
The Death of the Old Year explained
The narrator mourns the passing of the Old Year, reflecting on weariness with life, change, and human failings.
What happens
The narrator mourns the passing of the Old Year, reflecting on weariness with life, change, and human failings. Through a visionary encounter with the dying Year, he receives counsel to embrace change as holy, to trust in divine guidance, and to hope for renewal and eternal life. The poem concludes with the spirit of Time being reborn, bringing truth and renewal.
Themes in this chapter
Redemption and Grace
The narrator is led home to God's heart, with the false self banished and Love triumphant.
Suffering and Purification
The narrator's weariness and sorrow are transformed through the dying Year's reproof and vision of renewal.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The narrator who mourns the Old Year and receives visionary counsel.
- The Master
Mentioned as being near during the vision of walking an ocean of fear and safety.
- Death
The Old Year is personified as dying and Death gathers lost things.
- Hope
Personified as a farewell figure who promises to meet again in the deathless land.
Key passages
“And change is holy, oh! blame it never; Thy soul shall live by its changing ever;”
Change is sacred and essential for the soul's growth.
The dying Year counsels acceptance of change as a divine process.
“I will meet thee again in that deathless land, Whenever thy foot shall imprint the strand;”
Hope promises to reunite with the narrator in eternity.
Hope's farewell speech offers comfort beyond temporal loss.