Derek Walcott's "Nearing Forty" was first published in his 1969 collection The Gulf and Other Poems, when the poet was indeed nearing 40. The poem can be considered autobiographical, as the speaker frets about aging and worries that his earlier work was "fireless and average." He turns for inspiration to John Figueroa, a man 10 years his senior and an important friend and mentor in his life. Figueroa exemplifies a workmanlike approach to poetry, advising that aging poets can either give into self-doubt or "rise" and "set" their "lines to work," no matter the result.

• Read the full text of “Nearing Forty”

• “Nearing Forty” Summary

• “Nearing Forty” Themes

  • 

    Disillusionment and Wisdom in Middle Age

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-32
  • 

    Poetry and Inspiration

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-22
    • Lines 23-32
  • 

    Self-Doubt and Cynicism

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-8
    • Lines 15-24
    • Lines 25-32

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Nearing Forty”

  • Before Line 1, Lines 1-5

    (for John Figueroa) ...
    ... a frosted pane,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-8

    nearer the day ...
    ... fireless and average,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-15

    which would be ...
    ... of occasional insight;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-19

    you who foresaw ...
    ... a louvre's gap,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 20-24

    then, watching your ...
    ... conventional for convectional;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-27

    or you will ...
    ... can really sleep,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-32

    measuring how imagination ...
    ... seems to weep.

    

    

    

    

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• “Nearing Forty” Symbols

  • 

    Rain

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4: “hearing this narrow, / rigidly metred, early-rising rain / recounting, as its coolness numbs the marrow, / that I am nearing forty”
    • Lines 12-15: “in pages stretched / plain as a bleaching bedsheet under a gutter- / ing rainspout, glad for the sputter / of occasional insight;”
    • Lines 22-24: “gauges our seasons by this year's end rain / which, as greenhorns at school, we'd / call conventional for convectional;”
    • Lines 29-32: “conventional as any water clerk / who weighs the force of lightly falling rain, / which, as the new moon moves it, does its work / even when it seems to weep.”
  • 

    The Damp Match

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 15-18: “you who foresaw / ambition as a searing meteor / will fumble a damp match and, smiling, settle / for the dry wheezing of a dented kettle,”

• “Nearing Forty” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “rigidly,” “rising,” “rain”
    • Line 3: “recounting,” “numbs”
    • Line 4: “nearing,” “nearer”
    • Line 7: “modesty,” “middle”
    • Line 8: “false,” “fireless”
    • Line 9: “which would”
    • Line 12: “pages”
    • Line 13: “plain,” “bleaching bedsheet”
    • Line 17: “smiling, settle”
    • Line 18: “dry,” “dented”
    • Line 20: “then,” “thin”
    • Line 21: “prodigious,” “plants”
    • Line 24: “call conventional,” “convectional”
    • Line 25: “set”
    • Line 26: “sadder,” “steadier”
    • Line 29: “conventional,” “water,” “clerk”
    • Line 30: “weighs,” “force,” “falling”
    • Line 31: “moon moves,” “work”
    • Line 32: “when,” “weep”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “rain / recounting”
    • Lines 4-5: “weak / vision”
    • Lines 6-7: “work / by”
    • Lines 7-8: “age / as”
    • Lines 9-10: “for / the”
    • Lines 10-11: “metaphor / that”
    • Lines 11-12: “wretched / in”
    • Lines 12-13: “stretched / plain”
    • Lines 13-14: “gutter- / ing”
    • Lines 14-15: “sputter / of”
    • Lines 15-16: “foresaw / ambition”
    • Lines 17-18: “settle / for”
    • Lines 20-21: “deep / prodigious”
    • Lines 22-23: “rain / which”
    • Lines 23-24: “we'd / call”
    • Lines 25-26: “work / with”
    • Lines 28-29: “imagination / ebbs”
    • Lines 29-30: “clerk / who”
    • Lines 31-32: “work / even”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “hearing this narrow, / rigidly metred, early-rising rain / recounting, as its coolness numbs the marrow,”
    • Lines 4-5: “the weak / vision thickening to a frosted pane,”
    • Lines 17-19: “will fumble a damp match and, smiling, settle / for the dry wheezing of a dented kettle, / for vision narrower than a louvre's gap,”
    • Lines 30-32: “lightly falling rain, / which, as the new moon moves it, does its work / even when it seems to weep.”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “nearer the weak / vision thickening to a frosted pane,”
    • Lines 6-8: “nearer the day when I may judge my work / by the bleak modesty of middle age / as a false dawn, fireless and average,”
    • Lines 9-10: “your life bled for / the household truth”
    • Lines 12-15: “pages stretched / plain as a bleaching bedsheet under a gutter- / ing rainspout, glad for the sputter / of occasional insight”
    • Line 16: “ambition as a searing meteor”
    • Lines 20-21: “then, watching your leaves thin, recall how deep / prodigious cynicism plants its seed,”
    • Line 22: “gauges our seasons by this year's end rain”
    • Lines 28-32: “measuring how imagination / ebbs, conventional as any water clerk / who weighs the force of lightly falling rain, / which, as the new moon moves it, does its work / even when it seems to weep.”

• “Nearing Forty” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Insomniac
  • Rigidly metred
  • Numbs the marrow
  • Pane
  • False dawn
  • Just
  • Bleaching
  • Insight
  • Searing
  • Fumble
  • Wheezing
  • Louvre's gap
  • Prodigious cynicism
  • Gauges
  • Greenhorns
  • Convectional
  • Elation
  • Ebbs
  • Water clerk
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Insomniac since four,”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Nearing Forty”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Nearing Forty” Speaker

• “Nearing Forty” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Nearing Forty”

• More “Nearing Forty” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Walcott Remembered — Read Walcott's 2017 obituary in the New York Times, which quotes his metaphor comparing history itself to an "insomniac night."

    • A Walcott Documentary — Watch a short film about Walcott and his twin brother, Roderick (also a writer and artist).

    • The Poet's Biography — Read about Derek Walcott's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

    • The Poet as Nobel Laureate — Read a biography of Derek Walcott, his citation for the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, and his Nobel lecture.

    • An Interview with Walcott — Listen to the poet discuss his life and work. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Derek Walcott

    • A Far Cry from Africa

    • Love After Love

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