Observation

Many candidates attempted this question. Candidates, from their responses failed to show an understanding of “pessimism” as most of them narrated the poem without pointing out the ageing process and its attendant problems and challenges compared to the younger phase of life.

Candidates were expected to discuss the following points:

• The feeble promise or start of an active life in the first stanza.
• The short-lived dream world of the twenties.
• The definite lowering of expectation in the thirties, as family responsibilities creep in and tell-tale signs of illness manifest.
• The reality of failure which is not compensated for by children one raises.
• The loss of self-worth and the resignation to the inevitable end of the ageing process - death.