39

This is a poem in which the speaker excitedly looks forward to turning forty years old and the decade that lies ahead for them. There is a sense of optimism and excitement that runs through the entire poem, along with a celebratory tone. The speaker reflects on their life up to that point, splitting it into different decades and judging each one according to their own experiences. While there were bad times, the speaker believes that there are good times ahead. The poem is structured similarly to a song, with a repeated chorus, and this helps to add to the sense of celebration. In this chorus, the poet seems to be toasting the coming decade.

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39
Henry Lawson

I only woke this morning To find the world is fair — I'm going on for forty, With scarcely one grey hair; I'm going on for forty, Where man's strong life begins, With scarce a sign of crows' feet, In spite of all my sins. 

Then here's the living Forties! The Forties! The Forties! Then here's the living Forties! We're good for ten years more. 

The teens were black and bitter, A smothered boyhood's grave — A farm-drudge in the drought-time, A weary workshop slave. But twenty years have laid them, And all the world is fair — We'll find time in the Forties, To have some boyhood there. 

Then here's the wide, free Forties — The Forties! The Forties! Then here's the wide, free Forties! We're good for ten years more! 

The twenties they were noble, The bravest years, I think; 'Twas man to man in trouble, In working and in drink; 'Twas man to man in fighting, For money or for praise. And we'll find in the Forties Some more Bohemian days. 

Then here's the wiser Forties! The Forties! The Forties! Then here's the wiser Forties! We're good for ten years more. 

The thirties were the fate years; I fought behind the scenes. The thirties were more cruel And blacker than the teens; I held them not but bore them — They were no years of mine; But they are going from me, For I am thirty-nine. 

So here's the stronger Forties! The Forties! The Forties! And here's the good old Forties! We're good for ten years more. 

Summary

In ’39’, the speaker celebrates the life that he has lived so far, while also looking ahead to the next part of his life.

As the poem opens, the speaker looks at his life, aged thirty-nine. He is pleased with his current position in life, which helps him to look ahead to the next decade with a sense of excitement. Up to this point, he has aged well, and he believes that there are more good times lying ahead for him, despite anything that he might have done wrong in the past.

The speaker starts to look back on their life up to this point. His view of his teen years is not very positive. These were not a happy time for him. However, he dismisses this as something that happened long ago and is sure that the next decade of his life will be better. This will make up for the bad times from his youth.

Things started to improve when the speaker reached his twenties. He looks back on this decade fondly, as he remembers the times that he had in his youth. The idea of comparing the past to the decade that is about to begin continues here. The speaker hopes that his forties will bring good times, similar to those he experienced in his twenties. However, reading more into the content of that decade, there could be more to this. The speaker describes the years of drinking and fighting – the reader can interpret for themselves whether or not this really was a “good” time in his life.

His thirties were not a great time in the speaker’s life either. In fact, he believes that they were worse than his teenage years. However, he still looks ahead to the next decade optimistically. Throughout the poem, each one of these stanzas is followed by a repeated stanza that functions as a chorus. There are slight variations in each one of these choruses, but the overall tone and message remain the same.

By the end of the poem, the speaker’s faith in the next decade being better can be seen as optimistic or naive. The idea that things can be neatly portioned in this manner could be seen as the speaker putting too much hope in this as a way for life to improve. This is quite open to interpretation, however.

Expert Commentary

Insights by Giles Towler

BA (Hons) in History and English Literature from Manchester University

I found this poem to initially seem quite superficial, as the speaker looks forward to a new decade of their life. However, there are certain aspects of the poem that seem less positive. The speaker's strong sense of optimism seems, at times, as though it is quite misplaced. This can be seen as simple optimism, or it can be seen as a meditation on how aging should be celebrated, or it can be seen as someone who is not making active changes to improve their life and seems to be setting them up for failure.

Structure and Form

This is an eight-stanza poem that is written in a form that closely resembles a song. The stanzas can be split into two different types: those comparable to verses, and those which resemble a chorus in their repeated refrain. The verse stanzas follow the same rhyming pattern throughout, while the chorus stanzas differ in rhyme scheme. Each “verse” is a sestet with an irregular rhyme scheme, though there is a set of two rhymes in each stanza.

These stanzas make use of ballad meter, closely related to common meter, with alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. While Lawson generally follows this pattern, the poem does not strictly adhere to it throughout, instead treating the form as a flexible guide.

The chorus stanzas are more of a refrain, with the repetition making it seem like a chant. These stanzas are all quatrains. They are almost, but not quite, exact repetitions of each other – a few words are changed in each one. This structure gives the poem the feeling of a song, with the rhythmic verses and the chanting chorus. This matches the overall tone of the poem, adding to the sense of celebration as the speaker looks forward to their “forties.”

Literary Devices

A number of different literary devices are used in this poem to help create the celebratory mood while also giving the poem its sense of rhythm. The literary devices include repetition – especially anaphora – as well as alliteration, juxtaposition, symbolism, and enjambment.

• Refrain: The lines of each quatrain are repeated with only minor changes. The second line of each quatrain features the same two words repeated: “The Forties! The Forties!”. Through this, the speaker draws focus to the idea of approaching his forties, which forms the cause for celebration in this poem.
• Anaphora: In the fifth stanza, there are two lines that start with “‘Twas man to man”. In addition to creating rhythm within the stanza, this repetition also shows the competitive nature which characterised this decade of the speaker’s life. It demonstrates how he viewed the people around him as rivals.
• Alliteration: There are alliterative phrases such as “black and bitter,” “weary workshop,” and “with scarce a sign,” but also examples where the words are slightly more separated, such as the repeated “f” sound in “we’ll find them in the forties.” These repeated sounds add to the sense of rhythm in the poem, which influences its tone.
• Juxtaposition: Lawson uses this device as the different eras of the speaker’s life are compared with one another. Both the teens and the thirties are described in a negative manner. However, the twenties are depicted in a more positive light. The negative times of the past are also compared with the positivity that the man feels toward the forties. It helps to add to the sense of anticipation.
• Symbolism: This is used to represent the different parts of the speaker’s life, as well as the effects of age. The lack of gray hairs or crows’ feet shows endurance despite the passage of time and his struggles. The “drudge” and “drought” of his teenage years symbolize how hard he found life during this era. By describing the times when he went “man to man” with others, it symbolizes both a competitive and boisterous time, but also a time of being close to others. The forties represent hope for renewal and a brighter future.
• Enjambment: Lines such as “The thirties were more cruel / And blacker than the teens” feature the use of enjambment. It helps to add to the sense of rhythm in the poem by keeping the lines a consistent length, but also letting them flow from one line to the next.

Themes

Aging is one of the central themes of this poem. The speaker reflects upon the passage of his life as a new decade is about to begin for him. He looks at the changes that the years have brought him and seems pleased that he has lasted as well as he has. As a result, endurance could be seen as another important theme: the speaker looks back at the hard years but sees that he has come through them.

Self-reflection is another major theme in this poem. The speaker splits his life into different decades and considers the suffering that he endured at different times. He thinks that better times lie ahead, and this optimism is something that can be seen throughout the poem. It could be argued that self-awareness is another theme, as the speaker displays some reflective behaviour. However, the reader could question whether he misses some truths about his life. Whether or not his reflections on his life are realistic, the celebratory tone of the poem gives it an overall feeling of optimism. This optimism could be seen as a desire for a new start, which he believes will come in his forties.

Detailed Analysis

Lines 1-4

I only woke this morning

To find the world is fair —

I’m going on for forty,

With scarcely one grey hair;

At the start of the poem, the speaker makes it seem as though what has occurred is something deceptively simple. By stating that he “only” woke that morning to find the world a fair place, he makes it sound simplistic, but the idea seems more profound than this and it provides the basis for the poem.

The idea of waking can also be seen as a symbolic awakening. While it could be interpreted as waking from sleep with a renewed perspective, it could also mean that the speaker awoke in his mind to a new way of looking at things, coming out of negative feelings. This idea seems to make sense considering the way that the speaker describes his thirties – the decade that he is currently in. He has awakened in his mind to the realization that this decade is almost over, and the next decade will be a new day – a new awakening – for him.

By seeing the world as “fair,” the speaker has a positive outlook. The obvious inference here is that he finds the world a beautiful place. However, it could also be seen as the world being a just place. If he came to the conclusion that there is some kind of justness and balance in the world, this would make sense for the descriptions in the stanzas that follow. His teen years were not good, but his twenties were. His thirties were even worse than his teens, and now he is looking to the next decade, with hope that it will balance the negativity of his thirties.

The “fair” nature of the world could also be reflected in the speaker’s aging, as he notes that he has “scarcely one grey hair”. This is about more than just his physical appearance – it is a way of stating that he has survived the trials and tribulations of life. Whatever turbulent times he has endured, he has not allowed them to have a lasting impact on him.

Lines 5-8

I’m going on for forty,

Where man’s strong life begins,

With scarce a sign of crows’ feet,

In spite of all my sins.

The line “I’m going on for forty” is repeated twice within this stanza, which reinforces the speaker’s upbeat tone. He believes that this is where a “man’s strong life begins”, which suggests optimism for the future.

Throughout the poem, it becomes apparent that the speaker has endured some difficult years, and is ready for a new start at forty. He describes this as a “strong life”, which is an interesting way to express it. It is not a “happy life,” but a “strong” one that he hopes for. Considering how he discusses his twenties later in the poem, it hints at a combative nature, as though it is not a quiet and peaceful life that he desires.

Crows’ feet are another sign of aging; the speaker does not have many of these, which works in conjunction with the scarce appearance of “grey hairs” to indicate that he has aged gracefully. He characterises these signs of aging are a sign of “sins”, perhaps reflecting one’s guilt and stress. Rather than welcoming his lack of aging as evidence of a good life, he regards their absence as being strange due to the sinful life that he lived.

By characterising his previous ways of life as “sins”, the speaker hints at some of the descriptions of his life that will follow. This is the first suggestion in the poem that his life was not altogether virtuous, and it is something that will be expanded on as the poem continues.

The final two lines of this stanza use sibilance in “scarce“, “sign”, “crows“, “spite”, and “sins”. This reinforces the idea of sinfulness, as sibilance is often used to allude to the snake in the Garden of Eden: a symbol of sin.

Lines 9-12

Then here’s the living Forties!

The Forties! The Forties!

Then here’s the living Forties!

We’re good for ten years more.

This is the first refrain. Most of this stanza will be repeated in later quatrains; if the poem is viewed as a song, then it serves as a chorus. There is a great deal of repetition in this part of the poem, and this shows the focus of the poem – “The Forties”. The use of a repeating refrain adds to the celebratory tone of the poem.

The start of the stanza shows the optimism that the speaker has for the coming decade. “Then here’s the living Forties” makes it seem as though the speaker is welcoming this new decade. By describing them as “living,” the speaker shows that he sees them as a time that will be full of life, not the drudgery that he has encountered in some other decades. This calls back to the previous stanza, where he stated that the forties are where a “man’s strong life begins.”

“Forties” is capitalized, showing the importance the speaker places on this decade. The consecutive repetition of “The Forties” in the next line makes it seem as though he is praising these years. The mood seems to be one of exaltation, and the hope that he sees in this new decade is obvious.

The first line of this stanza is repeated in its third line, once again showing the emphasis of the speaker on this new decade and that it will be a time for “living.”

“We’re good for ten years more” is an interesting statement: the speaker does not seem to have considered the previous decade to be good, so they are not hoping for ten more years of that. There seems to be some optimism here, but it could also be seen as a desperate hopefulness. Is the speaker hoping that the new decade will somehow bring about an improvement in his life? It could hint at some dissatisfaction with the way their life is going. However, it also suggests a passivity in the speaker: he is unwilling or unable to change his own life, so he merely waits for it to remedy itself.

Lines 13-16

The teens were black and bitter,

A smothered boyhood’s grave —

A farm-drudge in the drought-time,

A weary workshop slave.

If the first part of the poem was about looking to the future, the focus now shifts to looking at the past and comparing those years to the ones that the speaker sees ahead. The first stanza hinted at hard times in the speaker’s past, but this is expanded on in more detail now. In this stanza, the speaker looks back to his teen years.

Plosive alliteration is used to focus on the mood of those years – “black and bitter”. These were dark times for the speaker, which is vividly depicted through synesthesia. Both color and taste are attributed to an intangible measurement of time. Visual imagery contributes to this, as the color black conjures negative imagery: a time devoid of the light brought by hope or joy. Similarly, gustatory imagery is used in the adjective “bitter”, which reflects the speaker’s mood and outlook during this period. This contrasts with the upbeat tone of the poem that has been established so far.

The negative view of the past continues. The speaker feels as though his boyhood was effectively killed or taken away from him. It is brutally personified, as it was left in a grave and “smothered.” The speaker felt oppressed during this time, as though a weight was bearing down on him. The idea of the grave can be seen as both his childhood being taken from them and the oppressive weight of his life, as though he was being buried beneath it.

The speaker’s negativity about his teen years evidently stems, in part, from the requirement to work hard during these formative years rather than enjoying himself. He worked on a farm, and his work is described as a “drudge”, showing how unpleasant it was. By working during “drought-time”, the hardships and lack of reward for his work are highlighted. It wasn’t just the work itself but the conditions that he lived in, having to endure a drought.

Through the two consecutive compound words of “farm-drudge” and “drought-time”, the drawn-out and difficult nature of the speaker’s work is emphasised. This slows the reader down, with the consonance of these two phrases rendering them difficult to read aloud quickly.

Alliteration is used in “weary workshop” to add rhythm and to establish a relationship between the speaker’s weariness and the workshop in which he worked. These two things are inextricably linked in the speaker’s mind.

He describes himself as a “slave”, which is an example of hyperbole. He likely felt as though he was treated like a slave, with poor conditions, long hours, and low pay, rather than suggesting that he was an actual slave. This emphasises the “weary” nature of his teen years,

Lines 17-20

But twenty years have laid them,

And all the world is fair —

We’ll find time in the Forties,

To have some boyhood there.

Now, the more positive tone from the first stanza returns. The speaker has acknowledged the hard times of his youth, but is using them to look ahead to more positive times. It has been twenty years since that time – these are personified as they “laid” the speaker’s teenage years to rest. Just as he felt buried in that time, now he thinks the past is buried.

The speaker repeats the idea of the world being “fair”. Once again, this could be stating that the world looks fair or that he considers it fair in the way that things balance out – the bad times are behind him, and now there are good times ahead. The speaker goes on to explain how the past relates to the future that he is looking forward to. If he was overburdened by work during this time, he does not think that it will be a problem moving forward. He believes that there will be more time in “The Forties.”

Any childhood that he felt he missed out on as a teen due to how hard he worked will be balanced out when he has time for more fun activities – for “some boyhood” – in his forties. He uses the plural “We” as he refers to reclaiming this childhood: this could depict his teenage and adult selves as enjoying this “boyhood” together, or could hint at a chance for community and companionship.

Lines 21-24

Then here’s the wide, free Forties —

The Forties! The Forties!

Then here’s the wide, free Forties!

We’re good for ten years more!

The refrain is repeated with minor changes. By saying “Then here’s the wide, free Forties,” the speaker links this stanza to the previous stanza. The negativity of the decade upon which he reflected builds anticipation for “the Forties,” and now, at the start of this refrain, he shows his excitement for the coming era.

The only change in this refrain is where the speaker calls “The Forties” “wide” and “free”. This demonstrates his hope for a sense of opportunity and freedom he did not have as a teenager. He felt smothered and oppressed during this time, which serves as a striking contrast. A wide, open landscape is the opposite of the grave he associates with the earlier years – this change symbolises the changing attitudes he experiences with age.

Lines 25-28

The twenties they were noble,

The bravest years, I think;

‘Twas man to man in trouble,

In working and in drink;

The language in this stanza is interesting; on the surface, it seems as though the speaker regards his twenties as a much more positive time in his life. Although he attributes the adjective “noble” to these years of his life, the reader might find this to be an unsuitable description for this period as the stanza progresses. However, if there is some implied irony, it is subtle enough that the reader can come to their own conclusion about it.

The speaker considers that these years were not only “noble”, but he also believes that they were his “bravest.” However, he adds to this the clause “I think”, expressing a subjectivity or uncertainty about this opinion. Perhaps, at the time – buoyed by the confidence of youth – he perceived these years as “brave”, but as time has gone by, perhaps he sees them in a different light.

A competitive element to this time is implied, as the speaker judged himself against his peers. Whatever others did, he matched them “man to man”, with the repetition of “man” inferring a level of equality amongst them.

If the teen years were marked by the death of his childhood, here he sees himself as a man who could match other men. He seems to be boasting about the life that he lived during this time. However, the first thing that he was “man to man” in was “trouble.” This does not sound “noble,” which suggests that there is an ironic lack of self-awareness to his boasting.

The next thing that he compares himself favorably to others in is “working”. This contrasts interestingly with the previous idea, where he felt worn down and smothered by work. Now, he works hard and seems to take pride in it. There could be plenty of reasons for this – a new motivation, more enjoyable work, or better pay. The change in attitudes is not discussed, however.

One other aspect of his life is mentioned here, that he matched others “in drink.” This, once again, calls into doubt the idea of his life being “noble” if he was drinking enough alcohol to match any other man. This could hint at a reason for him working hard, however, as if drinking represents fun and socialising, then that could motivate him to work hard to afford it. Unlike his teenage years, his life throughout his twenties was more than just work. The alcohol consumption could also have been a cause of the “trouble” as well.

This also helps to make sense of him seeing this time as “noble” and “brave.” The reader is seeing things from the speaker’s perspective as he looks back. At the time, while drinking, he could have looked at their life in this way due to the alcohol. This could also be a way to show the irony of it, that the speaker’s boasting is demonstrating the way that he saw himself at the time, even if the reality might seem different when the reader reads the description and draws their own conclusions.

Lines 29-32

‘Twas man to man in fighting,

For money or for praise.

And we’ll find in the Forties

Some more Bohemian days.

The idea of the speaker being “man to man” with others continues. By repeating this phrase, the speaker shows that his focus was on being as good or better than others. It highlights his competitive side. Now, he is boasting about his ability to fight well. Once again, the reader is being shown something that would not be considered “noble.” However, the speaker seems to see some merit in it. The image being presented is of a decade of drunken and chaotic behavior.

The speaker also boasts about his ability to earn money. This could be the reason for his different attitude to work. He is earning money and sees this as something to be proud of. He seems to take pride in his work as well, because he boasts about how he was praised during this time. If the praise was due to his work, then the pride he took in it becomes apparent.

He wishes for more times like this. Once again, he is looking ahead to the future. Before, he was hoping for something that he never really had – the fun of his teen years. Now, he looks back with a sense of nostalgia and wants a return to that. He seems to accept that these days were not conventional, seeing them as “Bohemian”. It is interesting that he has presented an image of someone who was drunk and poorly behaved, but seems to see this as a positive thing.

Lines 33-36

Then here’s the wiser Forties!

The Forties! The Forties!

Then here’s the wiser Forties!

We’re good for ten years more.

The speaker returns to the refrain. As before, there is one change made: now, the speaker calls the forties “wiser Forties”. This seems to suggest that he is acknowledging that the twenties, which he was so full of praise for, were not a time when he was wise. The behavior that he has described, while he seems to have enjoyed it, does not suggest wisdom. Therefore, while he has hoped for more of the good times of the twenties, he seems to acknowledge that they should be tempered with some of the wisdom that comes with age. He wants to have the same fun, but thinks that those times will be better with wisdom.

Lines 37-40

The thirties were the fate years;

I fought behind the scenes.

The thirties were more cruel

And blacker than the teens;

This stanza moves on to the next decade of the speaker’s life, in which he discusses “The thirties”. These were not good years for the speaker, much like his teen years. The dark and heavy weight of these years are reflected in their characterization as the “fate years.” Perhaps he sees the harder years as a consequence of the fun times and misbehaving of his twenties, or the speaker may think that things in his life went wrong due to fate in some undefined way.

The speaker “fought behind the scenes”, suggesting that his struggles were not public. It is not clear who he fought against: he could have been fighting battles that were metaphorical, such as a struggle with his mental health. This could represent some early kind of midlife crisis as the speaker struggles with his identity, headspace, money, or station in life.

These fights seem unlikely to have been physical fights, but they provide an interesting contrast with the fights of his twenties, when he boasted about his ability to fight. Now, they are confined to behind the scenes”. These seem to be different kinds of struggles.

Comparing this decade to the teen years, the speaker sees the thirties as being worse. This would make them the worst decade that he has experienced thus far. Considering this is the decade that he is currently living in, this could explain his optimism toward the forties – he is placing all of his hope in the next decade to be better.

The speaker uses personification here, calling the decade itself “cruel” as the speaker fights it. This seems as though he is going back to the idea mentioned earlier in the stanza of “fate.” He seems to blame the decade itself for his problems. This may indicate a reluctance to take accountability for the progression and state of his own life.

The speaker described the teen years as “black”, but the thirties are compared with them and called even “blacker”. This comparison shows just how bad they were, even if the speaker does not expand on the reasons why they were so negative, other than to say that he “fought”. This reluctance to describe his thirties indicates how raw these memories are, as he is only about to leave them. As such, the seriousness of these trials is heavily implied, with his unhappiness seemingly peaking in this decade.

Lines 41-44

I held them not but bore them —

They were no years of mine;

But they are going from me,

For I am thirty-nine.

The speaker did not embrace these years – he “held them not”, instead, he “bore them”, a distinction which suggests the weight of these years.

Compared to the joy that he seemed to feel in his twenties, his attitude to this decade was much more stoic. He “bore them,” accepting that they had to be endured. The hardships of his teens could have set him up to accept that these things have to be worked through, no matter how hard they are. The twenties were better than the teen years, and this explains why he is now so hopeful for the forties, thinking that they will be better. Like the stanzaic structure throughout, the decades must certainly alternate.

He rejects these years, claiming that they were not his years. This appears to be another sign of his belief in fate: these years were not “mine”, thereby implying that his forties will be. He is putting his faith in this idea that things will turn around and that whatever bad luck he seems to have will simply change.

Throughout the poem, the speaker depicts himself as not responsible for the way his life goes. This lack of responsibility could be seen as making his hope for a better decade somewhat futile. If he is not willing to make the changes to improve his life, relying instead on the passing into another decade, his life could simply continue as it has done. This adds a less positive tone to the poem, if the reader thinks of it this way.

The idea of a lack of responsibility is more apparent in this stanza. They were not his years, and now they are “going” from him. He thinks that, as the years change, his life will as well – as the thirties go away, the bad times will as well. He states, matter-of-factly, that he is “thirty-nine.” There seems to be an element of expectation to the speaker’s descriptions of his life. He seems to take it as a matter of course that, when the decade changes, so, too, will his life.

Lines 45-48

So here’s the stronger Forties!

The Forties! The Forties!

And here’s the good old Forties!

We’re good for ten years more.

The poem ends with another repeated refrain. This time, the differences see the speaker calling “The Forties” “stronger” and “good old.” This can be seen as a final exclamation about how good these years will be, ending the poem on a positive note. Or, it can be seen in a more negative way: if the reader considers that the speaker is not taking responsibility for his life, then his hopefulness for the next decade seems to be misplaced. The reader can consider that this next decade will not suddenly improve. The speaker’s naivety regarding how things will get better can be seen as something that will lead to disappointment.

By the end of this poem, the reader can interpret it in either a positive or a negative way. It seems to be wholly open to interpretation. There seem to be clues about the negative results of the speaker’s thinking. However, there is nothing definitively negative, meaning that the poem can be read as optimistic.

The final line, “We’re good for ten years more”, conveys a hopelessness for the speaker’s fifties. This is markedly fatalistic, as he accepts he will endure another decade of suffering. The poem ends on a superficially joyful note, but this carries prominent undertones of hopelessness.

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