Quote Analysis in An Acre of Grass

The stanza ends with a final description of Michelangelo’s mind. An eagle is noted for its strength and keen eyesight. Another word for eyesight is “vision,” which in the context of the poem means imagination and creativity. Michelangelo, his mind strong and his artistic vision flourishing, continued to create works of art until a few days before his death at the age of eighty-eight. The speaker desires to emulate Michelangelo until the end of his own life and not be forgotten.

The phrase, like the reference to beating on a wall in the previous stanza, suggests action and engagement, a sharp contrast to the passive acceptance that characterizes the speaker’s tone in the first two stanzas.

The first reference to aging focuses on the physical, the speaker’s body. The word “goes” echoes the implication of loss in the first line.

The beginning of the poem has been interpreted in numerous ways, but the significance lies in what it implies: other things, whatever they are, have not remained; they are now gone. “Picture and book” may refer to specific possessions important to the speaker, or they may have symbolic meaning, such as the speaker’s continuing interest in the arts.