Growing Old in Growing Old by Matthew Arnold and Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert BrowningContemporaries of the Victorian era, Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning wrote the poems “Growing Old” and "Rabbi Ben Ezra", respectively, to express their views on aging. Arnold suffers greatly, as he lives in melancholy solitude with his deteriorated body, helpless in the face of his moral and physical pain. Browning, a happier man , finds much joy in his age and comfort in the moral and spiritual strength that God gives him Indeed, while Arnold dwells pessimistically on the physical pain that accompanies the aging process and on the inevitability of. 'a cruel death, Browning devotedly expresses his optimistic view of old age and death as the God-consummated end of life's labors. Arnold's pessimism regarding aging leaves no trace. room for optimism. The reader immediately encounters this negativity, because in the first stanza Arnold notes, in response to his question “What is growing old?” », that aging implies “[losing] the glory of form”. The words “losing glory” imply a tragic and perhaps humiliating experience. Additionally, Arnold describes the loss of "the glory of form" as a moment when "beauty [gives up] her crown", a phrase that presents the reader with the image of a queen giving up her crown, while her time of glory ends forever. . Arnold gives the reader another disturbing image of aging in line twenty-four, when he describes himself as being incarcerated by his age with the image of "the warm prison of the present, from month to month with weary pain." The words "hot", "tired", "prison", and "pain" effectively describe Arnold's suffering and discomfort to the reader, simultaneously lending to his overall pessimistic point of view. Additionally, Arnold experiences a lack of sensation consistent with his age. In the fourth stanza he states that old age dies does not involve looking at the world with "delighted prophetic eyes" and a "deeply moved heart/to weep and feel the fullness of the past." Furthermore, he writes: “Deep in our hidden hearts / The boring memory of a change festers / But no emotion – none. » One critic agrees, saying that Arnold's age induces "emotional frigidity" (Madden 115). Another critic describes Arnold as having an “inability to feel” (Bush 50). As for the "annoying memory of a change," Madden adds: "There was always the memory of that 'different world' [that Arnold] had once known..." (115). Most likely, the "different world" that Madden speaks of is Arnold's youth, of which the poet has only a "boring memory," suggesting that Arnold finds no fulfillment or feeling in the memories of his youth..