l be
shut in the street_: the general connection of ideas makes it inevitable
that the 'folding-doors' should be the jaws; clenched jaws are so marked
a feature in the skull that it is not difficult to associate them with
the picture of old age.--_When the sound of the grinding is low, and one
shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music
shall be brought low_: these must be taken together: appetite, speech,
and sleep are all feeble. Grinding must be interpreted as grinders in
the previous part of the sonnet: the loud or low sound of such grinding
may fitly typify the eagerness of appetite or the reverse. The early
waking or short sleeping of old age is well known. _The daughters of
music_ are the tones of the voice.--_They shall be afraid of that which
is high, and terrors shall be in the way_: the gait of old age is,
through physical feebleness, much what the gait of a person terrified is
for other reasons.--_The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper
shall be a burden, and the caperberry shall burst_: the three are linked
together as being images from natural objects, not because of their
symbolising similar things. _The blossoming of the almond tree_ probably
refers to the sparse white hairs of age. The name of this tree in Hebrew
is founded on the fact that it is the first to blossom; though not
strictly white, its blossoms may be called whitish: the whitish
blossoms, solitary while all is bare around, just yield the image
required. The grasshopper is evidently a symbol for a small object,
which is nevertheless heavy to feeble age. _The caperberry shall burst_:
the last stage of its decay: the failing powers at last give way. And
then follows the dropping of the symbolism: "Man goeth to his long
home."

So far we have had symbols for failure of powers; now for actual death
and dissolution. _Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl
be broken_: a symbol from the house-lamp of gold, suspended by a silver
cord, suddenly slipping its cord and breaking, its light becoming
extinguished. For bowl in this sense compare Zechariah, chapter iv. 2,
3.--_Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at
the cistern_: these are exquisite symbols for the sudden and violent
cessation of every-day functions. Compare the popular proverb: "The
pitcher goes to the well once too often."--_And the spirit return unto
God who gave it_: this by analogy with the previous line must be