[436] When You Are Old
Guest poem sent in by JP Andrews <jpathomas@>
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
-- William Butler Yeats
|
(1892)
I will leave the analysis to someone better qualified than myself. All I
know for sure is that I love this poem, have loved it since the moment I
first read it. It was the first piece of poetry I ever sent my wife, back
when we were courting. She told me recently that she knew I loved her when I
sent her Yeats.
JP Andrews
From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh@>
On 24 May 2000, Martin Julian DeMello saw fit to inform me that:
> 'When You Are Old'
Reminds me of another favorite - "John Anderson, My Jo" by Robbie
Burns.
Robert Burns. 1759–1796
497. John Anderson, my Jo
JOHN ANDERSON, my jo, John,
When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonnie brow was brent;
But now your brow is beld, John, 5
Your locks are like the snow;
But blessings on your frosty pow,
John Anderson, my jo!
John Anderson, my jo, John,
We clamb the hill thegither; 10
And monie a canty day, John,
We've had wi' ane anither:
Now we maun totter down, John,
But hand in hand we'll go,
And sleep thegither at the foot, 15
John Anderson, my jo.
-s
Suresh Ramasubramanian + suresh (@) kcircle.com
Friday@ + http://www.kcircle.com
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From: Young524@
THIS POEM IS PROFOUND LOVELY LOVELY.
From: "Linh Burchell" <LBurchell@>
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From: Soapurr <soapurr@>
I love this poem, so tender and so sweet......... nice to know that love doesn't stop from beyond the grave.
"These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but *minds* alive on the
shelves." - Gilbert Highet
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From: "Catherine Rogerson" <heykitty87@>
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Love this poem....my humble interpretation</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>‘When you are Old’ presents possibly the most positive view of love out of all of Yeats poems, although it retains that bitterness that Yeats seems to associate with the passions of the heart. The language in the first stanza helps to create an atmosphere of reflection, this is suggested by the long, soft consonant sounds in ‘old’ and ‘grey’ and ‘full of sleep.’ There is a feeling of sleepy nothingness, where time has slowed to a standstill as implied by ‘…nodding by the fire…’ and ‘…slowly read…’ The reader gets a sense that the persona is at the end of a long lifespan and the time has come for reflection. The persona is described so expressively, as both a women (making the assumption that she is a woman) of innocence and softness (implied by the ‘…soft look…’ of her eyes) but also of depth, secrets,
sorrow and tragedy (implied by ‘…their shadows deep.’) These two qualities, although contradictory, together provide an apt representation of a full and varied life. However, the word ‘once’ after the ‘soft look’ of her eyes suggests that this quality has been lost, from what we can only speculate.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>The second stanza establishes a contrast between the love of ‘many’ and the love of the true love. There is a sense of childlike beauty about the persona, she has moments of ‘…glad grace…’, which suggests instant (‘moments’) sincerity and joy in living, and she is beautiful-although her innocence means she could be loved by those ‘false or true.’ Then there is the true love, who loved the ‘pilgrim soul’, and there is a real contrast here between the love of many, which appears to be only physically based, and the love of the one man who loved the inside. Moreover, he loved her no matter what mood she was in or what the circumstances, and this unchanging love is emphasised by the phrase ‘…and loved the sorrows of your changing face.’ All this adds up to a sense of a real and lasting love that endured the
changing of time and the hard times, as implied by the word ‘sorrows’, which carries connotations of hardship and pain.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>The last stanza is back in the present time with the persona and her fire. ‘Bending’ in this line suggests humility or submission, a final response perhaps to the book she has read and an acceptance of her past. There is a sense of calm resignation, the words ‘murmur’ and ‘a little sadly’ are quite soft and gentle considering ‘Love’ has fled. This personification of Love is interesting as well, and begs the question, has the emotion of love fled her life or her actually lover? In this way the last two lines can be read in different lights, the ‘mountains overhead’ could be referring to heaven, as it is overhead with the stars or could be referring to increased status or loftier pursuits which also ties in with the use of the word ‘stars’ (often associated with people of high status) ‘Stars’ are very far
away and there are a great many of them, which suggests to the reader that there has truly been a breaking of the love by a great physical or emotional distance. </FONT></P></DIV></div></html>
From: Bacardi52@
this poem in the end is not all that romantic. sure he is telling her (most
likely maude gonne- who rejected him a number of times- and then he went for
her daughter who also rejected him-hmmm was it maude? or did he marry maude?
well a girl who rejected him a number of times)
i digress- yes he is saying that he loved her for who she was, and not for
superficial reason like her beauty the way others loved her. but now she is
old and he still loves her even in her old age. but don't forget how it ends
"Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars."
his love fled- well... fled... his love was rejected in the end, and he fled
and watches her, in love with her, from afar.
so it is saying that he loves this woman whether old or not, and that he
loved her for the person she was inside, and it is saying that he still loves
her even though he watches from afar. but at the same time it is sad that he has
to pace the mountains overhead and hide his face amid stars instead of being
by her side in love with her.