All about the ancient tribes
” When You Are Old ” is a poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. In the poem, which is published in Yeats’s second collection, The Rose (1893), the speaker asks someone to think ahead to old age, strongly suggesting that the addressee will eventually regret being unwilling to return the speaker’s love.
How does the speaker in ‘When You Are Old ‘ bring out his love for his beloved against the changing circumstances and ravages of time? Answer: He wants her to realize that physical beauty is transient and love of the fickle-minded will also be transient.
The many suitors who wanted to court her were attracted by her superficial beauty whereas this lover/speaker was attracted by her pilgrim soul, which symbolizes her inner self. These contrasts serve to build a strong argument to persuade the young lady not to ignore him now and regret later.
Explanation: The journey from youth to old age is well described in the poem ‘ when you are old ‘ in a way that touched the readers hearts. This poem says that when one start to grow old, all the troubles and struggles that he has faced will be seen in the form of his wrinkles.
The tone is cautionary – the’ voice’ in the poem is giving a warning to the person addressed that, because she has rejected the person who truly loves her, she may suffer a lonely old age. Question: What is the meaning of the line “and hid his face amid a crowd of stars” in the poem When You Are Old?
Major Themes in “When You Are Old ”: Love, rejection and time are the major themes of this poem. To express pure love, the poet invites her to have a glance at the time when she will be old and will not be surrounded by fake lovers. Therefore, she should understand his feelings toward her.
Answer: The narrator / speaker asks his lady love to presume that she has grown old and grey and is sitting by the fire nodding. Then he asks her to read from her book of memories and reminisce her past when she was in her prime youth.
He wants her to know that unlike others he was attracted by the beauty of her inner self and his love would remain constant even in her old age. He assures her that he loves even the sorrows of her changing face. Thus, the whole poem is the delineation of the intense feelings of a true lover.
The speaker wants his beloved to sit by the fire and reminisce her memories of the past.
Answer: The expression “ full of sleep ” proposes exhaustion, peace and her vicinity to death. As she will read this book, she will remember the “soft look” and “the deep shadows” that her eyes had once had. The words “ sleep ”, “slowly”, “soft”, “shadows” recommends a feeling of daze and stupor.
Answer. The poem reflects the sadness of the ‘voice’ at having been rejected by the person he loves. It is also cautionary – warning the person to whom the lines are addressed that she is likely to be lonely in old age.
The “ one man ” here refers to the poet as he is different from the others who loved the woman only for her external beauty but he loved her for her inner beauty and for her soul not for physical beauty. He proved that his love is true by waiting for her for a long time.
Mood is the feeling created by the poet for the reader. Tone is the feeling displayed by the author toward the subject of the poem. Example: Some words that can describe the mood of a poem might be: romantic, realistic, optimistic, pessimistic, gloomy, mournful, sorrowful, etc.
What is Maud Gonne reminded of in the poem? Maud Gonne is reminded of her youthful days when she was charming and energetic. She is also reminded of her only true love who would love her for her pilgrim soul. Others love was short-lived while as the poet’s love was persistent.
A pilgrim is a traveller. A pilgrim soul might mean a part of you that wants to travel, or it may mean that your personality changes over time. There is one man who loves that part of you. It’s from a poem, so the meaning is not really clear, and its not at all a common expression.