When You Are Old - Poem by William Butler

Yeats
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.

SUMMARY

The speaker of the poem addresses his beloved saying that when she is aged she
should read a particular book which will remind her of her youth. She will remember the
people who had loved her grace and her beauty with either real or fake sentiments in
the past, and also that one man who had loved her soul unconditionally as she grew old
and the way she looked changed. As she is reminded of him, she will regret her missed
opportunity of true love.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In the first two lines, the speaker pictures his beloved as “old, and gray and full of
sleep”, “nodding by the fire”, taking down and reading “this” book, which probably refers
to the book that was to become The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and
Lyrics. The image evoked is of a sleepy old woman by the fire. The physical
appearance of the woman is summarized by the word “gray” – her hair, eyes and skin
have become lustreless and dull. The phrase “full of sleep” suggests weariness, peace
and her proximity to death.

As she reads this book, she will be reminded of the “soft look” and the deep “shadows”
that her eyes had once possessed. Here the poem gives us a glimpse of the woman’s
youth, going on to mention her “glad grace” which had aroused “true or false” feelings of
love in her lovers. The words “sleep”, “slowly”, “soft”, “shadows” suggests a sense of
stupor. The “shadows deep” evokes a sense of the unknown and the mysterious,
perhaps implying the calm retained by a person who has not experienced the bitter
aspects of life or the ravages of time – innocence.

As she remembers this, she will also remember that one man who had loved her for her
“pilgrim soul” and the “sorrows of her changing face” as her youth wilted into old age.
The “pilgrim soul” refers to the journeying soul, searching for a place of devotion,
moving through life towards the final significance of death and salvation. The line also
suggests the reverence the speaker feels for the beloved. This man loved her truly and
unconditionally. The “one man” here refers to Yeats himself since the poem is based on
Maud Gonne’s rejection of him, and is autobiographical.

The poem returns to the time frame of her old age and describes her “bending down
beside the glowing bars” and murmuring to herself a little sadly how “Love fled/ And
paced upon the mountains overhead/ And hid his face amid a crowd of stars”. The
“glowing bars” refer to the grate railings of Gonne’s hearth.The final lines seem to
suggest Yeats’ romantic heartbreak, disturbed and fuddled, yet attaining the magnitude
of the universe in his feelings.

The poem creates a subtle contrast between Maud Gonne, who having rejected true
love has dwindled into withdrawn domesticity whereas, the speaker’s love has become
absolute as a result of his faith in the dignity of the Heavens. The contrast is established
through the disjunction between the “glowing bars” and “the crowd of stars”. Instead of
hurling bitter allegations at her for not returning his love, he makes an unobtrusive
declaration of his devotion.

The themes of the poem are love, loss and regret and although based on the poet’s
own personal life, the sentiment reflected in this poem is common to most, if not all,
rejected lovers.

POETIC DEVICES

The poem is written in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme ABBA CDDC EFFE
which gives a steady rhythm to the poem. There is a use of alliteration in “glad grace”
and “Love” is personified in the last stanza.

The repeated use of the word “and” in the first stanza gives a slow pace to poem,
contributing to the stagnant atmosphere of the scene and the slow movements of the
old woman, as she turns the pages of the book.

The literary devices in this poem are not very complex, as the poem flows smoothly by
virtue of its simple rhyme scheme creating a sad reflective atmosphere which tones
down the warning conveyed through the poem.
All Things will Die

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.

One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call’d–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro’ eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare
O World! O Life! O Time!
On whose last steps I climb,
Trembling at that where I had stood before;
When will return the glory of your prime?
No more -Oh, never more!

Out of the day and night

A joy has taken flight:
Fresh spring, and summer, and winter hoar
Move my faint heart with grief, but with delight
No more -Oh, never more!

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake