"When You Are Old" 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. | The iconic, highbrow Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin and from that moment onward was a zealous patriot of his culture, fascinated with both its spirituality and occult intensities. An avid participant in the Irish literary revival and leader in both Irish and British poetic evolution, Yeats was educated in London, but his heart belonged in Ireland. In the earlier period of his life his passion seemed to be for the theater, of which he was a great patron. He went on to found and work as a playwright for the Abbey Theater. His plays were often themed off of Irish fables or superstitions, the most well known being “The Countess Cathleen” (1892), “The Land of Heart's Desire” (1894), “Cathleen ni Houlihan” (1902), “The King's Threshold” (1904), and “Deirdre” (1907) all indicative of the playwright’s enthrallment with fables, and consequently mysticism. As he continued to write into the 1900’s however, Yeats style took a dramatic turn becoming principally poetic as well as passive and abstrusive, and his plays become orientated towards small audiences with copious focus on dance, music and masks taking inspiration from the Japanese Noh plays. Despite his vehement Irish pride, Yeats deeply opposed many aspects of the Nationalist movement; including its grudges and prejudice, and he channeled these emotions through his compositions and during his two term appointment to the Irish Senate. Many consider Yeats to be one the unusual writers whose greatest pieces were published after they were awarded the Nobel prize, because of the awards limited recognition of his poetical genius and primary focus on his theatrical accomplishments, which most as paled beside his myriad of lyrical works. Such productions encompass his volumes: |
appWilliam Butler Yeats was a skilled and influential writer, possessed of both a both a clever mind and charming voice. His poetry proved to some of last great works during the Romantic era, particularly his early works which were heavily influenced by the greatest poets of the genre such as Spenser, Shelley and the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. But as Yeats aged his works became more blatantly realistic, renouncing the amorous mysticism of his earlier works. Yeats proved to be one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th |
The subject of Yeats’s poem was a undying love that has been rebuffed, Yeats’s verse is tinged with acrimonious heartache. Prideful and condemned to his lonesome fate, Yeats ruminates that in the end the woman who left him on his own with come to regret her decision. The poem seems to be spoken from Yeat’s mouth to the woman who is the subject of unrequited adoration. He begins by illustrating the image of an old woman asleep by the fire, addressing her now, he tells her that when she has become aged, wrinkled, with grey hair and a permanently tired existence: “When you are old and grey and full of sleep,” she will take down a certain book off herself, this certain book, which many believe to be “The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics” this volume will remind her of her younger days,
“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;”.
Yeats claims that this novel will cause her reminisce over her youthful days, when her eyes were alight with a soft look, and contained deep shadows. when she was loved for her decorum and visual elegance with compliment both authentic and feigned from both lovers and friends.
“How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,”
In this time there was a man who loved her genuinely and unconditionally for who she was, and through her every change in appearance his love did not falter. There is reverence in the way Yeat's refers to her “pilgrim soul,” a deep seated amalgamation of yearning and wonder at its evolution; he describes it as a traveler in search of a place where they can finally be truly appreciated, moving through life with a final destination solely, that of the a yet undetermined mortal fate to heaven or hell.
“But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;”
This man seems to be a subtle reference to the speaker himself. Now refraining from the themes of eternity, Yeats returns to the impending mortality of the old woman. As she bends down beside her hearth fire’s grate, “And bending down beside the glowing bars,” Yeats assures she will regret having cast aside this adoration, whispering softly to herself as old women do, she will “Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled,” for what could have a true, passionate and unadulterated romance is now lost forever. Yeats argues she will have lost her opportunity for true love, allowing it to now escape her entirely as impossible to capture as one of the millions of stars above. The final two lines describe Yeat's heartbreak and humiliation, which are as vast and inexpressible as the the universe, and as immense and dangerous as the highest “mountains overhead”, unable to face her again he will “hid[e] his face amid a crowd of stars.” Left lost and distracted by the magnitude of his passions.
A distinction is created between the dwindling glory of Maud Gonne and the ever growing divine radiance that is Yeats's description of his affection for her. For as Maude slowly become ancient, and inches towards decrepit through a placid domestic existence, the speaker’s love becomes a celestial power as resolute and transcendental as the boundless sky. The grand difference between the two subjects is most well defined by the rhyming pair the “glowing bars” and “the crowd of stars” one is meant to seem domiciliary and mundane, whereas the later is both mystical and omnipotent, exalted beyond compare. Yeat’s description of his lover’s fading beauty seems shallow and imperious, the way he is so convinced of her later regret over her rejection of him, and the way her existence has become so mundane for lack of him suggests a sour grudge, too prideful to accept the rejection lying down or express his love in a pure fashion, untainted by false prophecies, Yeats condemn the life of his lover when without him.
The tone of this poem is romantic, but not pure, this amour is not true but damaged and lustful, stripped of it’s counterpart, it is left caustic and brooding. Hiding the magnitude of his agony in pride and deluded predictions of grandeur for himself and anguish for the lady. Yeat’s presents a broken gentlemen, but his emotions are raw and authentic, and the situation, which is one he has experienced firsthand, is open: one all forsaken suitors will recognize and associate with.
Perhaps William Butler Yeats was a little too human for many, too faulted and proud, but his manner aside he was brilliant poet. He uses iambic pentameter masterfully, and demonstrates a flawless and effective ABBA CDDC EFFE rhyme scheme lending his poem both organized balance and cadence. His is diverse using a little alliteration here with “glad grace,” and a dash of personification there with his description of “Love”’s flight in the last stanza. Repetition is also used, though it may seem trivial the reciprocation of the word “and” in the first stanza creates a dull and drained atmosphere lit only by a dancing fire and recollections, drawing out the gradual movements of the elderly woman. Though the use of literary devices is basic it is meticulous and compliments the tone, and basic form and rhyme scheme of the poem masterfully, effectively creating an ambience that is dark and melancholy with hints and intimacy and vengeance.
William Butler Yeats was born in Sandymount, Ireland it was both here and in London that he was first educated, studying poetry throughout his youth. He also developed a passion for the traditional folklore and mysticism of the country. Fascinated by these topics, they featured strongly in his early poems. His first volume is evocative of the past masters of romanticism, and it’s lethargic and balladic poems were published in 1889. Yet, the lust and experience of age turned Yeat’s poetry into verse that was more corporeal and pragmatic from the 1900’s onwards. Disregarding the romantic fantasies of his youth, he became focused on the tangible action of the candid man, and the detriments of the hidden personality, however his interest in the philosophical and cyclic theories of life remained.
Much more than a Englishmen born in Ireland, William Butler Yeats was not an ardent nationalist, however who went on to serve two terms as the senator of Ireland. Yeats was proud of his cultural heritage, and featured both the heroes and mythology of Irish folklore in his writing, this intensity was only rivaled by that of his self-image as artist. Yeats wrote with great tenacity in the individuality and quality, even superiority of his work, this often lead him to come off as an elitist. Though, this turned away many an admirer it is doubtless an essential aspect of Yeat’s style.
The ultimatum of William Butler Yeats’ work was to interconnects all depths and intricacies of human existence all the while never sacrificing verisimilitude. Yeats only ever allowed himself to write from personal experience or at the very least topics he believed himself to have experienced, this lead to a great deal of translation of thoughts through creative unification and connection. Yeats’ poetry was a slightly eulogized portrait of the poet’s own life comprised of his own earthly pleasures and concerns, conveying them vociferously through the ubiquitous language of his poetry. His literary achievements were grandly articulate and sustained mainly through his appreciable talents in rhythm and arrangement of language. It was this eloquent astuteness that earned him such praise from both readers and even more particularly fellow poets such as W. H. Auden (who famously celebrated Yeats as “the savior of English lyric poetry”), Stephen Spender, Theodore Roethke, and Philip Larkin. With such widespread and well-renowned admirers it is dubious that the popularity of of William Butler Yeats’ classic and confident style will diminish, after all if he himself was already convinced of his brilliance who are we not to be?