When You Are Old’ is one of W.B. Yeats Essay Sample
Written in 1893 and published in the poet’s aggregation The Rose. ‘When You Are Old’ is one of W. B. Yeats’ ( 1865-1939 ) most popular verse forms. As with many of his plants. the verse form is influenced by Greek Mythology. In this instance. it is the fable of Helen of Troy. which inspires Yeats. ‘When You Are Old’ is believed to hold been written for Maud Gonne. the love of Yeats’ life. It is based upon a much earlier verse form by Pierre de Ronsard ( 1524-1585 ) . which was portion of the Gallic poet’s ‘Sonnets for Helene’ . The verse form is three quatrains in length. has an ABBA rhyming strategy and is written in iambic pentameter. Through clever usage of punctuation. and the repeated usage of “and” . Yeats manipulates the gait of the verse form and encourages the reader to decelerate down. The subsequent consequence. therefore. lends itself to the slower gait of life that accompanies old age. ‘When You Are Old’ is narrated by an anon. adult male. who is showing his deep and deathless love for a adult female who has. therefore far. rejected his progresss. Although Yeats ne’er makes direct mention to himself with the usage of the first individual singular. his usage of allusion leaves small uncertainty as to who the “…one man…” may be.
The first stanza. asks the adult female to see her hereafter and what her life will be like when she reaches old age. He believes that she will no uncertainty reflect upon her young person and lost beauty. “…the soft expression /Your eyes had one time. and of their shadows deep” . As alluded to above. it is the perennial usage of “and” throughout this stanza. which sets the slow and really calculated pacing of the verse form. This somewhat melancholy gap. is followed by a stanza. which asks the adult female to see her current state of affairs from the position of her hereafter ego. when she was “loved” . Interestingly. the word “loved” is used four times in this quatrain and implies that the many who “…loved your minutes of glad grace. /And loved your beauty…” will discontinue to be enamoured with the passing old ages. In the last two lines of the 2nd stanza. Yeats introduces himself and claims he is different from ‘the many’ . “But one adult male loved the pilgrim psyche in you. /And loved the sorrows of your altering face” . It is at this point. that the reader discovers the relationship between the poet and his topic. There is a tone of yearning and longing. as he announces that he does non merely love her for her external beauty. but adores her “…pilgrim soul…” with a sort of fear.
Furthermore. he claims that. because his love is non shallow. he will go on to her adore despite her “…changing face…” The concluding quatrain opens with the image of the old adult female bending by the fire. as she reflects upon the lost opportunity of love. “Murmur. a small unhappily. how Love fled…” The usage of “Love” is evocative of the personification of love in Greek Mythology. However. it besides allows Yeats to cite himself once more without utilizing the first individual remarkable “I” . At this point of the verse form. the reader might anticipate resentment or recrimination towards the adult female who has refused to return the poet’s fondness. Alternatively. Yeats suggests that his unanswered love will go on despite her progressing old ages. He suggests that he will ever be watching over her. “…amid a crowd of stars. ” ‘When You Are Old’ is more than merely another love verse form. In it. Yeats asks the object of his fondness to see a hereafter. in which she may repent lost chances of love. His intent may be to promote a return of his fondnesss. or merely function as a deathless reminder of his worship.
