William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin in 1865 and
died in 1939. He was a great Irish poet. He is considered one of the great
modern poets also. He began writing poetry at an early age and he was much influenced
by Spenser, Shelley, and a few Pre-Raphaelite poets also. He was awarded the
Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.
About the
Poem
When You Are Old’ is WB Yeats’ memorable poem which
deals with the theme of ‘love’ that is expressed by the poet in a very unique
manner. It is said that the great Irish poet, W. B. Yeats had immense love for
Maud Gonne, who was equally active in native politics. Several times the poet
expressed his love for her, but he was always met with rejection.
It seems that, while writing this poem, the poet
writes this poem keeping in view his beloved Maud Gonne, whom he continuously
loved and his love indeed met with a failure.
In the present poem, the poet tries to convince his
beloved that he was the only person who loved her from the core of his heart
and his love for her spirit.
In the above lines, the poet addresses his beloved that she should take down ‘this book’ and read it slowly when she grows old, her hair becomes grey and she sits by the fire feeling sleepy and nodding on some winter evening. The poet uses the demonstrative adjective ‘this’ for the book.
It means the poet means to indicate to her to read the particular book in which the present poem would also be there. He further suggests to his beloved that after going through the pages of the book of poems, she should recollect, as if in a dream, that her eyes once had the soft look and her eyes were deep and shadowy.
It means she had very beautiful eyes. The use of the
word ‘nodding’ shows the aging effect on her. It also creates beautiful imagery.
Stanza 2
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;
Explanation: In the first stanza, the poet suggests to her to analyse how many of the young men loved her truly or falsely. After deep consideration, she would reach the conclusion that all of them had physical love in their hearts for her. But still, there was one who loved her ‘pilgrim soul’.
The poet also claims that he was always sensitive to
the changes that went on her face from time to time. It shows the poet’s deep devotion
to her and is a testimony to ‘his true love for her. He knew when her face
showed the marks of sadness and sorrow. Only the poet was able to read and
understand even the minutest changes on her face.
The poet has called the ‘soul’ as a pilgrim. It means
that the poet also believes in life after death like Robert Browning, a
great Victorian poet. According to Oriental philosophy, the human soul is
immortal and leaves the body after death to take new birth. Thus human soul travels like a pilgrim to
reach its final abode, Heaven, the pilgrimage. This is what the poet wants to
convey to us by using the phrase ‘pilgrim soul’.
Stanza 3.
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.
Explanation: In this stanza also, the poet again imagines his beloved as an old woman who is sitting beside the fire. Now she is bending down the glowing ‘bars’ of the fireplace, and murmuring a few words of regret as to how the true love has fled from the world and become impossible to find.
The poet uses personification here to bring out the
meaning that true love is a rare phenomenon on this earth. He says that
it has left the earthly surroundings and fled by pacing upon the mountains. It
has hidden his face amid the crowd of stars.
One cannot pick up a star and bring it down on the earth. So it has become to find true love on the earth. The use of the word ‘murmur’ shows regret.
Here, it may also be concluded that by presenting the
picture of love disappearing from the earth, the poet means to make his beloved
realise that his love for her is true.
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