When You Are Old by W B Yeats (Analysis & Discussion Line-to-line)

When You Are Old by W B Yeats

About the Poet

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 his 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 W B 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 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 spiritual.

Lets’ discuss the poem line-to-line:

Text of Stanza 1

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;

Explanation: 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 become 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 aging effect of the old age. It also creates a 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 as to how many of the young men loved her truly or falsely. After a 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 the life after death like Robert Browning, a great Victorian poet. According to the Oriental philosophy, human soul is immortal and leaves the body after death to take a 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.

इस स्टैंज़ा में कवी एक बार फिर कल्पना करते हैं और अपनी प्रेमिका को एहसास दिलाना चाहते हैं कि जब वे बूढी हो जाएँगी और एक अंगीठी के पास   थोड़ा सा झुक कर बैठी हुई होंगी तो अफ़सोस में कुछ शब्द बुदबुदा रही होंगी कि इस दुनियां से किस प्रकार सच्चा प्यार कहीं दूर ऊँचे ऊँचे पहाड़ों को छूता  हुआ कहीं दूर आस्मां में सितारों के बीच छुप गया हैl

अब उसे पुनः प्राप्त करना उतना असंभव हो गया है जितना कि आस्मां से किसी सितारे को तोड़ कर लाना l

The poet uses personification here to bring out the meaning about 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 hid his face amid the crowd of stars.

कवि यहाँ पर पर्सोनिफिकेशन का प्रयोग करते हैं ताकि वे यह समझा सकें कि सच्चा प्यार इस दुनियां में एक असंभव सी सच्चाई हो चुका है l वह अपनी प्रेमिका कि कल्पना के माध्यम से हमें यह बताना चाहते हैं कि सच्चा प्यार वास्तव में इस धरती पर रहा ही नहीं हैl कवि एक इमेजरी के माध्यम से बताते हैं कि वह तो ऊँचे पहाड़ों को छूता हुआ दूर आस्मां में टिमटिमाते सितारों के बीच छुप गया हैl

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. कोई भी व्यक्ति आस्मां से किस सितारे को तोड़ कर ज़मीं पर नहीं ला सकता l ठीक उसी प्रकार से सच्चे प्यार को इस धरती पर ढूँढ पाना असंभव सा हो गया है l मर्मर शब्द का प्रयोग अफ़सोस प्रकट करता है  जैसे कि कवि की प्रेमिका को सच्चा प्यार खो देने पर अफ़सोस हो रहा हो l

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.

यहाँ पर यह निष्कर्ष यह  निकाला जा सकता है कि प्यार को धरती से भागते हुए जो  एक तस्वीर कवि ने पर्सोनिफिकेशन की प्रस्तुत की है उससे कवि अपनी प्रेमिका को शायद यह समझाना चाहते हैं की उनका प्यार उनके लिए सच्चा हैl

If she did not accept his love, then, in the course of life, she would repent and feel regret for rejecting her true lover and she would be sitting alone by the fireside thinking how her glory of youthful days fled and how she proved herself foolish by not accepting her true lover, that would be as impossible to retrieve as are stars to be plucked down from the sky.

यदि उन्होंने कवि का प्यार स्वीकार नहीं किया तो आगे आने वाले जीवन में उन्हें अपने प्रेमी का सच्चा प्यार अस्वीकार कर  के पछताना पड़ेगा और अफ़सोस करना पड़ेगा l

जब उन्हें अपनी गलती का एहसास होगा तब वे बूढी हो चुकी होंगी और अकेली अंगीठी के पास झुकी हुई सी बैठ कर सोच रहीं होंगी कि किस प्रकार से उनकी शारीरिक सुंदरता गायब हो चुकी है और उसके साथ ही उनके झूठे प्रेमी भी गायब हो चुके हैं और वे स्वयं कितनी मुर्ख थी कि उन्होंने अपने सच्चे प्रेमी के प्यार को ठुकरा दिया था l और अब उस प्यार को पाना उतना असंभव हो गया है कि जितना असंभव कि सितारे को आस्मां से तोड़ कर लानाl

Q1. General Question: About the poet’s personal experience/ views revealed on love in the poem

Ans. W. B. Yeats expresses his views on true love in this poem. He believes in true love. He says that most of the lovers in this world believe in physical love. Physical love fades away as the beloved starts becoming old. This poem expresses the poet’s personal experience. He had deep love for his beloved, Maud Gonne. Several times he approached her and expressed his love for her. But every time he received rejection. In the present poem, the poet expresses his true love for her. He imagines that at that time, she would be old and sitting all alone by the fire feeling sleepy. Then she would recall as to how several young men used to express their love for her. But in her old age, no one was there to love her truly except one (i.e. the poet) who loved her pilgrim soul truly. Then her heart would be filled with regret.

The World is too Much with Us by William Wordsworth ( Critical Analysis & Line-to-line Explanation)

The World is too Much with Us by William Wordsworth

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.

Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

About the Poet

William Wordsworth was born in 1770 and died in 1850. He was the most fortunate of the great five romantic poets, who had a long poetic career and lived a long span of life. He was a great worshipper of Nature.

About the Poem

In this poem he laments that human beings have become more attached to material things. He expresses his deep concern over people’s growing love for worldly things. Man has become slave to the god of money, Mammon. He appeals to all of us to give up Mammon-worship and start loving Nature. At that time, industrialization had just started showing its impact on human minds.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

Word-meanings: 1. The world: here it means love for material things  2. Late and soon: every time 3. Getting and spending: while earning money and spending it 4. Powers: energy and potential 5.little: very less/nothing 6. sordid: mean, abhorrent, detestable, hateful dirty  7. boon: the thing that is helpful or a blessing for us

Paraphrase: In this stanza, the poet makes a strong case against all of us for our growing love for material things. We have made ourselves detached (cut off/separated) from Nature. We are every time busy in earning and spending money. We have no communion with Nature. The poet has used the possessive pronoun ‘ours’ for Nature. He means to say that God has created Nature for all the creatures on the earth. So Nature belongs to us and we also belong to Nature. We cannot afford separation from it. If it happens, harmful effects on the earth can be felt or seen. We have given our hearts to material things. It means we having started loving them.

 In our love for material things, we are wasting our time and energy. The poet calls material things a ‘sordid boon. He uses a paradox to explain as to what material things are in reality. Sordid means detestable, that is hateful. The word ‘boon’ means a blessing or the thing which is very helpful and beneficial for us. If a thing is beneficial for us, then how can it be hateful and mean?

Actually, the poet has used ‘too much’ in the title of the poem ‘The World is too much With Us’. We have a clue here to explain the meaning of the paradox ‘sordid boon’. It seems that the poet does not have much objection to people’s limited love for material things. Then it is a boon for them. But when they have crossed limits and got too much involved in their love for material things, then it becomes sordid. Hence the meaning of the paradox ‘a sordid boon’.

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.

Word-meanings: 1. Bosom: the front of a person’s chest 2. Bare: without any cover like clothes 3. Howl: basically a wolf or a dog produces howling sound. It is a long and sad sound. Here the poet wants to use this word for the sound created by the blowing of fast winds. 4. Up gathered: means huddled: This position is achieved when one keeps one’s legs and arms together 5. Out of tune: In music the person is out of tune when someone sings or plays instrument ignoring the rules of notes. People are not following nature, so they are out of tune. They are not in harmony with nature. 6. It moves us not: The poet wants to say that natural beauty does not move our emotions. We do not feel attracted towards Nature and it beauties.

Explanation:  In the above stanza, the poet creates a very beautiful word picture using personification of the sea and the moon. The poet uses a straight forward image of the sea in female form exposed to the view of the moon.

It is all symbolical.  The sea has been shown as the symbol of Mother Nature.

 The second image that emerges in the poet’s mind is that of the winds huddled together like sleeping flowers. Usually winds blow strongly throughout the day. They cause so much discomfort creatures on the earth. But at night they become calm and quiet. The poet uses a simile of sleeping flowers for the winds that have now huddled up together as if in the position of sleeping. The use of the word ‘howling’ creates imagery of animals like wolves and dogs. But the imagery ‘sleeping flowers’ softens the impact of the violent winds in the reader’s mind.

    “For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.”

The poet says that people  do not feel moved not only by  the beautiful scenes described by him in the previous lines but also all other beautiful scenes. They are now in disharmony (out of tune) with Nature.

 Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

Word-meanings: 1. A Pagan: A follower of ancient religion of Rome in which people believe in many gods and goddesses 2. Suckled: nourished, brought up 3. Creed: faith, dogma  4. Outworn: out-of-date, obsolete  5. Lea: pasture, open are of grassy land  6. Glimpse: a short view 7. Forlorn:   alone and happy Proteus: Triton:   wreathed horn: It is a conch –type horn used for blowing to produce a deep sound

Explanation:  After depicting beautiful word-pictures of the rising sea waves producing the image of Mother Nature to the view of the moon and also of the winds that remained violent throughout the day and towards the evening sleeping peacefully, the poet proceeds further to declare his choice. He declares that he would prefer to be a Pagan rather than be affected by the growing materialism in the world due to the first phase of industrialization in England. HE would be ready to renounce his religion ‘Christianity’ that advocates for only one God. He would like to follow the religion in which Nature is worshipped. This stanza reflects Wordsworth’s deep love for Nature.

    Thus the lines ‘Great God! I’d rather be/A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;’ means that he would like to be a Pagan than to continue following the outdated religion in which he was brought up.

   “So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,/Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;/Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;/Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.”

    The  poet imagines himself standing  on some open green piece of land near the sea would have the glimpses og the ancient Greek and Roman mythical gods Proteus and Triton. Proteus would be seen emerging from the sea and Triton would be blowing his curled conch like horn. In this way, he would not feel lonely and sad at all in the company of Roman and Greek gods.

Dear students, here this poem ends up; I shall come with a new poem next time and  till then have a nice day.

Sonnet XVIII (18) by William Shakespeare[Critical Analsis & Line-to-line Explanation)

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 

This sonnet is considered to be the most famous of all the sonnets written by William Shakespeare. The poet appreciates someone, who is not clearly mentioned in the poem.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: 

The sonnet opens abruptly with a rhetorical question ‘Shall I 

compare thee to a summer’s day?’ 

The next line ‘Thou art more lovely and temperate’ seems to be directly addressed to the person who is being appreciated in such a unique manner.

The poet is not taking any permission from the person addressed to, but it may be that the poet poses this question to himself just to give conversational tone to the opening of the sonnet. He thinks to compare his beloved (male or female) to a ‘summer’s day. In England, summer season comes for a very short time. One can notice beautiful flowers blooming around. So the poet desires to compare his beloved to a beautiful summer day. But then, suddenly, the poet changes his mind and declares ‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate: ‘

It means that the beautiful summer day has no comparison with his beloved because he/she is more lovely and temperate than a summer day. The use of the word temperate signifies ‘balanced’ or constant in nature.

In the next lines, the poet proceeds to prove as to how the summer’s day is unpredictable and not constant as the beauty of his beloved is.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
First, rough or strong winds start blowing all of a sudden and they shake off the lovely buds from the plants. Thus the beauty and loveliness of the summer day is ruined by the fast blowing winds.

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Second, the summer season is short-lived. As we know, summer season provides respite from the chilly weather conditions prevailing there in the whole region. It is like spring season which we enjoy in our country. Thus the poet adds second contrasting feature of the summer day.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines, 

Third, sometimes it so happens that the sun shines too much brightly in the sky. The poet calls the sun ‘the eye of heaven’. Here, we find personification of the sky and the sun has been used as a metaphor to intensify the effect of the heat on the earth and all the creatures on it. In simple words, we may say that though the summer days are very beautiful in England but their beauty and loveliness is sometimes marred by the heat of the sun. On the other hand, the loveliness of his beloved doesn’t have such limitation.

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

In the above line, the poet keeps on describing the summer day’s limitations. He says that very often the golden complexion of the summer day is dimmed when the clouds overcast the sky and the sun is hidden behind them. We must note here that the poet has also personified the summer day having loveliness and beauty on his face. That’s why, he uses the pronoun ‘his’ in the above line. If we assume that the poet means to say the sun’s golden complexion, it does not establish connection to the main thread of the meaning. The reason is that the poet has called the sun ‘the eye of heaven’. In spring season, the sun is usually mild and its rays make the face of the earth with all its beauty golden. But the poet says that the summer’s day, which is often golden due to the mild rays of the sun, is sometimes dimmed when there are clouds in the sky. We may also suppose that the sky is dimmed when the clouds hide the sun behind them. Thus the poet proves his point that the loveliness of a summer’s day is transitory.

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

After describing the dimming effect on the summer’s day, the poet proceeds to lay emphasis on the transitory nature of physical beauty on the earth. Beauty of every object on the earth fades with the passage of time.

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; 

The reason behind this ruinous nature of Time is by chance or it may be the unaltered plan of Nature.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
After creating a bitter contrast by describing the limitations of the summer’s day, the poet comes to the point. Now he says what he really wanted to say. He says that his beloved loveliness shall never fade. He calls it eternal. His friend will also never lose the qualities that he/she possesses. The poet further points out that Death shall also have no effect on his beloved, who will remain eternal in his verses.

 So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 

He further clarifies the thought of making his beloved above the ravaging effect of Time and Death. He says that his verses and his beloved shall remain in the hearts of human beings till they live on the earth. The people shall keep on reading and enjoying his verses and, thus, his beloved shall also be living in his lines.