When You Are Old

“When You Are Old” The poem “When You Are Old” written by William Butler Yeats is a poem spoken by an anonymous narrator. The narrator seems to be talking to a woman and refers to her youth and his love for her throughout the poem. In the first stanza, the narrator speaks about the woman being “old and gray and full of sleep”, this line is telling the reader that the woman is of older age. When the narrator says “take down this book, and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep” he is telling her to look back on her past as if she is reading a book of her memories. The narrator then goes on to say, “how many loved your moments of glad grace, and loved your beauty with love false or true”. This line is meant to remind the woman of all the men that loved her before. The men admired her beauty regardless if it was real or fake. The following line reads, “But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, and loved the sorrows of your changing face.” The narrator is now speaking of the only man who loved her along with her “pilgrim soul”. The speaker is saying that her soul is a “pilgrim” comparing it to someone who journeys afar, in relation, the narrator is saying that he was the only man that loved her while her soul drifted to find happiness and her beautiful appearance faded. In the third stanza the narrator says, “And bending down beside the glowing bars”. This statement is explaining that he is a prisoner of love and that his love for her is so deep and sincere that he will go through every obstacle to receive her love. The last three lines of the poem read, “Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled, and paced upon the mountains overhead, And hid his face among a crowd of stars”. These lines give the reader an image of his love fleeing. This poem has a simplistic structure and host an abundant amount of figurative languages. The poem consists of twelve lines and an “ABBA” rhyming scheme. The poem in all is just a matter of three stanzas. The poem’s repetition consists of half rhyme. Half rhyme is displayed line the phrase, “Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled and paced upon the mountains overhead”. One form of figurative language is alliteration. The form of alliteration is used in the lines “How many loved your moments of glad grace,” as well as, “and hid his face amid a crowd of stars”. In addition to alliteration, another form is personification. In this poem Yeats personifies the word “love” by capitalizing it therefore, making it a proper noun. Lastly this poem has an allusion. The allusion in this poem is when Yeats referred to the “Helen of Troy” when he uses the word “love”. This poem can be interpreted many different ways. This was one of his famous poems and is continued to be read in literature.