When You Are Old

When You Are Old

by 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.

Meanings of When You Are Old

The poem “When You Are Old” by W. B. Yeats presents the rumination of the poet about old age and its activities. The poet highlights the main ideas of old age, time, love, and rejection.

Meanings 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;

The speaker, who is possibly the poet himself, talks about old age addressing his readers in the second person. He states that when you get old, your hair is grey, and you feel sleepy. Then you often nod by the fireplace with a book in your hand. You read slowly and dream of the lovely look of your eyes and their shadows. What the speaker presents is that old age brings various weaknesses, which include physical ones with an inclination to take a comfortable niche at home, read a book and think about the sharp vision of the past. This stanza adds to the main idea of old age and time.

Meanings of 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;

The speaker tells the readers about the moments when people have love with your grace, beauty, and everything. The speaker states it does not matter whether this love was true or false, but the people used to love him. However, one of them was the pilgrim of your soil and loved selflessly. He used to love the sorrows displayed on your face. The speaker tells the readers that among all the loves, there was one person sincere in his/her love. This stanza demonstrates the partial idea of love, old age, and recollection of that love.

Meanings of 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.

The speaker sees that the person now bends to tend to the fire. He also sees him muttering something about how his love left him. The speaker sees that the person has personified love saying that after it left him, it walked amid mountains and hid among the stars. The speaker sees that the addressee presents his case of how his love left him, by which he means that perhaps he lost his love to death or some other accident. This stanza presents the main idea of love, old age, and the transience of time.

Summary of When You Are Old

  • Popularity of “When You Are Old”: William Butler Yeats, a famous Irish poet wrote, “When You Are Old”. It was first published in 1893 and is one of the famous love poems. It comprises the poet’s eternal love for his beloved. However, its popularity lies in the description of the poet’s meditation on the catastrophic onslaught of time.
  • “When You Are Old” As a Representative of Love: As this poem is about love, the speaker directly addresses his beloved and invites her to throw her mind forward to the future when she is not attractive, beautiful, or glamorous, but a fair old lady poking by the fire. He asks her to recall her past youth and how many people would have loved and admired her for her startling looks and eye-catching features. However, he mentions that there was only one person who loved her sincerely despite knowing the transient qualities of her beauty. He adds that he could have been the right choice for her, but she rejected him. As their love would not last, and she would surely regret her decision for the rest of her life. What enchants the reader is the way he has drawn a metaphorical comparison to show his genuine love for his mistress.
  • Major Themes in “When You Are Old”: Love, rejection, and time are the major themes of this poem. To express pure love, the poet invites her to have a glance at the time when she will be old and will not be surrounded by fake lovers. Therefore, she should understand his feelings toward her. Throughout the poem, he tries to make her realize that her existing company loves her for her beauty, but one day she will grow old and regret lost opportunities.

Analysis of Literary Devices in When You Are Old

literary devices are tools the writers use to create meanings in their texts to enhance the poems or stories and connect the readers with the real message of the text. Yeats also used some literary devices in this poem to illustrate the meanings of love. An analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.

  • Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things with their five senses. He uses imagery in the poem such as, “And nodding by the fire, take down this book”, “And bending down beside the glowing bars” and “And paced upon the mountains overhead”.
  • Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal meanings. Here, “grey and weak and full of sleep” symbolizes an elderly woman. “Fire” is the symbol of fiery love she once rejected and “mountain overhead” and “crowd of stars” stand for things she knows exist, but she can’t reach them.
  • Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n/ in “And bending down beside the glowing bars” and “And paced upon the mountains overhead”.
  • Alliteration: Alliteration is a repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of the letters in the same line. For example, the sound of /h/ in “And hid his face amid a crowd of stars”.
  • Personification: Personification is to give human characteristics to inanimate objects. For example, “Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled”, as if love is human and it can move.
  • Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in a verse that does not come to an end at a line break; instead, it rolls over to the next line. Such as,

“And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.”

 Analysis of Poetic Devices in When You Are Old

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

  • Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in this poem, with each comprising four lines.
  • Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, each stanza is quatrain as the first one and the second one.
  • Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABBA rhyme scheme in all the stanzas.
  • End Rhyme: End Rhyme is used to make the poem melodious. The poet has used end rhyme in this poem such as in the first stanza the rhyming words are, “sleep”, “deep”, “book” and “look.”
  • Iambic Pentameter: It is a type of meter consisting of five iambs. This poem comprises iambic For Example, “When you are old and grey and full of sleep.”

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below can be used in a conversation when talking about the destructive nature of time and aging how ruination and decay is the part of aging.  These could also be used in a speech when talking about the transience of life.

“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”