Write the summary of When You Are Old
Answers
Answer:
When You Are Old'' is a love poem addressed to the poet’s beloved Maud Gonne who was the most beautiful young lady of his time. She is believed to be the inspiration behind this poem. The tone of the poem is one of melancholy. W.B. Yeats imagines her future years and his true love in future. He repents over her divergent attitude who fails to understand his spiritual love. The poet begins the first stanza addressing her imagining her to be in her old age. The lady will be very old approaching her peaceful years. She then opens the book of poems penned by the poet. As she starts to read slowly, she is taken back in time to recollect her past when she had innocent looks in her eyes and sadness hidden in the looks of her eyes. The poet also says that his beloved would also regret how many loved her physical grace but only the poet worshipped her Pilgrim soul even as her face changed. At last, the lady will grieve over the loss of her True Love fleeing from her and joining a crowd of stars very distant from her. Thus the poet expresses his true intentions while his beloved fails to understand.
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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 lookYour eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
The poet writes this while his lover is relatively young, but he wants her to read this when she turns out to be an old lady, having grey hair and sleepy eyes. He tells her that if she feels sleepy, sitting in front of a warm fire place, she should pick his book of poems and read it slowly. He asks her to recall her youth and the number of people who loved and admired her for her startling looks and eye catching features.
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 poet reminds her that how many people once loved her for her physical beauty, but that was not true love. There was only one person who loved her sincerely, to the very depths of her soul, despite knowing the transient qualities of her beauty.
And bending down beside the glowing bars,Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fledAnd paced upon the mountains overheadAnd hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Towards the end, he presents her current situation projected into a woman's old age
and adds to it that when she bends closer to the fire, she will remember and regret how she neglected his love. He says that while his love for her is eternal, she will be unable to reach
it as one can't reach out the heaven and pluck out a star.
Vocabulary Items
Nodding : let one’s head fall forward when drowsy or asleep
Grace : Smoothness or elegance of movement
Pilgrim : a person who travels to a holy place for spiritual reasons
Murmur : Make a low continuous sound
Fled : Run away
Amid : Surrounded by
Theme of the poem
The main theme of this poem is the concepts of love, loss and regret. 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 would grow old and regret lost opportunities.
The poem also projects out the theme of impermanence of beauty and youth and
permanence of art and true love.
Central Idea of the Poem
The poem highlights the unrequited love between the poet and his lover, Maud Gonne.
It projects out the very idea that you won’t notice the real value of things you have until you
don’t have them with you anymore.
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