When You Are Old

                       When You Are Old

                                                 -W.B. Yeats

 When You Are Old

Summary:

This is an exquisite, touching poem, expressing the fleeting nature of love. The poem is essentially romantic in character Its wistfulness dream like atmosphere, melancholy and melody are the romantic qualities.  How wistful the memory of past loves must be to an old woman and how effectively that wistfulness has been expressed.

     “How many loved your moments of glad grace,

       And loved your beauty with love false or true.”

The poem is addressed to Maud Gonne with whom the poet was passionately in love but who never responded to his passion.

          The poet addresses Maud Gonne and asks her to think sometimes of her youth when she has grown old. When she is grey-haired, ages woman, sitting by the fireside, feeling sleepy and drowsy, let her read this book and visualize her past. Let her then picture to herself her youthful days. When her eyes looked so deep and so black and when they had such a heart-warming expression in them.

                       We see a contrast, the physical charms of his beloved in her youth with the grey hair, the worn-out look and the infirmity of the same woman when she has grown old.

                When this woman was young and beautiful, many men loved her for her grace. Many admirers made love to her old courted her. Some of them were inspired by genuine sentiment and others by a fickle or inconstant passion. But there was one man, namely the poet, who had a spiritual kind of love for her. He was able to look through her physical charms and perceive the sacred soul that was on a brief pilgrimage to this earth. He loved her not only in her youth but at every stage of her life. He loved her when the sorrows and griefs of life had settled down upon her face and left a mark there. He loved her even when the ears brought wrinkles to her face.

                The poet asks her to picture to her mind the between what was and what is. She will then, in a mood of reflection and melancholy, bend beside the red hot coals in the fire place and tell herself in a low voice that all her lovers except one had proved inconstant. She will then realize that those men who loved her bodily attractions and physical charms had completely forgotten her and that all their love had taken wing and hidden itself among the stars above. Love is her personified. When the beloved has become old, the love of a man travels upwards and is lost among the mountains overhead and among the stars in the sky. The idea is that love evaporates. Only the man who loved the pilgrim soul of the beloved still loves her in her old age.

Comprehension I:

1.The poet is addressing

a. a young woman the poet has loved.

b. an old woman that he has met now

c. the woman that he has admired in his life.

Ans: (a) a young woman the poet has loved.

2. In line two, the word 'book' refers to

a. memories

b. book of poems

c. an album

d. diary

Ans: (b) book of poems.

3.  The word 'glad grace' suggests

a. her physical beauty

b. her inner beauty

c. her goodness.

Ans: (a) her physical beauty.

4. `Pilgrim soul' means the soul

a. which is immortal

b. that has gone on a pilgrimage

c. which is in quest of true love.

Ans: c. which is in quest of true love.

5. What does the phrase 'your changing face’ suggest?

Ans: The poet has loved her through thick and thin, through all the sorrows and grief’s which befell her with passing of years.

6. 'Love fled' connotes

a. the death of the man who loved her

b. the fleeing of her lover to the mountains

c. the loss endured by her.

 Ans: (a) the death of the man who loved her.

Comprehension II      

1. How is the 'one man' different from the many others who loved the lady

                                                         OR                                                                                                                              2. Does the poem bring out the transient nature of beauty as against permanence of love                                                                                            Ans: "When You are Old" is a poem addressed to the woman whom he loved 'Maud Gonne'. This is a touching poem expressing the fleeting nature of love.

         When Maud Gonne was young and beautiful, many men loved her for her physical charm. Many admirers made love to her and courted her some of her lovers were inspired by worthy sentiment and some others by fickle or inconstant passion. But there was 'ONEMAN', namely the poet who had a spiritual kind of love for her. Because this man loved her not only in her youth but at every stage of her life. He loved her even when the sorrows and griefs of life had settled down upon her face and left a mark there. The poet loved her even when the years brought wrinkles to her face. He makes it clear that he loved her for her pilgrim soul.

           The poem brings out the transient nature of beauty as against permanence of love. The very desire of the poet that his beloved should read his book when she is old and weak, suggests the transient nature of beauty. The physical charm disappears and now she is alone without any admirers. But his love towards her is immortal. It is permanent. It lives forever. It doesn't die. He is only the man who loved the pilgrim soul of the beloved still loves her in her old age.

Comprehension III

1. Comment on the usage of time frame by the, poet.

Ans: The usage of time frame is convincing. We find the poet very young and are in love with a women `Maud Gonne' who is also young. The lady is loved by many admirers because of her physical charm. She doesn’t respond the love expressed by the poet. So he tells her to read his poems when she is old and gray. He thinks that she will understand the genuine of love the poet. We see here the present and the future. When she is old, he tells her to remember her lovers who love for her physical charm who are not there with her at present. They have all deserted her. But his love of pilgrim's soul is noble, divine and pure. He doesn't love her for her physical charm. His love is not infatuation. It is divine kind of love. The poet always loves her. So here we notice the past and present time frame mingled by the poet.

2. 'When You Are Old' is a poem of contrasts. What contrasts do you find in the poem? What purpose do they serve?                       

     Ans: 'When You Are Old' is a short lyric. We notice only twelve lines. It is a love poem. He addresses his beloved Maud Gonne. The poet giving a piece of advice asks her that in her old age she should take up the book and read slowly. She should dream of her youthful beauty. Here we notice both the poet and his beloved are young. The poet's advice refers to old age. It is a contrast.

                        When the lady is young, she is loved by many admirers but when she becomes old, her beauty is vanished, and her admirers are no longer there, because there is no physical charm. So here we notice the contrast regarding appearance. The third contrast is between her admirers and the poet. The poet's love is true, divine and noble but the love of her admirers is transient. Then we notice the contrast between the presence of the poet and the love fled. We also notice the contrast between the feelings of the poet and his beloved.

                         To conclude, we find various contrasts, relating to time age, feelings and the beauty.