When You Are Old

**When**
You Are Old

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.

By William Butler Yeats

**biographical informations**

* Born in 1865 in Sandymount, Ireland
* Belonged to the Protestant, Anglo-irish minority
* One of the greatest poets of the 20th century

* Received a Nobel prize in Literature in 1923 for his poetry

* Some of his writings: The Wild Swans At Coole (1919), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair (1933)

**context**

* The Poem,written in October of 1891, was published in September of 1982
* Wrote this poem for Maud Gonne to express his unrequited  love
* The book Yeats is referring to is a notebook he kept with letters Gonne used to send to him
* When  Yeats says “old and grey and full of sleep“ he asks Gonne to think about the future when she will become old and possibly impending death
* „But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, and loved the sorrow of your changing face“ he shows that a lot of men were in love with her but he was truly the one who loved her uncoditionally
* Written about young people imagining life when they are old

**translation**

*Wenn du alt bist*

'

*Wenn Du alt und grau bist , und voll von Schlaf,*

*und nickst bei dem Feuer , nimm dieses Buch runter,*

*und lies langsam, und träume von den sanften Blicken*

*die deine Augen einst hatten, und von ihren tiefen*
Schatten;

'

*Wie viele liebten deine Momente der frohen Gnade,*

*und liebten Deine Schönheit mit Liebe falsch oder wahr,*

*doch einer liebte die Pilgerseele in dir,*

*und liebte die Leiden deines ändernden Gesichtes;*

'

*Und beugte sich neben den glühenden Stäben,*

*Murmeln, ein wenig traurig, wie Liebe floh*

*und schritt auf den Bergen über dem Kopf*

*und versteckte sein Gesicht unter einer Menge von Sternen.*

**Stylistic devices**

* Accumulation: old and grey and full of sleep (V.1)
* Anaphora: and (V.2,3,6,11..)
* Rhyme: book, look (V.2,3) ; face, grace (V.5,8)
* Alliteration: glad grace (V.5)
* Repetition: love (V.5,6,7,8,10)
* Antithesis: false or true (V.6)
* Metaphor: face amid a crowd of stars

**rhyme, meter and rhythm**

* Point of view: second person
* Stanzaic forms: in each stanza with a rhyme pattern of  a b b a
* End rhyme: sleep, book, look, deep
* Meter: iambic pentameter -> when/ YOU / are / OLD / and / GREY / and / FULL / of / SLEEP
* Word “and“ several times gives a rhythmic beat and structure and extends the poem giving it a feeling of old age -> tone: sad

**interpretation**

* About a young woman
* When she is going to become old, she should remember that everybody loved her for her beauty
* But one man loves her for her soul
* Means that beauty is fading and the soul does not change when you are going to become older

**Comment**

* When you are old by William Butler Yeats describes Yeats‘ unrequited love for Maud Gonne
* Throughout the poem he tells her to think about her future and how she may be alone if she does not take her chances on love now
* Poem suggests the readers esp. Women to reconsider their future and not to grow old without anyone by their side