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The poem is directed toward one young person, presumably a woman if read in the light of Yeat's biographical details. Though a reader could apply the sentiments expressed in the poem to a man. I have made an assumption that Maud Gonne is the person about whom Yeats wrote, as she was his muse. The first stanza seems to be self-referential in as much as it implies that the poem will be published. The person who is addressed is urged to read it in old age whilst reminiscing about the past and her lost beauty.
In the first two lines of the second stanza, the speaker continues the theme of reminiscence. The person addressed will remember that in her youth, her days of glad grace , she was loved by many men. She will remember that as her beauty and youth by this point in time have faded into the past, so has their love.
In lines three and four, the 'voice' in the poem tells her, one man implicitly himself loved her better than anyone else—because his love was about more than her physical attributes, it is for the nature of her soul. Although the lines are ostensibly about what the woman will remember in old age they are actually a declaration of present-day love. Historically, a pilgrim made a journey to a Holy Shrine.
The third stanza again presents a current situation projected into the woman's old age. She is told that she will remember that she rejected this man who loved her and predicts that the memory will make her a little sad. He evidently will have given up his pursuit of her, left in a state of agitation to pace amongst the mountains overhead and disappear amid a crowd of stars. The lines seem to suggest that, because of her rejection, he will never find peace.
One day he will die, become stardust, and she will have lost him forever. In summary, the poem seems to be both a warning about the future and an appeal to the beloved to reconsider, to see that without him old age will be bleak and full of regret. Richard Ellman has written an excellent biography of Keats in which he gives details of an interview with Maud Gonne.
Not all poems, particularly modern ones, contain all of the elements mentioned above. I venture to suggest that you will be able to detect most of them in When You Are Old. Question: In W. Yeats "When You Are Old," how is the poet's love different from that of others? Answer: Other men loved the physical attributes of the person who is addressed in this poem.
This type of love often fades when beauty fades. But the voice in the poem loves the soul which we might describe as a combination of personality and character of his beloved, a type of love likely to be more enduring.
Answer: Reader response criticism is a school of literary theory with focuses on the reader of a piece of work, rather than the author. Providing you can justify your answer to the question, any opinion that you give is valid. My personal opinion is that it the mood is sad, and perhaps a little angry.
The tone is cautionary - the' voice' in the poem is giving a warning to the person addressed that, because she has rejected the person who truly loves her, she may suffer a lonely old age. Question: What is the meaning of the line "and hid his face amid a crowd of stars" in the poem When You Are Old? Answer: My interpretation of the phrase "hid his face amid a crowd of stars" is that the voice in the poem is speaking about an imagined life beyond the death of the human body.
The love will not die with his body - his restless spirit will pace amongst the hills, and eventually be hidden amongst the vast number of stars in the sky. The words "hid his face" suggest that he will be undetectable but also, perhaps, that he will be unwilling to reveal himself.
Why would he specifically mention his face? A face reveals emotions, so perhaps he is suggesting that he will still have feelings for his beloved even beyond death. Hiding his face may suggest that he does not want his emotions to be revealed or that, in some way, he wants to punish the person he is speaking to by becoming lost to her.
Please bear in mind that unless a poet has specifically recorded what his poem means we cannot know what was in his mind, so we each put our own interpretation on the lines.
It may be that you do not agree with my interpretation and that's ok because your own interpretation is as valid as the next person's. But in a written answer to an examination question you should provide a justification for your interpretation. This involves a close reading of the text. To whom is the poem addressed?
Answer: The identity of the speaker is not revealed in the poem. However, given the relationship between Maude Gonne and Yeats I think that a fair assumption is that the speaker is Yeats himself. 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.
Yeats asked her to marry him several times, but she always refused. She knew she could be of more use to him as a muse than as a wife or lover. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in This twelve line poem is a fairly free translation of a sonnet by Ronsard.
There is a depth of feeling in that poem which is lacking in the earlier poem. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.
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