STYLISTICS ANALYSIS OF THE POEM:

“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.

Biography of William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats was born in County Dublin on June 13, 1865. He moved with his family to
London at a young age and came back to Dublin again when he was fifteens. He studied in
Metropolitan School of Art. Yeats' early poetry focuses on ancient Irish epics as well as the
contemporary nationalist movement that was gaining force in Ireland. In 1889, Yeats met the
love of his life, an Irish named Maude Gonne. Unfortunately, Maude did not return his love, and
after refusing his marriage proposals three times, she married Major John Mac Bridge in 1903.
What inspired Yeats to write the poem ‘when you are old’ is someone whom he loves, Maude
Gonne.

Introduction to the poem “When You Are Old”

William Butler Yeats was an important 20th century Irish poet. He was a powerful influence
behind the Irish Literary Revival and also founded the Abbey Theatre along with Lady Gregory,
and Edward Martyn. He served as its chief for some time and also promoted J.M. Synge, Sean
O’ Casey and others. In 1923, he won the Noble Prize for Literature, which he regarded as “part
of Europe’s welcome to the Free State. In his youth his writing were influenced by the Irish
legends and folklore.

“When You Are Old” was written in October 1891, during his uncertain relationship with Maud
Gonne who was an Anglo-Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress. The poem is based on a
sonnet by Pierre de Ronsard, which first appeared in Le Second Livre Des Sonnets Pour Hélène
(1578).

Summary of the poem “When You Are Old”

The poem tells us that the speaker (William Butler Yeats) told to a woman who is old and
having not power to do anything, she just slept over to spend her life and doing lazy time in a
house. It is marked on the sentence “old and grey”. Yeats asked her to read a book that refers
to memories of her youth in order to remember what happened with them (Yeats and Old
woman), recalling the days when he (Yeats) was in her life and very much in love with her (old
woman).

The speaker asked to the old woman to remember how many people loved her when she was
younger but only one man loved her as she grew older and he is Yeats itself. It gives
understanding that when old woman was a younger, Yeats was so in love with her but he was
refused to be her boyfriend and she preferred to choose another boy rather than Yeats.
However Yeats still kept his love to her until the woman grew older and the face was changing
not to be beautiful again.

This poem also tells us that the speaker remains the old woman how patiently him waits her for
long time until she grew older and became less beautiful. Yeats regrets why the old woman did
not accept him as a boyfriend but choose the other. He was ignored and forgotten.

Theme of the poem “When You Are Old”

The main themes of this poem examine the concepts of love, loss, and regret. As was
mentioned in the previous post, Yeats was infatuated with an actress named Maud Gonne who
refused to marry him several times. In the poem, the speaker (Yeats) urges an older woman
(Maud) to read from a book and reminisce on her youthful appearance. The speaker is
reminding his former mistress that their love did not last, and this is something she should
regret for the rest of her life.

How theme is foregrounded:

The theme is foregrounded through the vocabulary items. Theme love describes or tells us
about the condition when the speaker was younger and was in love with someone. The poem
concentrates more on the love that the speaker once shared to with a woman. Another theme
which is to be considered in the poem loss tells us the failed relationship of the speaker to
someone he loved the most whereas regret describes or reminding the girl that their love did
not last and this is something she should regret for the rest of her life.
 Stylistic analysis of the poem “When You Are Old”
When You Are Old as a Sonnet

We can say that this poem is in the form of a sonnet written in a certain format and which has a
very structured form with a varying amount of lines all with ten syllables. The poem is written
in iambic pentameter, a poetic meter with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed
and stressed syllables. And all these are the qualities of the sonnet poem.

Graphological level
I- The poem has a division of stanzas.
II- The poem is written in iambic pentameter with 10 beats or syllables per line.
III- There is usual capitalization.
IV- We can see the use of punctuation in the poem.
For example: comma, semicolon, and period is used in this poem.

Lexical Level
Nouns Pronouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs Prepositi Conjuncti
on ons
Fire, look, You, your, Old, grey, Read, had, Slowly, sadly, Beside, in, And, but,
eyes, theirs, his, soft, deep, fled, hid, upon, of,
shadow, glad, little, paced, with,
loved, overhead, changing, down,
moments, one, bending,
murmur, glowing,
grace, false, true,
beauty,
soul, face,
mountains,
stars, man,
crowd,
pilgrim,
bars,

Grammatical Level

By using of the different kinds of punctuation marks in the poem show that poet has a conflict
in his mind. He is bewildered.

Use of comma: is used to show a separation of ideas or elements within the structure of a
sentence. Additionally, it is used in letter writing after the salutation and closing.
Separating elements within sentences: Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

Use of semicolon: is used to connect independent clauses. It shows a closer relationship

between the clauses than a period would show.

A colon (:) have two main uses:

 The first is after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series.

 The second is within time expressions

Use of period: is placed at the end of declarative sentences, statements thought to be

complete and after many abbreviations.

Phonological level:
“When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats is an exquisite poem, in part because of its
meaning, but also because of the sound created by its perfect rhyme scheme. The twelve lines
poem has following rhyme scheme. The scheme is ABBA, CDDC, EFFE that's sometimes called
"envelope rhyme." I think this pattern plays a significant role in echoing the meaning of the
poem, which many say is about Maud Gunn (who Yeats' was always said to be in love with).
W.B. Yeats created rhythm in his poem by using a familiar meter, simple rhyme scheme and by
enhancing these forms with effective poetic devices and substitutions. Yeats uses iambic
pentameter to create a steady rhythm that is familiar to many readers. He uses substitution to
deviate from the regular meter and emphasize the part of the poem he feels important. For
example, he uses a spondaic foot to make the alliteration “glad grace” stand out. To maintain
his steady rhythm he also uses pyrrhic feet to rapidly flow through small words and
prepositions.

CONCLUSION:
“When You Are Old” was one of Yeat’s most popular poems. This is a poem that many see as
highlighting the unrequited love between the speaker, presumably Yeats, and his former lover.
This poem for me is beautiful because it shows the real meaning of love even though one is left
broken hearted. This is an absolutely wonderful declaration of love and lost neatly wrapped in a
poetic cloth. Also, the poem signifies a simple reference to life, love and growth wherein we
must look at life with the eyes of truth and realize that true love is a gift that should not be
treated casually. Like any gift that is not taken in, it goes to the one who accepts it. This poem
offers a warning to us readers to be observant to true love and what it can bring because love
that is ignored and or not reciprocated can easily become regret.