“When you are old and unable to walk, while nodding by the fire, recall your youth” (When You Are Old - Zhao Zhao). A few years ago, I fell in love with a Chinese song called When You Are Old. Composed by a son and dedicated to his mother, the song’s simple lullaby, warm acoustic guitar accompaniment, and moving lyrics easily brought tears to my eyes. It wasn’t long before I discovered a surprising fact: the song was inspired by W.B. Yeats’s poem, 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.
(When You Are Old - W.B. Yeats)
In this sorrowful poem lamenting yet cherishing the passage of time and lingering love, W.B. Yeats’s verses seem to reflect his own life experiences. At the time of writing this poem, Yeats was passionately in love with an Irish actress named Maud Gonne, having proposed to her many times. However, he was continuously rejected, which may have inspired the making of When You Are Old. Throughout the poem, Yeats uses end rhyme and longer verses to give the reader a cozy and sleepy effect that is similar to that of a child’s lullaby. With this warm ambience “by the fire” that Yeats develops, the reader is lulled into a content, relaxed state as they, along with Yeats, imagine a world where Gonne and Yeats have reached the end of their days.
In the poem, Yeats asks Maud Gonne who is now “old and grey and full of sleep” to “take down this book,” which is presumably the book that contains the poem, When You Are Old. He asks her to “slowly read” his poem conveying all his affection for her throughout the years that have passed as she revives memories of their youth. The next stanza transitions to a wistful and longing tone that mirrors Yeats’s actual desperation for Gonne’s love, as he writes, “How many loved your moments of glad grace… with love false or true”. In these lines, Yeats reminds Gonne, who was known for her beauty, that many people chased after her with superficial intentions. However, in the next line, Yeats confesses to Gonne once again that he is different, and that unlike the others, he loves “the sorrows of [her] changing face,” implying that he truly loves her for who she is. These confessions take on a deeper meaning given the setting of the poem Yeats establishes: a time when Gonne’s beauty has already faded; her hair is now grey and wrinkles crease her face. By writing that his love for Gonne doesn’t waver despite the many years that have passed, Yeats weaves together a moving poem of eternal love that can withstand the test of time. Furthermore, Yeats uses the recurring theme of the transient quality of human life to further highlight the preciousness of true love.
The last stanza seals the poem with the sudden heartbreaking realization that in the world Yeats crafts, he is already dead, “his face amid a crowd of stars.” Yeats tells Gonne to miss him as he asks her to murmur sadly about how time broke them apart and how “Love fled.” Though When You Are Old seemingly ends on a devastating note, it actually reveals to readers an important understanding: despite Yeats’s death, he still accompanies Gonne as she slowly nods by the fire and dreams of her past, reminding her of his love.
Differing from When You Are Old, in Yeats’s poem, The Falling of the Leaves, Yeats expresses the melancholy tears that come as a once fiery romance begins to wane.
Autumn is over the long leaves that love us, And over the mice in the barley sheaves; Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us, And yellow the wet wild-strawberry leaves.
The hour of the waning of love has beset us, And weary and worn are our sad souls now; Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us, With a kiss and a tear on thy drooping brow.
(The Falling of Leaves - W.B. Yeats)
Nevertheless, in both poems, Yeats dwells on the concepts of love and time, using the repeated use of “us” and end rhymes such as with “now” and “brow” to establish a sense of rhythm. He freely uses alliteration in phrases such as “long leaves that love us” and “weary and worn are our sad souls now.” Yeats also uses autumn’s falling leaves to symbolize the transition from summer days to bitter winter. The changing of seasons mirrors the two stages of love Yeats describes and simultaneously symbolizes the passing of time; the scorching summer resembles a passionate embrace between lovers, and the winter season represents the lonely, painful days each endure in the other’s absence. This metaphor is further upheld when Yeats refers to the lovers’ time together as a “season of passion.” Yeats also utilizes the falling yellow “rowan” and “wet wild-strawberry leaves” to remind the reader of autumn and the eventual death of the leaves, using this imagery to symbolize a dying love. The phrase “a tear on thy drooping brow” is used to compare a falling tear to the falling of leaves and a drooping brow to how the branches wilt as the leaves change their color.
Through the usage of imagery and symbolism, Yeats writes an emotional poem depicting the parting of lovers as the seasons change and nature takes its course. Unlike in When You Are Old, where two lovers engage in a deep, everlasting relationship, in The Falling of Leaves, time takes its toll on the couple and they drift apart. These two contrasting poems lead readers to ponder upon the critical question Yeats proposes: will we let time conquer us, or will we conquer time with love? “For Man is in love and loves what vanishes, what more is there to say?” (W.B. Yeats).
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