Poetry Analysis (Yates)

When You Are Old When you be erstwhile(a) and gray and full of sleep, And motion by the grow, control down this book, And slowly read, and breathing in of the loony reflection Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many love your moments of glad forbearance, And love your knockout with love false or true; merely one man love the pilgrim somebody in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face. And bending down beside the glowing bars Murmur, a bantam sadly, how love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. (1892) * Stanza one = peaceful, serene, soothe; created through word choice (sleep, nodding, fire, book, slowly, dream, soft). The sounds of words excessively emphasises this feeling with long vowels, whispery s sounds and soft d sounds * old and gray = fading, nearing the end of life * full of sleep and nodding = in addition suggests the woman is nearing the end of life * sleep = metaphor for death (?

) * take down this book = Yeats (or old mans) book of poetry * dream = image alike relates to previously mentioned sleep * the soft look your eyes had once = eyes usually symbolic of soul; therefore her soul was once soft (suggesting it is no long-life due to age and life experiences) * and of their shadows deep = also follows on from above point; the shadows are symbolic or secrecy, lies, nix connotations, hard times, etc; the shadows may be of the past or what they are now * shadows deep = ambiguous, ominous which is jarring in comparison to the shack of stanza one which is relatively peaceful * Second person (when you, your eyes, your moments, etc) = personalised connection with reader (the woman), intimacy * how many = numerous people loved this woman * moments of glad grace = there were only moments of glad grace; not constant; another side of her character * loved your beauty = superficial love * with love false or true = also emphasises number; also... If you want to get a full essay, golf club it on our website: Orderessay

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