Explicated Poem (essay #1)

Christina M. Torres

Professor Wexler

20 September 2012

You Were Young Once, Now Regretful

          Some people fall in love, and others let the opportunity for love pass them by. William Butler Yeats' poem "When You Are Old" displays the memories of a woman who was once young with happiness. The poem describes her memories about missing her youthful days but is sad because she let love pass her. Certain figurative language and techniques are used to help convey this secret regret in her life; line lengths like quatrains. They also compliment the regretful and sad idea about missing her past as the quatrains provides readers an interchangeable rhyme scheme option to read the first and last lines of each stanza. There are also many sound devices such as assonance and alliteration within the language presenting a musicality. Devices like words of color and other nouns greatly attribute to the poem’s description of the speakers mood.

          Each stanza in quatrain form begins with indications of curiosity: 'When', 'How', and 'And'. Because the poem's intention was to create sympathy among readers regarding this woman's regretful past, the beginning of each stanza attributes to the speaker’s mood. For example, "When you are old and gray and full of sleep," paints a picture for the audience on what life is like once you get old and just look back at things that you should have embraced, but are now just missing those precious moments of your past. The second stanza, "How many loved your moments of glad grace," nearly questions her readers to cogitate about a person who genuinely appreciates them; and if there is more then one. Lastly, the final stanza ends the poem with an additional setting to the poem, “And bending down besides the glowing bars,” implies a sense of hiding from someone behind glowing bars. This can symbolize a non physical characteristic, but mean that the speaker actually glows with love and affection for this one person in their past love life, however keeps it hidden avoiding happiness. Kim Adonizio’s list poem “Forms of Love” compares to Yeats’ character as they both display avoiding love and any possibility of happiness:

          I love your hair / I love you but I’m not that into you / I love you secretly / I           know how you make me feel like I’m a monastery in the desert / … I love    everything about you except your hair / If it weren’t for that I know I could            really, really love you. (Adonizio 47).
This back and forth feeling about how much this woman loves this person which she speaks of is indecisive on exactly what she should do. Both Yeats and Adonizio’s works are relatable in the fact that both speakers avoid every having fallen in love. Adonizio’s character however is a little more expressive about the optimism that love gives her, but still keeping her feelings inside, like Yeats’ secretive speaker. 

          When poetry can be read differently, as far as the ordering of the lines goes, it adds more to the meaning. Yeats utilizes this technique in a successful way. The tone in the speaker’s language demonstrates how she regrets letting someone who loved her pass her by. A particular rhyme scheme is introduced in an ‘a, b, b, a, c, d, d, c, e, f, f, e’ form. This forces readers to approach the context of the poem in an alternative way to connect the meaning to the format of the quatrain rhyme scheme:

          When you are old and gray and full of sleep / Your eyes had once, and of their      shadows deep / How many loved your moments of glad grace / And loved the   sorrows of your changing face / And bending down beside the glowing bars /      And hid his face among a crowd of stars. (Yeats 81)

 This passage is how the speaker’s message becomes more impactful to readers; being more rhythmic and emotional. Reading the poem by only reflecting on the first and last line of each stanza clarifies the sense of regret. Simplifying her thoughts, but separating them on the outer parts of each stanza almost works as a metaphor for how she has kept her feelings outside instead of obvious, like the interior parts of each stanza. The connection that the first and last lines have throughout the poem were done purposefully so readers can look more in depth at the sorrow and regret she has. Poets like Tony Hoagland in his work “Two Trains” talks about heartache as well. Hoagland’s speaker displays grief regarding being alone and heartbroken, “I can feel the absence stretching out in all directions,” creates a setting similar to Yeats’ speaker being lonely and empty in life.

          Word choice within this poem plays a major role impacting the setting and tone of the poem. The regret that this woman feels about how much she misses being young is described by different words of color and nouns. Stanza one begins with great word choice immediately setting the tone of the poem creating sympathy among readers, “When you are old and gray and full of sleep” incorporates the color gray which implies a foggy feeling the speaker is expressing. Gray is a color associated with sadness, grief and even confusion. The word ‘sleep’ is interpreted as an indicator that because the woman is now old, that she is exhausted; not only physical, but emotionally so fatigued that she is mentally full of sleep. This also implies a contradiction to her regret towards someone she once loved; hence she is full of sleeping alone in an empty lonely bed.

          Finalizing the poem, Yeats’ last two lines include other colorful and symbolic diction to convey the overall lonely feeling that is presented throughout the entire phrases like ‘upon the mountains’ and ‘crowd of stars’. This is a prime example of what is an overwhelming feeling by the word choice. ‘Mountains’ implies something difficult and exhausting to climb or accomplish. One may live with regret having not finishing a hike on a mountain. This symbolizes regret for never following through with being you and in love at one point, and just giving up because it was too hard to process the right ways to approach it. Also the ‘Crowd of stars’ indicates a feeling of joy but the word ‘crowd’ also contradicts that. Readers would assume that this person is hiding in a crowd of stars; exemplifying an over joyous feeling, however still hides in a crowd from reality. Yeats’ purpose was to inform readers that everyone experiences regret at one point in their life. Regret should not follow you to your old age though. Live youthful and without regrets. 

         

Works Cited

Adonizio, Kim. Lucifer at the Starlight. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 500 Fifth           Avenue, New York, NY 10110. United States. 2009.

Hoagland, Tony. What Narcissism Means To Me. Graywolf Press. 2402 University          Avenue, Suite 203. Saint Paul, Minnesota 55114. United States. 2003.

Smith, Philip. 100 Best-Loved Poems. New Anthology. General editor: Applebaum,        Smith, Philip. Dover Publications, Inc. 1995.