[Caleb Murdock]

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.

W.B. Yeats

I thought of posting this poem because it was mentioned in another thread. This is one of Yeats's more famous poems, but for me, it has some significant flaws. I thought I would share my views to see what other people think.

"Take down this book", I assume, refers to the book of poetry that contains this poem, but it strikes me as a little odd for the poet to be mentioning his own books in his poems. "Dream of the soft look / Your eyes had once" also strikes me as odd, because most people don't dream of their own facial expressions. When we look in the mirror, it is to check our hair and teeth and to see that everything is in place; not many people look into the mirror with a dreamy look in their eyes. The only other time that people see themselves is in photographs, and during that era (early 20th century), having a photograph taken was a big deal, and most photos were posed.

I guess that my point is that most people just aren't going to think of themselves, even in restrospect, in the way that Yeats describes in this poem.

In the third stanza, "murmuring" of how "love fled / And paced upon the mountains overhead" seems to be an expression of the author's feelings, not the feelings of the subject. Clearly, it is the author who is feeling a sense of loss. In fact, throughout the entire poem I feel that Yeats is expressing his own feelings, and is projecting those feelings on the subject.

The second stanza is the only one that strikes me as really perfect in every respect.

Caleb

[This message has been edited by Caleb Murdock (edited December 28, 2000).]