William Butler Yeats 

- Biographical. William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was bornin Dublin. His

father was a lawyer and a well-known portrait painter. Yeats was educated in London and in
Dublin, but he spent his summers in the west of Ireland in the family's summer house at
Connaught.

William Butler Yeats Biography

Poet, Playwright(1865–1939)
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QUICK FACTS
NAME
William Butler Yeats
OCCUPATION
Poet, Playwright
BIRTH DATE
June 13, 1865
DEATH DATE
January 28, 1939
EDUCATION
Metropolitan School of Art (Dublin)
PLACE OF BIRTH
Dublin, Ireland
PLACE OF DEATH
Menton, France
CITE THIS PAGE
William Butler Yeats was one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century and
received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.
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Synopsis
Born in Ireland in 1865, William Butler Yeats published his first works in the mid-1880s while a
student at Dublin's Metropolitan School of Art. His early accomplishments include The
Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889) and such plays as The Countess Kathleen (1892)
and Deirdre (1907). In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He went on to pen
more influential works, including The Tower (1928) and Words for Music Perhaps and Other
Poems (1932). Yeats, who died in 1939, is remembered as one of the leading Western poets of
the 20th century.
Early Life
William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865, in Dublin, Ireland, the oldest child of John
Butler Yeats and Susan Mary Pollexfen. Although John trained as a lawyer, he abandoned the
law for art soon after his first son was born. Yeats spent much of his early years in London,
where his father was studying art, but frequently returned to Ireland as well.
In the mid-1880s, Yeats pursued his own interest in art as a student at the Metropolitan School
of Art in Dublin. Following the publication of his poems in the Dublin University Review in 1885,
he soon abandoned art school for other pursuits.
Career Beginnings
After returning to London in the late 1880s, Yeats met writers Oscar Wilde, Lionel Johnson
and George Bernard Shaw. He also became acquainted with Maud Gonne, a supporter of Irish
independence. This revolutionary woman served as a muse for Yeats for years. He even
proposed marriage to her several times, but she turned him down. He dedicated his 1892
drama The Countess Kathleen to her.
Around this time, Yeats founded the Rhymers' Club poetry group with Ernest Rhys. He also
joined the Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization that explored topics related to the occult
and mysticism. While he was fascinated with otherworldly elements, Yeats's interest in Ireland,
especially its folktales, fueled much of his output. The title work of The Wanderings of Oisin and
Other Poems (1889) draws from the story of a mythic Irish hero.
Acclaimed Poet and Playwright
In addition to his poetry, Yeats devoted significant energy to writing plays. He teamed with Lady
Gregory to develop works for the Irish stage, the two collaborating for the 1902 production
of Cathleen Ni Houlihan. Around that time, Yeats helped found the Irish National Theatre
Society, serving as its president and co-director, with Lady Gregory and John Millington Synge.
More works soon followed, including On Baile's Strand, Deirdre and At the Hawk's Well.
Following his marriage to Georgie Hyde-Lees in 1917, Yeats began a new creative period
through experiments with automatic writing. The newlyweds sat together for writing sessions
they believed to be guided by forces from the spirit world, through which Yeats formulated
intricate theories of human nature and history. They soon had two children, daughter Anne and
son William Michael. 
The celebrated writer then became a political figure in the new Irish Free State, serving as a
senator for six years beginning in 1922. The following year, he received an important accolade
for his writing as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. According to the official Nobel
Prize website, Yeats was selected "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form
gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation."
Yeats continued to write until his death. Some of his important later works include The Wild
Swans at Coole (1917), A Vision (1925), The Tower (1928) and Words for Music Perhaps and
Other Poems (1932). Yeats passed away on January 28, 1939, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin,
France. The publication of Last Poems and Two Plays shortly after his death further cemented
his legacy as a leading poet and playwright
William Butler Yeats - Biographical

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born in Dublin. His father was a

lawyer and a well-known portrait painter. Yeats was educated in London and in Dublin, but he
spent his summers in the west of Ireland in the family's summer house at Connaught. The
young Yeats was very much part of the fin de siècle in London; at the same time he was active
in societies that attempted an Irish literary revival. His first volume of verse appeared in 1887,
but in his earlier period his dramatic production outweighed his poetry both in bulk and in
import. Together with Lady Gregory he founded the Irish Theatre, which was to become the
Abbey Theatre, and served as its chief playwright until the movement was joined by John
Synge. His plays usually treat Irish legends; they also reflect his fascination with mysticism and
spiritualism. The Countess Cathleen (1892), The Land of Heart's Desire (1894), Cathleen ni
Houlihan (1902), The King's Threshold (1904), and Deirdre (1907) are among the best known.
After 1910, Yeats's dramatic art took a sharp turn toward a highly poetical, static, and esoteric
style. His later plays were written for small audiences; they experiment with masks, dance, and
music, and were profoundly influenced by the Japanese Noh plays. Although a convinced
patriot, Yeats deplored the hatred and the bigotry of the Nationalist movement, and his poetry
is full of moving protests against it. He was appointed to the Irish Senate in 1922. Yeats is one of
the few writers whose greatest works were written after the award of the Nobel Prize. Whereas
he received the Prize chiefly for his dramatic works, his significance today rests on his lyric
achievement. His poetry, especially the volumes The Wild Swans at Coole(1919), Michael
Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933),
and Last Poems and Plays (1940), made him one of the outstanding and most influential
twentieth-century poets writing in English. His recurrent themes are the contrast of art and life,
masks, cyclical theories of life (the symbol of the winding stairs), and the ideal of beauty and
ceremony contrasting with the hubbub of modern life.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company,
Amsterdam, 1969
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the
book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this
document, always state the source as shown above.
 
William Butler Yeats died on January 28, 1939.
POEM INTRODUCTION: “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
The speaker of the poem addresses his beloved saying that when she is aged she should read a
particular book which will remind her of her youth. She will remember the people who had
loved her grace and her beauty with either real or fake sentiments in the past, and also that
one man who had loved her soul unconditionally as she grew old and the way she looked
changed. As she is reminded of him, she will regret her missed opportunity of true love.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In the first two lines, the speaker pictures his beloved as “old, and gray and full of sleep”,
“nodding by the fire”, taking down and reading “this” book, which probably refers to the book
that was to become The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics. The image evoked
is of a sleepy old woman by the fire. The physical appearance of the woman is summarized by
the word “gray” – her hair, eyes and skin have become lustreless and dull. The phrase “full of
sleep” suggests weariness, peace and her proximity to death.
As she reads this book, she will be reminded of the “soft look” and the deep “shadows” that her
eyes had once possessed. Here the poem gives us a glimpse of the woman’s youth, going on to
mention her “glad grace” which had aroused “true or false” feelings of love in her lovers. The
words “sleep”, “slowly”, “soft”, “shadows” suggests a sense of stupor. The “shadows deep”
evokes a sense of the unknown and the mysterious, perhaps implying the calm retained by a
person who has not experienced the bitter aspects of life or the ravages of time – innocence.

When You Are Old by W B Yeats, a poem analysis

On this page we would like to offer an analysis of When You are Old, a famous Irish poem
written by William Butler Yeats for Maude Gonne. First, we will offer some relevant and helpful
background information. Second, we will go through the poem, practically with a line by line
analysis and explore its imagery, metaphors, and literary devices. Finally, we will offer our own
interpretation of the poem as a summary.

Historical Background of When You are Old

• When You are Old by William Butler Yeats was written in October of 1891. It was first
published in September of 1892 in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics.
• The poem is based on the forty-third sonnet in Second Livre des Sonets pour Helene by Pierre
de Ronsard, published in 1578. The two poems are similarly themed though each one is
distinctively different.
• The poem is written for Maud Gonne. Yeats relationship with Gonne was very complicated
and had many ups and downs. It was definitely an unrequited love. However, at the time of the
poem Gonne was suffering from serious depression resulting from the death of the two year
old son. She was relying heavily on Yeats for comfort and counseling. Under Yeats influence she
even joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which she remarked that the members
were “the very essence of British middle-class dullness.”
• Yeats, himself, had only recently joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1890. He
would stay affiliated with the order for the next 30 years. This organization, which still exists,
deals mostly with the occult, metaphysics, and esoteric philosophy. For example, members are
interested in Hermetic Kabbalah and so on. It’s not clear what, if any, impact this has on the
specific poem, When You are Old, but this clearly did influence other poetic works of William
Butler Yeats in terms of symbolism and the thesis. So potential influence here is worthy of some
exploration.

Walkthrough of When You are Old

Here we will go through each stanza, analyzing When You are Old by William Butler Yeats via an
almost line by line analysis. We’ll pay attention to figurative language and poetic devices used
by Yeats to convey his theme.
• First, note the rhyme scheme. The first and fourth lines rhyme, as well as the second and third
lines. Also, note the meter, it’s an iambic pentameter—this gives the poem a musical quality.
Finally, the word “and” appears six times! At least one reason for this is to assist in keeping the
poem metered.
• The poem is full of gentle images, such as “Full of sleep”, “nodding by the fire”, “slowly read”,
“dream,” “soft look”, and “shadows deep”. This sets the tone and mood of the first stanza
which is clearly one of calmness. The first stanza is very soothing to read.
• We can guess that the book referred to above would be one by Yeats—specifically one
containing poems about the beauty of Maude Gonne.
• Pay attention to the mention of eyes. Eyes are actually one of traits that perhaps, in terms of
exterior appearance, age the slowest. It’s not so uncommon to find an older person with
youthful and beautiful eyes. But that’s not so here! Instead, the eyes have lost their “soft look”,
they’ve lost their “shadows deep.”
• The mention to the eyes helps us understand that Yeats is predicting that not only will Maude
Gonne lose her physical beauty, she will lose her spiritual beauty as well. Her eyes will become
those of a shallow person. She will become harsh. This is very revealing as to the theme and
intent of When You are Old.
• The rhyme and meter of the poem in the second stanza is basically identical to the first
stanza. However, the word “and” isn’t used as much, and the pacing here is harsher and faster.
• The implication of the first line is that people loved Maude Gonne only when she was happy
and gay, but the moment she turned somber and sad, they abandoned her. So clearly this was
not a true love. (In a way, at the time, this was already something Gonne was experiencing in
her life.)
• Yeats, admits that some people might have loved Maude Gonne for her beauty, but even here
he notes, some of this might have been superficial. This is why he states, “love false or true”.
• The use of the word “pilgrim soul” here is very important. Yeats wants to explain to Gonne
that he and she are kindred spirits. They are soul mates. They both share, to at least a degree,
Irish nationalism—and both at the time were interested in the Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn. We can be sure though, that this line is meant to cut even much deeper than that—
Yeats believes that they truly share something on a deep spiritual level. In this way, Yeats feels
only he can really appreciate where Gonne’s truest beauty lies.
• We can contrast the final line of the second stanza with the first line of the same stanza. So
long as Gonne is successful and outwardly projects happiness, superficially some man claim
they love her. However, when the tide turns, and her success is no longer present, who shall
lover her then? Yeats is saying he would still love her.

• The third stanza, as far as meter and rhyming scheme, is no different than the first and second
stanza. The form is identical.
• The references to the “glowing bars” is to most likely to some type of fire grating that is so
close to the fire that perhaps it glows a bit red. These bars potentially represent prison bars,
suggesting that Maude Gonne is going to entrap herself. Worse, given the fiery implication
here, the suggestion seems to be she’s going to find herself in a kind of earthly hell of her own
making. We don’t want to suggest anything overly literal here, but only hell as a kind of
metaphor. But given Yeats propensities for the occult, who knows?
• The second line of the third stanza then suggests that Maude Gonne will regret this. But her
punishment is even worse, because to a degree she’ll already have lost her depth, which will
limit her ability to even regret what has happened. She will truly have become imprisoned in
her own future shallowness.
• While Gonne is stuck in an earthly hell of her own devising, where will Yeats be? Why up
there in the heavens, of course. The love will have waited for her there on the mountains,
pacing back and forth, and hoping she would come to receive it, but eventually it’ll become one
with the stars, always gazing down at her from the distance—after all she’ll no longer be in a
position any longer to achieve that love. The use of symbols such as mountains and stars might
even be of deeper significance here. We will leave it to others to explore this possibility.

Interpretation of When You are Old

In a nut shell the poem is telling Maude Gonne that she needs to get her act together and open
her heart to Yeats, because if she doesn’t she’ll grow shallow and crass and that love will grow
inaccessible to her. That is, now, while Maude Gonne is in her youth, her heart is still open to
the beauty of Yeats’ love and the potential it holds for both of them. She can climb the
mountain easily, and together they can reach for the sky. However, if instead, Maude Gonne
chooses more earthly desires and goals, she will eventually find herself self-imprisoned in the
hell of her own shallowness. Yeats will still love her, but she will no longer be able to reach for
that love. It’ll only be like a fading memory in a book of old.
The poem is desperately asking Maude Gonne not to let this happen!
We hope you found our analysis revealing and helpful. We encourage you to subscribe to
our poetry updates so that you don’t miss our next great original poem or our next poem
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When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats
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Here is an analysis of William Butler Yeats’ poem When You Are Old, which is directly addressed
to the speaker’s lover. Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, and is one of the most celebrated
poets in Irish history. Many of his poems reflect the Irish spirit, but this poem concentrates
more on the love he once shared with a woman. This woman is probably Maud Gonne, an Irish
revolutionary who ended up marrying another man. Yeats himself would go on to marry, but
many see When You Are Old as a poem highlighting the failed relationship with Gonne. After an
initial read, many see this poem as one that is filled with love, but the last stanza is dark; 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. While this is one of Yeats’ most popular poems, he wrote
many others that were just as successful. As a result, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1923.

There are two analytical interpretations of this poem within this article. To read the second
analysis, please scroll to the bottom of the article and click ‘Next’ or page 2.
When You Are Old Summary
This is a poem that many see as highlighting the unrequited love between the speaker,
presumably Yeats, and his former lover. The speaker, talking directly to his muse, instructs her
to open the book in which this poem can be found and to re-read it. While re-reading, she
should recall how many people loved her for both true and false reasons, namely because of
her beauty. The speaker goes on to tell the lover that there was one man, probably the speaker,
who loved her completely. In the final stanza, the speaker tells his former lover that she should
remember that this love did not last, and she should be filled with regret because of it.
 
Breakdown Analysis of When You Are Old
The poem is comprised of three stanzas, each containing four lines. The rhyme scheme is very
distinct and steady; the first stanza is a b b a; the second is c d c d; the third is e f e f.
Additionally, Yeats wrote the poem in iambic pentameter. This, coupled with the steady rhyme
scheme, lends a sing-song quality to the poem. While the work is relatively short, like any Yeats
poem, it is jam-packed with imagery and other poetic devices.
The first stanza opens the poem, revealing that our speaker is talking directly to his former
lover. The first line reads: “When you are old and grey and full of sleep…” From this line, the
reader can derive that he is writing this while his lover is still relatively young, but she should
read this again when she is an old woman. The speaker has very specific instructions for his
lover. Not only should she read the poem when she is “old and grey and full of sleep,” but also
when she is “nodding by the fire,” according to the second line. In the third and fourth lines, the
speaker tells his former beloved to “…dream of the soft look/Your eyes had once, and of their
shadows deep…”In conjunction with re-reading the poem, the lover should also remember the
beauty she once possessed.
The second stanza is a continuation of the first, and this time, the speaker is reminding his lover
of how many people once loved her “moments of glad grace.” This line, the fifth in the poem,
utilizes alliteration with “glad grace,” which further adds to the musical rhythm of the work. In
the sixth line, the speaker refers directly to his muse’s beauty, writing, “And loved your beauty
with love false or true…” He references the fact that many people loved the woman, but some
of those people did not truly love her, perhaps only valuing her for her physical beauty. In the
next line, the speaker changes tracks, referring to the one man who “loved the pilgrim soul in
you,” probably referencing himself. Yeats’ diction here is worth contemplating, and much has
been made of the phrase “pilgrim soul.” A pilgrim is one who travels for religious reasons, but it
can also mean a person who wanders. Perhaps the speaker is accusing his former beloved as
being a restless, fickle person, but he may also be referring to the woman’s constant wonder
and intellect, or the fact that he was as devoted to her as a pilgrim is to his religion. However
one interprets that line, it is safe to say that the speaker is telling his lover that he loved her to
the very depths of her soul. The speaker takes this one step further in the final line of the
stanza, telling his lover he also “…loved the sorrows of your changing face,” which means he
loved her even when her beauty had started to fade and age.
The speaker then returns to when his lover becomes an old woman, telling her that she will be
“…bending down beside the glowing bars,/Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled…” These first
two lines of the third stanza depict the old woman bending closer to the fire, remembering—
and regretting–how the love she once had from the speaker ran away. In the tenth line, Yeats
utilizes personification by having love flee like a person would. In the last two lines, Yeats writes
that after Love fled, he “…paced upon the mountains overhead/And hid his face amid a crowd
of stars.” The last line, “And hid his face amid a crowd of stars,” contains very beautiful
imagery, as the reader imagines Love hiding between the stars in the heavens. Yeats seems to
be telling his lover that while his love for her will always remain, she will be unable to reach it,
as one is unable to reach into the heavens and pluck out a star. The tone of the poem changes
with this last stanza. While the first two stanzas could be seen as romantic and positive, the loss
of the speaker’s love in the third stanza drastically changes the tone, which has become full of
regret.
 
Historical Context
While Yeats did write political poems, this is not one of them. However, it should be noted that
Maud Gonne, like Yeats, was seen as a political figure in Ireland. Both were nationalists, and it
was this passion, coupled with her undeniable beauty, that made Yeats fall in love with her.
Yeats proposed to her numerous times, and each time he was denied. Both went on to marry
other people, but the impact Gonne had on Yeats’ work is undeniable.
W B Yeats spent most of his life besotted with the beautiful actress, Maud Gonne. Sadly for him
it was an unrequited love because she did not return his feelings. She refused his offer of
marriage several times, although they remained friends throughout their lives.
When You Are Old
Ireland’s 100 favourite poems
W B Yeats
In When You Are Old he invites her to cast her mind forward to a time when she is old and grey;
to a time when she is no longer the glamorous actress but a frail old woman nodding by the
fire.
He asks her to take down a book – perhaps a book recounting her life, or perhaps a book
containing poems Yeats had written for her. In any case, it is a book designed to help her recall
her former glories.
This would be a bitter sweet moment for her. On the one hand she can remember when she
was beautiful; on the other, she knows her looks have faded. When she is old she will only be
able to dream “of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep”.
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you
When You Are Old was published in The Rose collection in 1893. Yeats was 28 at the time and
Gonne was 27.
In the second stanza, Yeats points out that so many men loved her beauty and moments of
triumph, but then he gets to his main point:
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face
He says that unlike other men, he loved her for who she is deep inside; he even loved her as her
looks began to fade – “the sorrows of your changing face”. The phrase “pilgrim soul” may refer
to Gonne’s independent frame of mind, or perhaps her support for freedom and Irish
nationalism. In any case, it is something unique to her in Yeats’ mind and separate from the
more transient qualities of her beauty.
The third stanza seems packed with meaning and power. When they were young, Yeats was a
struggling poet while Gonne was successful and famous. While he toiled in the darkness, her
star shone brightly; when she is older that light will have faded. Instead of standing tall among
the bright lights, she will “bending down beside the glowing bars”.
By then, her repeated rejections of Yeats may have taken their toll, and she may find herself
murmuring “a little sadly, how Love fled”. Love begins with a capital letter here because it
refers specifically to Yeats. He is the man who could have been the love of her life, but she
rejected him.
Because of this rejection, Love in the form of Yeats, will have left her…
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars
The change in circumstances is not only that Yeats will have lost patience and stopped trying to
make her love him. Yeats’ departure doesn’t just involve moving away to any old place. He will
be pacing on mountains…in other words, while her career has been in decline, his reputation as
a poet will be soaring so much that he will be pacing on mountains above her.
Yeats’ When You Are Old is based on a poem by the French poet, Ronsard entitled, Quand vous
serez bien vieille.
He will be the one amid the “crowd of stars” whereas Gonne’s star will have faded.
The time sequence of the poem is important because this isn’t really written from the
perspective of two old people. It’s written about two young people imagining what life will be
like when they are old.
It seems to be an attempt by Yeats to warn Gonne what life could be like if she rejects his pure
and genuine love for her and instead turns to what he sees as the less genuine love of others.
If that was Yeats’ intention, it didn’t work as Gonne continued to reject him and went on to
marry John McBride – an Irish Nationalist whom Yeats despised. However, the Yeats-Gonne
relationship continued and may have been consummated after she divorced McBride several
years later.
Although When You Are Old is specifically about Yeats and Gonne, it works perfectly well if it is
interpreted as being about any young couple looking forward to what the future may hold.
When You Are Old
When You Are Old notes and analysis
W B Yeats

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats, 1865 - 1939
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.
This poem is in the public domain.

W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats, widely considered one of the greatest poets of the English language,
received the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature. His work was greatly influenced by the heritage
and politics of Ireland.

What is the main theme of William Butler Yeats' poem "When You Are Old"?
Asked on April 1, 2015 at 7:00 PM by bigyard
like 1dislike 0
2 Answers | Add Yours

gmuss25 | College Teacher | (Level 1) Distinguished Educator

Posted on October 11, 2016 at 3:44 PM
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. In the second stanza, the speaker
encourages the woman to recall the numerous men who loved...
When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats

 When You Are Old

is a beautiful poem written by William Butler Yeats. Although the poem is short, it conveys a
tremendous amount of emotion. The most interesting facets of this poem are the poetic
devices used by the author; however, the pace of the poem is also a very important part of the
environment created in the poem.
Among the poetic devices used by the speaker, imagery is the most prevalent. Yeats’s poem is
directly inspired by an earlier poem by Pierre de Ronsard called Of His Lady’s Old Age. Both
poems rely heavily on imagery to describe their stories. The first line of the poem reads: “When
you are old and grey and full of sleep”. Although short, this line obviously relies heavily on
imagery, and very accurately describes an old woman. The subsequent lines in this stanza serve
to relax the reader, and to create the feeling of being in a warm house next to a fire. This
achieved through imagery, describing activities such as nodding by the fire, slowly reading a
book, and dreaming of days long passed. After the reader is suitably relaxed by the first stanza,
the second stanza will create a more depressing and sad mood. The second stanza has almost
no poetic devices included; however, it is still very important. The third and final stanza
contains the most imagery out of the three, and is filled with emotion. This stanza describes the
sadness of the old woman as she thinks of her youth and rejected lover. The last three lines
take full advantage of imagery to create a certain mood. These lines read: “Murmur, a little
sadly, how Love fled/And paced upon the mountains overhead/ And hid his face amid a crowd
of stars. Overall, the poem relies heavily on imagery to create different atmospheres for the
readers to immerse themselves in.
Another important aspect of the poem is the pacing. Through ingenious placement of
punctuation, the author forces the reader to slow down as they read through the poem. Almost
every line of the poem contains a comma, creating a pace similar to the mood described in the
poem. In addition to the imagery, the pacing helps to create a unique environment that assists
in the creation of the very emotional mood of the poem.
Overall, this beautiful poem utilizes imagery and pacing to make an interesting environment, as
well as to create a very emotional mood.