When You Are Old By William Butler Yeats

As Wendy Martin says “the poem leaves the reader with painful impression of a woman in her mid-fifties, who having lost her domestic comforts is left to struggle with despair. Although her loss is mitigated by the promise of the greater rewards of heaven, the experience is deeply tragic.” (75)

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

By simply reading the title of the poem, one realizes that Yeats is giving out a warning to never love wholeheartedly. In the opening lines of the poem, “Never give all the heart, for love / Will hardly seem worth thinking of”, the speaker continues his warning.

From the first few lines Keats alludes to the great romances of the previous ages as opposed to William Shakespeare's great tragedies. While it could be discerned that Keats is referring to his poem

Experience and wisdom are gained throughout time and the aging process. It is also learned through the poem that it is important to take time for things that one finds enjoyable. Such things as "mother-of-pearl and corals" (line 16) represent those things which make us joyful. It is suggested that one is supposed to enjoy and obtain

She writes “The One Girl at the Boy’s Party” as a representation of reaching the full potential and understand the power and beauty of an individual's mind. Having an alcoholic father that often would use cruel and unfair punishments, left Olds and her family afraid to express themselves. As Olds neared adolescence she joined a church choir, where she would find a new passion to pursue. She fell in love with sonnets and poetry, her favorite book was composed of hymns and passages. As she furthered her education she became passionate about writing free verses. In this free verse poem she discusses the theme of aging and maturing. Due to the fact that she did not experience a ¨normal” childhood, she writes to inform the reader that it is okay to want to be older and to essentially grow up. She tells the story from a mother’s perspective, allowing the reader to see it from different point of view. The mother is scared and nervous for her daughter, but we cannot stop time, everyone

The jealous tone disappears at the end, however, and the poem ends wistfully and resigned stating that, “It’s an old/story—the oldest we have on our planet--/the story of replacement” (16-18). The speaker realizes that aging is part of the continuous life process, which starts at birth and ends at death. She understands that each phase of life has a specific purpose for maintaining the species. Her daughter must mature so she can create new life, just as the speaker did ten years ago. She knows that eventually her daughter will replace her and that the life process will continue to repeat itself for generations to come.

Most of the poem is sweet, but also tells them to hurry and enjoy life right now before they run out of time. Also that their bodies are energized now and later on they won’t be able to do what they would do when they were younger. In comparison to “To His Coy Mistress” the author tells them to get married also because they have something that time will sooner, or later take away and that would be sad that they didn’t get to enjoy it just because they wanted to

Olds begins the poem by stating Central plot, of a man who going to commit suicide. In New York City around evening time in mid-summer like in June. There are numerous amount of people in the streets. Author choose this setting to make the reader think about this man problems. The man can commit suicide where no can save him. But he choose a place where people can see

The poem begins in a manner suggestive of a lover scorned. Yeats talks about how passionate women, which at this point in time is not necessarily a compliment, don’t consider love that is a sure thing worth their time and energy. Essentially it is a poetized version of the “Nice guys finish last” argument, along with the idea that people only desire what

     When You are Old, by William Butler Yeats, represents and elderly woman reminiscing of her younger days. A past lover whispers to her as she looks through a photo album. Basically, Yeats is showing that as the woman gets older, she is alone, but she does not have to be lonely. She will always have her memories for companionship.

I chose to read and analyze the poem titled “The Coming of Wisdom with Time” written by William Butler Yeats. This poem portrays a theme of childhood ignorance in the sense that ignorance comes with young age. When you’re young optimism comes freely to you, you don’t notice how things got there, and you merely notice the superficiality, ignoring the complex prior process. With time, people’s capacity increase and they begin to be attracted to all the negative aspects as a result of losing their childhood innocence. The speaker states, “I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.” The reader can infer that the speaker is going through the growing up process where they stop thinking that the moon follows the car,

The poem ends with a dark, depressing thought that Keats has. If he does not find love before he dies, then he believes his life was meaningless. He says that he will “stand on the shore of the wide world alone,” almost referring back to how he thought his mind was as big as an ocean. When Keats uses the phrase “unreflecting love” in what he desires, he

"A Prayer for My Daughter" is a poem written by William Butler Yeats in 1919. This poem is a prayer-like poem. And it generally tells about the poet's ideas about his daughter who is sleeping at the same time while the poem is being told. Throughout the poem Yeats reflects how he wants his daughter's future to be. This essay will analyze the poem in three sections: 1- What does this poem mean?, 2- The poetic devices, imagery, rhyming, figures of speech, used in the poem and mood, diction, language, and the structure of the poem, 3- An essay in a feminist point of view titled "What does the poet want his daughter to become?" .