when you are old赏析

When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and gray 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.

In this poem,the poet’s love for the girl touches my heart deeply. And the love could transcend the time and be forever no matter how young or old the girl is because her holy soul would never be changed as time passes. Hence,I believe what keep love everlasting is spirit not material as the essence of love.

The spiritual love is conveyed by two kinds of imaginative pictures in poet’s mind:when she is old and when she is young. In the first stanza,when she is old,there is a warm picture:a gray-haired woman,nodding beside the fire,reads this poem. And reminding of her budding beauty:her face was soft and eyes were deep,the poem shows how deep the poet was ever attracted by her young charm. As it is known,eyes are the windows to the soul. In the second stanza,in her glad and grace moments,compared with those who just love the girl because of her beautiful appearance,what the poet loves the girl deeply is that he feels her profound and pure soul through her eyes. What’s more,this kind of noble and spiritual love will not disappear though the girl will be aging with wrinkles on her face. After ending the recollection of youth,in the third stanza,the girl goes back to the moment she is old. She would sigh the passing love has stepped into and then hid in the starry sky overhead the mountains. This also implies the reality that the poet could not be with the girl as it’s hard to get together like there are mountains between them ,yet he still loves her forever like the stars never extinguish.

In conclusion,the poet’s love for the girl is from the good impression outside into the depth of soul inside. And only soul love can be persistent and timeless although their love will get in the way.