When You Are Old, Yeats’s Poem of Unrequited Love

          The poem, When You Are Old, written by William Butler Yeats, is a quintessential love poem. This is a beautiful emulation of the famous poem Sonnets pour Helene by Pierre Ronsard (We read this poem in 10th grade). In Yeats’s work, the speaker visualizes his lover, not in the present, but how she may appear as aged and on her death bed. Yeats, in this autobiographical poem, tenderly reminisces about his past unrequited love, Maud Gonne (Sarker 117). The tone of the poem is gloomy and contemplative. Through diction, meter, rhyme scheme, and sensory imagery, Yeats creates downhearted, sorrowful feelings concerning this alluring woman. As he visualizes Maud in her golden years, he suggests that he will continue to yearn for her.

          The diction prevalent in the poem plays a fundamental role in presenting the pain and frustration of this unrequited love. Yeats’s specific word choices in the first stanza, "old and gray," "full of sleep," “slowly read,” and “dream of the soft look / Your eyes had once,” depict the appeal of youth long past its prime. The reader is thus prepared for the lamentations of a lost lover. In the second stanza, it is again Yeats’s use of specific words that creates the aura of a woman “many loved.” He paints this picture by the phrases “glad grace” and “loved your beauty.” Yeats goes on to describe the one love that surpasses all others, by saying, “loved the pilgrim soul in you” and “loved the sorrows of your changing face,” which make the reader feel the depth and pain of his regretful love. In the final stanza, Yeats uses words to make the reader feel the sorrow that encompasses one in old age when realizing “a little sadly” what was lost and what might have been. Yeats ends the poem by depicting the true lover as a star perpetually shining down upon his one true love. 

The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter, with five sets of unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one, as shown in the first line: “When you are old and gray and full of sleep.” Throughout the poem, the stressed syllables fall typically on the more descriptive, important words, such as “loved,” “beauty,” and “you.” Since the speaker emphasizes these words, they reiterate the importance of the apostrophic character with the narrator, to the reader. 

          The rhyme scheme of When You Are Old is: abba cddc effe. The words that rhyme at the ends of lines emphasize the vowel sounds, such as “sleep,” “book,” and “true.” However, the first two stanzas have long vowel sounds, whereas the third has short vowel sounds, in words such as “bars” and “fled.” The rhyme scheme has the effect of moving from the present when she is old, to the past when she is young, which gives it an undulating effect.

          Sensory imagery, a means of deepening the reader’s comprehension of the thoughts the poet is trying to convey, is another of Yeats’s techniques. For example, in the first stanza:

                    And slowly read, and dream of the soft look 

                    Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

This stanza, when the old woman reads by the fire, sets the tone and mood for the poem. The reader can feel the sadness the woman feels as she relives the past. Imagery also is exemplified in the last stanza of the poem when Yeats writes: 

          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.

The capital “L” that Yeats puts on the word “love” here is done to imply that he has always been her ever-faithful love. Spiritually, he implies that he has never left her, always shining down upon her. He is the true love who, wherever she might be, is the constancy of her life as portrayed by the constancy of the stars. (658)

Waiting for the Barbarians: Two Important Lessons

The two most important lessons that the Magistrate learns throughout the year are how blindness has a larger metaphorical context, and the reality of who the real “barbarians” are. 

The Magistrate comes to realize that the “barbarians” are not the people of the village, but really the invading Empire. The “barbarians” from the desert never kill, rape, or torture anyone in the novel; in fact, they never come to the town at all. They are a peaceful people, never meaning harm to others. However, the Magistrate thinks that the Warrant Officer from the Empire was the savage: “sight of one of the new barbarians usurping my desk and pawing my papers” (76). The Magistrate concludes through his many observations that the military and officers from the Empire are the ones who rape, pillage, plunder, etc., not the “barbarians” from the frontier settlement.

The first idea of the novel: “I have never seen anything like it: two little discs of glass...Is he blind? I could understand it if he wanted to hide blind eyes. But he is not blind. The discs are dark…” (1) is supportive of the Empire’s being “blind.” It is unaware not only of its actions, mentalities, and consequences toward the “barbarians,” including understanding their true motives (food gathering and survival). Even the Magistrate wrestles with his “blindness,” physically and metaphorically, when he struggles to remember the barbarian girl’s face in his sleep, then repeatedly asking her where she was when she first came into the prisonyard. Throughout the novel he slowly gains insight to his feelings and disillusionment, mostly by exposure, toward the real “barbarians” - the Empire.

Martial Law

Martial law is when the military takes over the government in a state of emergency, especially when the "civilian" government fails to stabilize. Many countries have employed this measure, including Ireland, the Philippines, Thailand, and even the United States. In Thailand in 2005, martial law was initiated after various killings, fake explosives were found, etc. in the Songkhla province.  

Extra link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4402748.stm

Stewart Tave's Dance

1. Stewart Tave’s thesis is built upon the metaphoric use of dance as represented by Jane Austen’s style of writing in her novel Pride and Prejudice.
2. As in a dance routine, Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice occurs in the limited dimensions of time and space, and therein derives meaning. As in dancing, and in Austen’s novel, there is no choice for Elizabeth to stand still; she must respond to the actions of those she is with throughout the year in order for the story to move forward with meaning. 
3. Yes. Things that are true of dancing are true of her novel; it occurs in restricted space and time; there is constant movement, producing enjoyment and sustaining interest; and the originality of the dancers and of Austen’s work creates a sense of appreciation. (all mentioned by Tave) 
4. Stewart Tave’s critique of Jane Austen made me take a second look at her novel. What has seemed a collection of mundane events in the lives of her characters became instead a revelation of the simplicity, yet complexity of life then. From his critique, I appreciate Austen’s ability to create interest in everyday life, in a short span of time, to show the limited choices of young women, and to present an accurate portrayal of the morals, manners, and customs of the 18th century like an orchestrated dance.

Love...What is it?

  Shakespeare presented various types of love through throughout Twelfth Night. His focus is not on the common heterosexual form of love, but delves into other variations of its meaning. One of the types of love is unrequited love, which has many forms. Orsino’s desire for Olivia, but her complete rejection of him; Malvolio’s love for Olivia; and Viola’s affection for Orsino. Even without knowing Olivia, Orsino has shown his unrequited love within the first few lines of the play: “If music be the food of love, play on, / Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken, and so die.” The second is when Malvolio reads Olivia’s “letter” (really Maria’s), and the prank that Maria, Toby, and Andrew play on him. Malvolio’s love for Olivia is now fully shown, even though for doing so, he is deemed “insane” and sent to the prison. The third is Viola’s love for Orsino. In Act 2, Scene 4, Viola is as close to revealing her love as she can get: Orsino: “My life upon it, young though thou art, thine eye / Hath strayed upon some favor that it loves. / Hath it not, boy?” Viola: “A little, by your favor.” Orsino: “What sort of woman is it?” Viola: “Of your complexion.” Orsino: “She is not worth thee, then. What years, i' faith.” Viola: “About your years, my lord.” Shakespeare seems to be alluding to the fact that not all love is “at first sight,” but rather that some love just will not be returned. These relationships may work at first, but Shakespeare did not have any of them end in true love. 

  Another type of love is the “familial” one found between Sebastian and Viola, only in Act 5, Scene 1. They are twin brother and sister, and Viola thinks he is dead. But when he arrives during this scene, they discuss on how they came to Illyria, as well as their past. At this point, Viola reveals herself (originally disguised as Cesario). This meeting sure is a joyous familial reunion. Even after a long period of time, and the misguided realization that the other is dead, Viola and Sebastian may have lost hope, but still loved each other in this way. It is the type of love that even in death, does not change. 

  A third type of love is “brotherly” love, mainly between Antonio and Sebastian. This is the type of friendship where one would go anywhere, or do anything for the other. In this case, Antonio went with Sebastian to a place (Illyria) where he knew he would be arrested, due to Antonio’s prior war against Orsino and his men. Even knowing what would happen did not deter him from going with his “brother” to explore the town. Shakespeare is saying that the love between two men does not necessarily have to be a sexual relationship, but still had the same passion and bond. 

  My own view of love is simply what I have learned throughout my years. Even though this time has seemingly been lengthy, in terms of love, I have not matured enough to fully experience the many types of love that Shakespeare suggested, such as unrequited love. I have experienced brotherly love, not only with my brother, but also with friends and extended family. To me, this type of love is when someone goes out of their way to help or support another. The familial love that I have experienced will be tested as I break those bonds to go off to college. Although I will not be with the family daily, the bonds that we share will mentally support me when I am away. (609)

Freedom Is Just Another Word

Freedom is a word that seems easy enough to understand. Growing up, I was taught that the word “freedom” means a break from some oppressive force. Like, when the French commonfolk in the 1780s formed their own government by overthrowing the previous aristocracy. Or when the American settlers fought for their social and religious freedom from the British Empire. Another idea I had for “freedom” involved destroying the barriers of some socially accepted custom of society like miscegenation (blacks and whites marrying), which had been taboo until the late-1960s. I was also told about various types of freedoms, including speech, religion, and press. These are freedoms that other countries, such as China, Cuba, and North Korea, did not give to their citizens. However, I never knew that there are over 14 uses of the word, with multiple definitions each! I did understand that freedom meant release from slavery, but I did not know that the actual land given to the “free-man” was considered freedom. 

I chose the word “freedom” because it is a word I hear everywhere. There are innumerable examples of it in literature, politics, war, and many more. I even have a shirt I wear that conspicuously writes the word across my chest. I have always felt there was a “need” to break the traditional boundaries of society. My psyche always has been to applaud the person that is freed from something or someone, and gained their freedom. 

Recently, on my school trip to Chengdu, China, I was informed of the many restrictions I would observe during my stay. The socialistic government has imposed rules on its citizens, such as the One-Child Policy, censorship, and other restrictions on human rights. However, while visiting, I noticed that life did not seem as oppressive as I was told. Students were able to use the internet, have cell phones, communicate directly in the urban city, and most especially, my host parents were content with only having one child. This situation has thrown a curve ball into my preconceived notions of freedom.

Pardoner Question and Answer

“Mine handes and my tonge goon so yerne

That it is joye to see my bisinesse.

Of avarice and of swich cursednesse

Is al my preching, for to make hem free

To yiven hir pens, and namely unto me,

For myn entente is nat but for to winne,

And no thing for correccion of sinne” (lines 110-6)

I found these lines particularly interesting. In them the corrupt Pardoner appears to be exposing his true purpose. The Pardoners character is one of trickery and deceiving and therefore when he “comes clean” about his livelihood and the way he gets his money, it is very difficult to decide if he is being truthful or not.  Question: Why does the Pardoner say that all his “bisinesse” is money and being greedy, then in the story conclude that being greedy is sinful, and at the end, lie to the other pilgrims about his “relics,” and recommends them to be pardoned?

Possible answer: In the prologue, the Pardoner tells the truth about what he does for a living. Then later in the story, he goes through various sins and explaining the faults behind each one. It is possible that the Pardoner tries to get the other pilgrims to agree with him (“sinning is bad,” etc.), tells the story about the “young companions” to make the pilgrims forget, and since they believe him, continue to think that they too need to be pardoned. It is a complex, sinister, but also well planned trick by the Pardoner.