When You Are Old by W. B. Yeats.

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.

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)

Sorrow, despair and spite seem to be the source of modernist poetry.

I can be due to the vision of life, of the moments they were living (world Wars and dramatic and quick changes) that they were able to cover all the aspects that you can imagine now at a personal and even universal level.

It strongly calls my attention that, from the three poets we studied, the one that shows more spite in his poems and the one that most openly “speaks” about women is Yeats and, obviously, his devious relationship with Maud Gonne plays an important role and influences his writings. In the case of When You are Old we can appreciate  a sort of sequel of the Deep-sworn Vow. This time the author has a more relaxed stand towards his loved one. However, as we read the poem we can notice a bit of spite in his words when he says “but one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, and loved the sorrows of your changing face” after naming the ones who loved her only at her bright moments and despite that, the whole poem transmits the feeling that he is still in love and he will be in love with her when they both grow old, and although maybe she never gave him a chance, he is the one that have always truly loved her.

By Yanareth Cerda.