When You Are Old - Essay Example

When You Are Old Teeratas Suriya Tony Roberts ENGL 1302 6 March 2009 When You Are Old Human being is the most important living thing in the world because of the intelligence it possesses. He is not sure of what is going to happen at the next moment. But he can confirm one thing without having any doubt. As the day passes or as each second passes, he is getting nearer and to the ultimate truth, the death. He doesn’t have much idea about from where he comes. Same way he is not sure about where he goes after his death.

Human love and affection is always related to physical appearance, beauty happiness or achievements. These loves are not eternal s it ends once the life is over. But famous Irish poet, William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1935) in his poem “When You are Old” remind us about a person who loved our soul and sorrows. Yeats succeeded in describing the pathetic conditions when somebody becomes old. He says that the dark hairs will be grayed; the youthful active energy will give way for tiredness or sleeping.

He says that when you became old, your eyes will not work properly and hence you will not be able to read properly. He reminds us that the old age is all about our youthful and childhood sweet memories. He says that all the sweet memories at the childhood or youth period may be due to the physical attractiveness. Everybody cared or loved you because of your physical specialties When You Are Old 2rather than anything else. The poet reminds us about a person who loved our soul through the following lines.

But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,And loved the sorrows of your changing face; (Yeats) Human being is considered to be made of body, mind and spirit. Body and mind believed to be finished by the death of a person while the soul is believed to be alive still. So the love and affection demonstrated towards body and mind will not last long. Most of the people love the happy side of one’s life. How many loved your moments of glad grace,And loved your beauty with love false or true, (Yeats) The happy side of life will mostly started to diminish once a person getting older and older and hence the love offered by others may also started to diminish.

Such love can be termed as temporary. It is under these circumstances, the old person may have to think about a person who loved his soul and sorrows. The love demonstrated towards the soul is the everlasting one since the soul believed to be last forever and hence only that love can be termed as the real or true love. ConclusionMost of the love offered by others is temporary since such loves focuses only the physical things. Once the physical things get exhausted such loves also will start to When You Are Old 3disappear.

On the other hand a love shown towards the soul can be considered as the everlasting one since the soul believed to be exists for ever. The poet though his poem “When You Are Old” mentioned below compares two types of love; physical love and spiritual love.“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 lookYour 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 fledAnd paced upon the mountains overheadAnd hid his face amid a crowd of stars” (Yeats)When You Are Old 4Works Cited1.

William Butler Yeats, When You Are Old, Retrieved on March 6, 2009 from