2ND PUC ENGLISH NOTES - WHEN YOU ARE OLD

 

WHEN YOU ARE OLD

William Butler Yeats

 

Comprehension I

1)  The speaker is addressing

a) a young woman he has loved      b) an old woman that he has met now

c) the woman that he has admired in his life.

Ans: a) a young woman he has loved.

 

2) Inline two, the word ‘book’ refers to

a) memories                   b) book of poems         c) an album         d) diary

Ans: a) memories.

 

3) The words ‘glad grace’ suggest

a) her physical beauty b) her inner beauty       c) her goodness

Ans: a) her physical beauty

 

4)‘Pilgrim soul’ means the soul

a) which is immortal     b) that has gone on a pilgrimage

c) which is questing for true love.

Ans: c) which is questing for true love.

 

5) What does the phrase ‘your changing face’ suggest?

Ans: The phrase “your changing face” suggests that her youth and beauty will fade away. When she grows old her face will get shrunk and will look different.

 

6) ‘Love fled’ connotes

a) the death of the man who loved her     b. the fleeing of her lover to the mountains                 c) the loss endured by her.

Ans: b) the fleeing of her lover to the mountains.

 

7) What does the speaker want his beloved to do sitting by the fire?

Ans: The speaker wants his beloved to sit by the fire and recall her memories of the past.

 

8) Where, according to the speaker, had love hidden his face?

Ans: According to the speaker, 'love' had hidden his face amid a crowd of stars.

 

9) Which is possible to infer about the speaker of 'when you are old'?

Ans: He is saddened by rejection is possible to infer about the speaker of “when you are old”.

 

10) What does the phrase 'full of sleep' mean?

Ans: She is old, tired and is going to die in the near future. It suggests lack of vitality and youthfulness.

 

11) Who does the speaker picture as 'nodding by the fire'?

Ans: “nodding by the fire” the speaker depicts his lady love as an old woman sitting beside the fire, nodding her head.

 

12) What does the speaker want his beloved to dream of?

Ans: The speaker wants his beloved to dream of herself as an old and gray woman nodding by the fire.

 

13) What are 'your moments of glad grace'?

Ans: It alludes to her style and magnificence as a young lady. Here it refers to the events when numerous admirers were mesmerized by her youth and beauty.

 

14) What is the aspect of the beloved that the speaker feels affinity for?

Ans: The speaker feels affinity for her pilgrim soul which means her inner self and not her exterior beauty.

 

15) What does ' the sorrows of your changing face' refer to?

Ans: They refer to the progressions found in her face as she becomes older. Her face will have contracted and wrinkles which showed up on her brow and face portray the challenges and distresses looked by her throughout the long term.

 

Comprehension II

1) How is the ‘one-man’ different from the many others who loved the lady?

Ans: The speaker asks his love to assume that she has become old and dim and is perched by the fire gesturing. At that point he requests her to peruse from her book from recollections and think back her past when she was in her excellent youth. While she is in this manner occupied with reviewing her past, the writer advises her that however she without a doubt had a considerable number of admirers who respected her magnificence and beauty and claimed 'love' which might be valid or bogus, he alone adored her genuinely.  He says that he adored her internal excellence and surprisingly the disappearing of her childhood and magnificence. The expression 'the number of' in the primary line in second stanza remains as opposed to 'Yet one man', in the third line in second verse. While numerous admirers cherished her magnificence and tastefulness, he alone adored her traveler soul just as the distresses of her evolving face.

 

2) How does the poem bring out the transient nature of beauty as against the permanence of love?

Ans: Indeed, the sonnet, while making an endeavor to convince the young lady not to disregard him or his adoration, highlights unexpectedly features the transient idea of excellence as against the permanence of love. Truth be told, the speaker's contention is that, though the entirety of her admirers are simply pulled in by her energetic magnificence and tastefulness, he is pulled in by her explorer soul. Besides, he guarantees that the adoration displayed by her numerous admirers may not keep going long and may change as she develops old. Despite what might be expected, his adoration will stay steady and genuine. He would adore her pilgrim soul just as the adjustments in her face which show up as one develops old. Consequently, the writer, utilizing the expression 'your moments of glad grace' in the principal line of the second refrain conversely with the expression 'sorrows of your changing face' in the fourth line recommends that 'beauty' is transient in nature though 'love' is permanent.

 

Comprehension III

1) Comment on the usage of the time frame by the poet in ‘When You Are Old’.

Ans: This is a short love poem in which the writer utilizes a time period where the speaker tends to his love in the present, takes her to an unbelievable condition later on, and requests that she review her previous recollections. He does as such, to convince her or caution her not to disregard him and settle on an off-base choice. The poet's perspective is the most convincing mark of the poem. The poet is calling upon a lady that isn't yet through with youth to, once over the hill, review the days he was a major part of her life and particularly infatuated with her. Clearly, he needs her to recollect him for his novel and unrestricted love for her, and how she is deciding to overlook it in the present. By composing this poem in this design, the lady, when the poet trusts that she develops old, will recall the days when she was youthful with joy yet will develop remorseful that she didn't exploit his adoration.

 

On the other hand, the lady, in the present will perceive what a chance she is missing by disregarding his love for her and leaving him to blur into the past. The speaker fears that his love won't follow up on his affection for her and that she will just recall him in the book of recollections. He trusts that if, when old, she puts down the book of recollections, and she will develop nippy and pitiful that she didn't anticipate how ardent his affection was nevertheless how absurd she was for failing to acknowledge it. He is now unfortunate that she will develop old without him, and this can be viewed as he demands that she recall him and as a missed opportunity to have an upbeat future. It is the time span that the poet has utilized in this poem that encourages the him to compose this dismal and suggestive sonnet which isn't planned basically to make an elderly person remorseful, however to hold a young lady back from overlooking the poet and settling on some unacceptable choice.

 

2) ‘When You Are Old’ is a poem of contrasts. What purpose do they serve? Ans: ‘When You Are Old’ as composed to show the valid and exceptional love from the narrator. The theme is an agonizing one of pathetic love, which the artist controls in a fascinating way. Rather than centering upon the present or the past, Yeats plans ahead, a future wherein the two individuals in the poem are bound to be perpetually separated. The artist visualizes an unbelievable condition that the lady he adored became old and felt lament for rejecting his true love.

 

To portray such a theme, the poet sends rich and elegant words and constructs pictures of differences: In the first stanza, there is a differentiation between her exquisite youth and her discouraging old age. In the second stanza, there is a differentiation between her numerous admirers who purported shallow love and the speaker or the sweetheart who guarantees true love for her. In the third stanza, there is a difference between the short lived or transient love addressed by her numerous admirers and the embodied love of the poet.

 

There is a difference between 'the sorrows of your changing face' n the second stanza and ‘murmur a little sadly’ of the third stanza. ‘The sorrows’ show enthusiasm or forceful feeling is found in youngsters and 'little sadly' mirrors the languor of elderly folk’s individuals. There is a difference between the 'beauty and elegance' sans her spirit pursued by the admirers and the 'pilgrim soul' in a similar lady appreciated by the speaker. The numerous admirers who needed to court her were pulled in by her shallow magnificence though this speaker was pulled in by her pilgrim soul, which represents her internal identity. These differentiations serve to assemble a solid contention to convince the youngster not to disregard him now and lament later.