William Butler Yeats, “When You Are Old,” is a poem in three stanzas, which consists of a consistent rhyme scheme. Yeats uses metaphors sometimes associated with sets of poetic images. He exercises them well in the poem. They are meaningful, detailed and well understood. Yeats illustrates a man's genuine feelings for what appear to be younger women. This takes place afterwards; he was without the woman he loves and expressed what she had lost. In the first stanza he talks about the future, “When you are old and gray and full of sleep” (Yeats, a)Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay As this metaphor is very detailed, it is easy to understand that it is talking about being old, as you get older, you become more tired therefore full of sleep. Additionally, Yeats describes that with age, wisdom follows and she will gain a deeper understanding of what she has lost. As Yeats illustrates the future, he also illustrates the past in the last two lines of this stanza “And read slowly and dream of the gentle gaze // Thy eyes once had, and of their deep shadows” (Yeats, 3-4). In this case, the speaker wants her to feel, as if “what it was.” » In the sense that she had soft and beautiful eyes and what their love once represented. The second stanza, maintaining the rhyme scheme, also contains a significant amount of imagery within the stanza. Yeats uses imagery to show more detail and importance to what the speaker is feeling. depicted in the past, how much she was loved by many, “How many have loved your moments of happy grace” (Yeats, 5). There is a meaning to this as in the lines after he continues to explain himself, because what he loved was more special and more meaningful than the love others gave him. “But a man loved the pilgrim soul in you” (Yeats, 7), as if the pilgrim soul she had was something more difficult to acquire. The speaker also said that even though she was losing her beauty, he “loved the sorrows of your changing face.” This stanza in a sense gives a voice of guilt about what she missed in the past. She may have taken for granted the love he gave her. Yeats uses his images in a wide range. The two perspectives of the speaker or man and woman. The third stanza talks about the future in the first and third person. At this point in the poem, this is where she finally grew old and wasted away somewhere alone. At this point the first person is relevant because she is talking to herself about how love was lost and she realizes that love has gotten away and that due to her age and circumstances he will not come back. “Whisper, a little sadly, how Love fled” (Yeats, 10) This stanza consists of a significant amount of imagery used with metaphor. He uses imagery to better set the scene and give it more meaning. “And walked on the mountains above” (Yeats, 11). A great example of the imagery Yeats used to add extra depth to the poem. As the poem is about love and how love got away, there is something that stands out. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay The main point of the poem represents how love fled. As I said in the introduction. It seems that the man who showed his love for the pretty woman is older. The final verse of the poem is an exceptional conclusion. “And hid his face in the midst of a crowd of stars”..