W.B.Yeats 'When You Are Old'

'When You Are Old' by William Butler Yeats
read by David Shaw Parker , studio productions Robert Nichol rnaudioproductions London
http://www.ipodity.com ( home of great poetry )

'When You Are Old' by William Butler 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.

William Butler Yeats (pronounced /ˈjeɪts/; 13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet and dramatist and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and English literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, and served as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation;" and he was the first Irishman so honored

read by David Shaw Parker , studio productions Robert Nichol rnaudioproductions London
http://www.ipodity.com ( home of great poetry )

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[janpmorris]

I've always thought that Yeats addressed this poem to Maud Gonne, and that Yeats thought himself the "one man" who really loved her, despite her marriage to McBride and her other romantic entanglements.

[nieuwbooy]

I have always wondered about the verse "one man loved the pilgrim soul in you". Who is this "one man"? I keep thinking he means Christ but Yeats wasn't Christian.

[paljim24]

Oh how beautiful....

'One man loved the pilgrim soul in you...'

[SensieSanzashi]

You are all posh idiots! "The words" listen to the damn words, idiots!

[anotherkindofcold]

I want those glasses.

[aeiou99999]

This is precisely what he sounded like: W.B. Yeats Reading His Own Verse on You Tube.

[ha6ni6el6]

@strickdan44 On the contrary, Yeats was Anglo-Irish, from the Ascendancy class, who spoke with an English accent. All his friends, such as Constance Gore-Booth, (Countess Markevitch) came mainly from this upper class and "talked posh"!

[strickdan44]

Of course, Yeats was Irish, so did not have an "English" accent, at all.

[GalaxyHorse]

@eireisthebest The narrator does not have an 'upper-class' English accent at all, he is well spoken, yes but the accent is neutral-if you want to hear a so-called upper class accent, listen to Prince Charles, or any Royal family; this man sounds nothing like that. Britain has hundreds of accents and dialects, speaking clearly and with diction is not 'upper class'.

[kend16]

@eireisthebest

Because:

A They are Engilsh.

B That is how HE spoke.