“When You Are Old” is obviously a very romantic poem but it is also about aging.

In “When You Are Old”, Yeats tries to persuade the reader to imagine themselves when they have grown old. Yeats uses this scenario to commentate on a person’s social and individual perception in the past, and how that perception has changed when they lose their youthfulness. He mentions how a young person is not loved for who they are, but they are loved for the beauty and grace that society perceives of them. Yeats is critical of this person for being too caught up with the attention they receive and ignoring those who actually have true love for them, regardless of age and regardless of beauty. This dismissal of true love eventually leads to the person being alone in their old age, showing how their lack of commitment in the past will lead to their isolation in the future.