This poem is really interesting and displays the idea of reminiscing on life before the aging occurred. There are lines that look back at the image of this person’s younger self. For instance, “[…] and dream of the soft look/ Your eyes had once,” gives an image that as time progressed the eyes grew wearier and heavier, but it used to be lighter and there was not an appearance of being older. Therefore, this can also be reflecting that with aging comes a change in how everyone views and interacts with you. It is kind of a message to appreciate things beforehand because there will be a time where it won’t be the same.
2 thoughts on ““When You Are Old” is obviously a very romantic poem but it is also about aging.”
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I agree, I also think that the message portrayed in the poem is about aging. During her young age, the women was loved by many based on her appearance. It shows that the women she appreciate how it is now because she won’t look the same when she is older. The narrator is trying to tell the women that now everybody loves her because of her appearance but as she ages people won’t love her anymore but he still will.
I concur with all the responses. I think that the poem includes more fleeting love as well. The author explicitly writes about how Love fled. A person liked how she looked when she was young and her “pilgrim soul”. As she aged, the person still loved her but not to the full extent as when she first met this man.