As we discussed “When you are old” by William Yeats, this was an interesting work because the discussion we had during the class. As we went over specific wordings and try to interpret the meanings behind them, the background of Yeats writing this story to his lover helped in many ways. By understanding the real reason of why he was writing this poem maded the reader, and me as well, more related and feel the sorrow and heartbroken feeling. While the discussion went through, the one question that made me think alot was “what is true love?”. This is a million dollar question, as many people struggle to find answers and solutions to this issue. As the theme for my blog is trying to focus on individual aspects, it is inevitable to neglect the one main aspect of human beings, which is love. This overwhelming effect cannot be explained in words. The uncontrollable will and passion is somewhat similar as fire, which is mentioned in the work. The complexity of this is that their is no blue print to the answer, because all people are unique and come from different backgrounds and experience. But one funny thing of this is that, every people tend to think their situations are the most heart breaking compared to others, since their point of view is purely subjective. It is a common thing when you talk with others about the heart breaking moments, and everyone will say their experience is the most. Yeats work shows this as well. The words and expressions make it able to picture his devistation and loss. Another thing interesting of this work is that the sudden change of attitude toward the end. As Yeats is denied, he declares “he will not be there when u need me”. This is somewhat childish act whining, which is somewhat similar in the story we read early this semester “The Barrelmaker brimful of love”, when Kyushichi rejects Osen’s request for help.
I personally think that love is also related to hate. The more you like a person, when you are disappointed at them, you will hate them more. The feeling of hate roots from love, which you really care about someone. The opposite feeling should be ignorance, which doesn’t have any feeling existing, wether what they do. Because of this, I believe Yeat’s will still have the desire of love, no matter what he says and complains about, it is just visible that way.