‘When You are Old’ highlights the writer’* true and unforgettable love fora lady. It presents the concern of a sincere lover for the future predicament of his lady love. Instead of focusing upon the present or the past, the poet looks to the future, a future in which the two people in the poem are destined to be for ever apart. The poet imagines that the woman he loved has become old and regrets her refusing his true love.
The poem begins with the presumption that an old and graylady is sitting beside the **** nodding her head. When she recalls her memories, she remembers the soft look that her eyes had once, and the number of suitors who tried to court her, being charmed by her elegance and beauty; While admitting that many suitors were attracted by her youthful beauty; the speaker tries to tell her that he was the only lover who loved the pilgrim soul in her. He wants her to know that unlike others he was attracted by the beauty of her inner self and his love would remain constant even in her old age. He assures her that he loves even the sorrows of her changing face.
He wants her to understand that over a ** of time her beauty will have faded away and she will have grown old, with her face having shrunk and her skin having been wrinkled, indicating that she has passed through many difficulties and sorrows. The speaker concludes visualizing that she is now bending down beside the dying ****, and she tells herself in a whisper, in a regretful tone that her true love has fled and is hiding his face amidst a crowd of stars. Thus, the whole poem is the delineation of the intense feelings of a true lover.
