This poem opens with a second-person directive from the speaker to an unnamed listener. The speaker tells this listener that, when she is elderly, she should open up the very book in which the poem is written and reminisce about the past—specifically about the deep, soulful look her own eyes held in the past. She should also reminisce about how many people loved her for her graceful manner. Some of these loves were sincere and some were not, but one of these loves was distinct. A specific man loved the listener for her unique qualities—what the speaker calls her "pilgrim soul." He also explains that this man loved her expressions of sorrow, not simply the expressions of grace beloved by the others. The implication of this passage is that the speaker himself is this man, and that he is expressing his love for the listener within the poem itself. The speaker instructs the listener to bend over the fireplace and murmur her memories out loud, describing how love disappeared to pace along the mountaintops and to hide among the stars.
When You Are Old
by William Butler Yeats
When You Are Old Summary
