Quick Revision

Stanza What happens Key phrase
1 She is old by the fire, reads his book, dreams of her young eyes take down this book
2 Many loved her beauty; one man loved her soul the pilgrim soul in you
3 She murmurs sadly that Love has gone hid his face amid a crowd of stars

Remember

  • Poet: W.B. Yeats (Irish, Nobel 1923, Abbey Theatre).
  • Rhyme scheme ABBA in each of three quatrains; 12 lines.
  • Love is personified in the last three lines.
  • The two reasons he loved her: the pilgrim soul and the sorrows of her changing face.

[Exam Tip] — Do not write that the speaker is an old man meeting an old woman. He is young, and he is asking her to imagine her own old age.