The Text
When you are old and gray and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Glossary
| Word / Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| gray | grey-haired, old |
| full of sleep | tired, drowsy with age |
| nodding | moving one's head up and down, dozing |
| shadows deep | the depth and mystery of her eyes |
| glad grace | charm and beauty in happy moments |
| love false or true | some sincere, some insincere admirers |
| pilgrim soul | a questing soul, always searching for meaning |
| changing face | a face that changes with age and sorrow |
| glowing bars | the bars of the fireplace, full of glowing coal |
| murmur | say very softly |
| fled | ran away |
| paced | walked up and down |
Line-by-Line Explanation
Stanza 1
"When you are old and gray and full of sleep, / And nodding by the fire, take down this book," The speaker imagines his beloved as an old woman - grey-haired, drowsy, nodding off by the fire. He asks her then to take down "this book" - the book of poems he is writing now.
"And slowly read, and dream of the soft look / Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;" Reading slowly, she will dream of her youth - the soft, gentle look her eyes had and their deep shadows, which suggest mystery and depth of feeling.
Stanza 2
"How many loved your moments of glad grace, / And loved your beauty with love false or true," Many people admired her charm in her happy moments and her beauty. Some of that love was true; some was false, attracted only by her looks.
"But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, / And loved the sorrows of your changing face;" Only one man - the speaker - loved her soul, restless and searching like a pilgrim. He loved her not only in happy times but also the sorrows that would mark her face as it changed with age. His love was deeper than the love for her beauty.
Stanza 3
"And bending down beside the glowing bars, / Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled" Bending towards the fire, she will whisper with a little sadness about how Love went away from her life.
"And paced upon the mountains overhead / And hid his face amid a crowd of stars." Love is personified as a being who walked away over the mountains and hid his face among the stars - true love became distant, unreachable and lost to her. The image may also hint that the lover himself is gone, or that his love now lives on only in memory and in his poems.
Poetic Devices and Features
| Device | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Personification | Love fled / And paced upon the mountains / And hid his face | Love is shown as a person who leaves |
| Metaphor | the pilgrim soul | Her soul is a traveller searching for truth |
| Imagery | nodding by the fire; glowing bars; a crowd of stars | Warm, quiet scenes of old age and a distant sky |
| Alliteration | glad grace; full of sleep … soft look | Adds music to the lines |
| Repetition | And … And … And; loved … loved … loved | A slow, flowing, reflective rhythm |
| Contrast | many loved her beauty / one man loved her soul | Separates shallow love from true love |
Form. Three stanzas of four lines (12 lines), rhyming ABBA in each stanza - sleep/book/look/deep, grace/true/you/face, bars/fled/overhead/stars. The lines are in iambic pentameter.
Time frame. The speaker speaks in the present, asks her to imagine the future (old age), and from that future she will look back to the past (her youth). This shifting time frame makes the poem both a love poem and a meditation on memory.
Tone. Tender, reflective and gently sad.