FOR ANNE GREGORY: William Butler Yeats \ POEM \ C B S E \ CLASS 10

ABOUT THE POET:  William Butler Yeats, the son of a well-known Irish painter, John Butler Yeats. Yeats was deeply involved in politics in Ireland. In the twenties, despite Irish independence from England, his verse reflected pessimism about the political situation in his country and the rest of Europe. His work after 1910 was strongly influenced by Ezra Pound. He had a life-long interest in mysticism and the occult and remained uninhibited in advancing his idiosyncratic philosophy, and his poetry continued to grow stronger as he grew older. He was one of the founders of the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin, and  one of the  greatest poets—in any language—of the century. W. B. Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923 and died in 1939 at the age of seventy-three.

THE POEM :

“Never shall a young man, (a)
Thrown into despair  (b)                           
By those great honey-coloured (c)
Ramparts at your ear,(b)
Love you for yourself alone(d)
And not your yellow hair.”(b)

“But I can get a hair-dye(a)
And set such colour there, (b)     
Brown, or black, or carrot,(c)
That young men in despair (b)
May love me for myself alone (d)
And not my yellow hair.”(b)

“I heard an old religious man (a)
But yesternight declare(b)
That he had found a text to prove(c)
That only God, my dear,(b)                                
Could love you for yourself alone(d)
And not your yellow hair.”(b)

MEANINGS:

Despair: sadness
Ramparts: The high, wide walls around a castle or fort.                                                                                  yesternight : yesterday night

LITERARY DEVICES:

Metaphor: honey-coloured Ramparts at your ear. Here Anne’s hair is compared to the ramparts of a fort.                  Alliteration: repetition of consonant ‘s’ sound at the start of two consecutive words - such colour & he had, your yellow.

Anaphora: Repeated use of a word at the beginning of two lines -That he & aThat only god

SUBSTANCE: The poem is a beautiful conversation between the poet, Yeats and a young girl named Anne Gregory. The appearance of the girl is charming. Her honey-coloured blonde hair is an added attraction. The hair falling like wide walls around castle and creates a  curiosity  and surprising grandeur. Her outward beauty is irresistible .So, any one would be in love with her because of her attractive looks with that beautiful yellow hair. So, a young boy being tempted by dazzling glamour would become sad because of her rejection.

To this, Anne says that she will change her looks by dying her hair into some other colour. She will become less attractive.  Then, maybe, she will find a true love for herself who would love her for her inner charm, beauty and quality. Her attractive looks with that beautiful yellow hair will be of no consideration.

So, at last, Yeats explains to her that the previous night, he had heard some religious man saying that only God loves us for real qualities. This means that God never loves us for our looks but for our inner beauty. Only a young boy might be tempted by dazzling glamour but the judgement of God is wise and worthy .It should make you contented and understand your true value and where your beauty lies.

 

NCERT TEXT BOOK QUESTIONS:

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1.     A young person never to be thrown into despair. Why?

2.     Explain the phrase ‘those great honey-coloured Ramparts.

3.     A young man should never love a young woman for ‘herself  alone’?

4.     ‘And not my yellow hair’, explain the phrase. What is tried to be proved by the young woman?

5.     What is the declaration of the religious old man? What is tried to be proved?

6.     ‘That only God, my dear, Could love you for yourself alone.’ Why? Justify it.

7.     “But I can get a hair-dye..’ What did want say by this line?

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1.     Give the central idea of the poem.

2.     Justify the title of the poem.

3.     How does Anne want to be love – by external appearance or  by inner qualities ?

4.     What is the message of the poem?