2nd PUC When You Are Old English Notes Question and Answer Summary

2nd PUC When You Are Old English Notes Question and Answer Summary, Guide Extract Mcq Pdf Download in Kannada Medium Karnataka State Syllabus 2025 when you are old summary 2nd puc notes 2nd puc english when you are old summary in kannada 2nd puc english lessons when you are old summary in kannada kseeb solutions for class 12 english 6th poem notes when you are old summary class 12 2nd puc english notes ದ್ವಿತೀಯ ಪಿ ಯು ಸಿ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್‌ ನೋಟ್ಸ್‌

Prose Name : When You Are Old

Author Name : – W.B. Yeats

Comprehension I (TEXT BOOK)

1. The speaker is addressing

a. a young woman he has loved

b. an old woman that he has met now

c. the woman that he has admired in his life.

Ans : (a) a young woman he has loved.

2. In line two, the word ‘book’ refers to

a memories

b. book of poems

c. an album d. diary.

Ans : (a/b)-memories, book of poems.

3. The words ‘glad grace’ suggest

a. her physical beauty

b. her inner beauty

c. her goodness.

Ans : (a) her physical beauty.

4. ‘Pilgrim soul’ means the soul

a. which is immortal

b. that has gone on a pilgrimage

c. which is questing for true love.

Ans : (c) which is questing for true love.

5. What does the phrase ‘your changing face’ suggest?

It suggests that her youth and beauty will fade away. When she grows old her face will get shrunk and will look different.

6. ‘Love fled’ connotes

a. the death of the man who loved her

b. the fleeing of her lover to the mountains

c. the loss endured by her.

Ans : (b) – the fleeing of her lover to the mountains.

Comprehension II (TEXT BOOK)

1. How is the one man’ different from the many others who loved the lady?

OR

How does the speaker distinguish/contrast his love from/with that of the others?

The narrator/speaker asks his lady love to presume that she has grown old and gray and is sitting by the fire nodding. Then he asks her to read from her book of memories and reminisce about her past when she was in her prime youth. While she is thus engaged in recalling her past, the poet reminds her that though she undoubtedly had a great many suitors who admired her beauty and elegance and professed ‘love’ which may be true or false, he alone loved her unconditionally. He says that he loved her inner beauty and even the fading away of her youth and beauty. The phrase how many’ in the first line (second stanza) stands in contrast to ‘But one man, in the third line (second stanza). While many suitors loved her beauty and elegance, he alone loved her pilgrim soul as well as the sorrows of her changing face.

2. How does the poem bring out the transient nature of beauty as against the permanence of love?

Yes. The poem, while making an attempt to persuade the young lady not to ignore him or his love, also incidentally highlights the transient nature of beauty as against the permanence of love. In fact, the speaker’s argument is that, whereas all her suitors are merely attracted by her youthfu beauty and elegance, he is attracted by her pilgrim soul. Furthermore, he claims that the love exhibited by last long and might change as she grows old. On the contrary, his love wit onal He would love her pilgrim soul as well as the changes in her face Which appear at the gues old. Thus the poet, using the phrase your moments of glad grace in the first line of the decond stanza in contrast with the phrase “sorrows of your changing face’ in the fourth line suggests that beauty is transient in nature whereas love’ is permanent.

Comprehension III (TEXT BOOK)

1. Comment on the usage of time frame by the poet in ‘When You Are Old’.

OR

The speaker addresses a young lady in her old age: Comment on the time sequence used by the poet.

OR

The speaker in When You Are Old is not addressing an old lady. Explain.

‘When You Are Old’ is a short love poem in which the poet uses a time frame in which the speaker addresses his lady love in the present, takes her to an unreal condition in the future, and aslo her to recall her past memories. He does so, in order to persuade her or warn her not to ignore him and make a wrong decision.

The poet’s point of view is the most compelling point of the poem. The narrator is calling upon a woman that is not yet through with youth to, once past her prime, recall the days he was in her life and very much in love with her, Obviously, he wants her to remember him for his unique and unconditional love for her, and how she is choosing to ignore it in the present. By writing this poem in this fashion, the woman, when the poet hopes that she grows old, will remember the days when she was young with happiness but will grow regretful that she did not take advantage of his love.

Alternatively, the woman, in the present will see what an opportunity she is missing by ignoring his love for her and leaving him to fade into the past. The speaker fears that his lady love will not act upon his love for her and that she will only remember him in the book of memories. He hopes that if once old, she puts down the book of memories, she will grow chilly and sorrowful that she did not foresee how steadfast his love was but how foolish she was for taking no notice of it. He is already fearful that she will grow old without him, and this can be seen as he requests that she remember han a little sadly and as a missed chance to have a happy future.

It is the time frame that the poet has used in this poem that facilitates the poet to write this sad and reminiscent poem which is not designed primarily to make an old woman regretful, but to keep a young woman from ignoring the narrator and making the wrong decision.

2. When You Are Old is a poem of contrasts. What purpose do they serve?

‘When You Are Old’ was written to show true and unforgettable love from the writer The theme is a painful one of unrequited love, which the poet manipulates in an interesting mannet Instead of focusing on the present or the past, Yeats looks to the future, a future in which the twe people in the poem are destined to be forever apart. The poet visualizes an unreal condition that the woman he loved became old and felt regret for refusing his true love.

To depict such a theme, the poet deploys elegant and quiet words and builds pictures of contrasts:

In the first stanza, there is a contrast between her elegant youth and her depressing old age In the second stanza, there is a contrast between her many suitors who professed superficial love and the speaker or the lover who promises true love for her. In the third stanza, there is a contrast between the fleeting or transient love represented by her many suitors and the personified love of the poet.

There is a contrast between the sorrows of your changing face in the second stansa and murmur a little sadly in the third stanza. The sorrows indicate passion or strong emotion seen in young people and “little sadly’ reflects the listlessness of old people. There is a contrast between the beauty and elegance’ sans her soul sought after by the suitors and the ‘pilgrim soul’ in the same lady cherished by the speaker. The many suitors who wanted to court her were attracted by her superficial beauty whereas this lover/speaker was attracted by her pilgrim soul, which symbolizes her inner self.

These contrasts serve to build a strong argument to persuade the young lady not to ignore hlis now and regret it later.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

I. Answer the following questions in a paragraph of 110-100 words each:

1. Why does the poet ask his beloved to reflect upon the bygone days and the present moment?

OR

What does the speaker in ‘When You Are Old suggest to his beloved to reflect upon?

The poet asks his beloved to reflect upon the bygone days and the present moment because he seems to be apprehensive that she will continue to ignore him, her beauty will vanish soon and she will be alone in her old age. That is why he is asking her to presume that she has grown old and grey and try to foresee her predicament in the future. He does so because he intends to persuade her to pay attention to his ‘value’ as a lover before it is too late.

2. Examine the theme of opposing stability of true love and the fickleness of false love in the light of the poem.

OR

How does the speaker express his longing for his beloved?

OR

Whose love in ‘When You Are Old’ is true and intense? Explain.

OR

How does the speaker in ‘When You Are Old bring out his love for his beloved against the changing circumstances and ravages of time?

‘When You Are Old’ presents the moral dilemma faced by a sincere lover. The speaker/narrator is the sincere lover and his lady love is the one who is going to make a decision. The lady has attracted many suitors including the speaker. The speaker believes that the other suitors only love her physical charms, and not all of them are sincere in their love towards her. He means to say that they are fickle-minded and once she loses her charm, they will desert her. On the other hand, he believes that he loves her truly and according to him true love is the love of the inner self and has a spiritual aspect to it. But the lady has not responded to his love. He feels frustrated and as a last attempt, he tries to tell her the reality. He wants her to realize that physical beauty is transient and love of the fickle-minded will also be transient. He wants to assure her that only his love will be stable and if she ignores him and makes a wrong decision she will regret it later. Thus, the speaker tries to persuade his lover to make the right decision and receive his love, which is true and intense.

3. How does the poet express his feelings for his beloved in the poem?

OR

How is love that is not reciprocated by the speaker’s beloved expressed in the poem?

The poet asks his love, who is still young, to imagine a time when she is past her prime youth. She would then be an old woman with gray hair and sleepy eyes. When she is in such a state, he wants her to read the book of memories and remember her past. As the woman sits beside the fire, nodding her head and leafs through her memories, she would recollect the ‘soft looks’ she once had and the sorrows the had suffered until then. When she recalls her faded beauty, she would also recall tow she was admired by many suitors who were Infatuated with her physical charms. At the same me she would also recall how there was one man who loved her unique soul which was in search of the love. She would also realize that her true love having lingered on for a while, has disappeared from the earth and hid himself amidst a crowd of stars in heaven.

4. The poem ‘When You are Old’ highlights the feelings of a true lover. Explain.

OR

How is the speaker’s passionate love for his beloved brought out in the poem?

‘When You are Old’ highlights the writer’s true and unforgettable love for a Lady. It preses the concern of a sincere lover for the future predicament of his lady love. Instead of focusing on the present or the past, the poet looks to the future, a future in which the two people in the poem as destined to be forever apart. The poet imagines that the woman he loved has become old and regre her refusing his true love.

The poem begins with the presumption that an old gray lady is sitting beside the fire nodding her head. When she recalls her memories, she remembers the soft look that her eyes had once, and the number of sultors who tried to court her, being charmed by her elegance and beauty. While adming 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 attac by the beauty of her inner self and his love would remain constant even in her old age. He a that he loves even the sorrows of her changing face. He wants her to understand that over a period time her beauty will have faded away and she will have grown old, with her face having stranka her skin having been wrinkled, indicating that she has passed through many difficulties and sorrows.

The speaker concludes by visualizing that she is now bending down beside the dying fire and she tells herself in a whisper, in a regretful tone that her true love has fled and is hiding his face amida a crowd of stars. Thus, the whole poem is delineation of the intense feelings of a true lover.

II. Answer the following questions in about 200 words each:

1. The poem ‘When You Are Old’ conveys the message that true love is indestructible me constant. Elucidate.

OR

The poem ‘When You Are Old’ brings out the feelings of an eternal lover. Explain.

OR

‘True love is related to the soul but not to the physical beauty’. How is this idea brugs out in the poem ‘When You Are Old’?

OR

Whose love is immortalised in ‘When You Are Old’? How does the poem present this?

‘When You Are Old’ depicts the frustration and anxiety of a sincere lover. At the same me It also presents the concern of a sincere lover for the future predicament of his lady love.

The lover’s frustration and anxiety for her future find expression only because his laws genuine and constant. Though she has not responded to his ‘love’ the lover does not want to ge his attempts to persuade her. He tries to place before her a realistic, projected picture of ber future because he knows that she will be old, infirm and companionless as the years roll by. Furthermore poet seems to understand that she is not a flirt and worldly lady who loves to indulge in the pleasurm of life but one who has also been looking for someone who really loves her inner self more than her physical charms. Only someone who has a similar state of mind, and beliefs, and who is also yeang for a spiritual union with his lady love alone can write so. From this, one can infer that true love a Indestructible and constant: Had the speaker been interested in her physical charms only he would not have bothered to foresee his own future, as well as the predicament of his lady love, some beesty years hence. Thus, it can be argued that the poem When You Are Old conveys the message that ww love is indestructible and constant and is not influenced by the vicissitudes of fortune.

2. “But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you”. How does the speaker justify this?

OR

How does the poem distinguish the speaker’s love from that of others?

OR

The poet says that he loves the ‘pilgrim soul’ and not the ‘moments of glad grare’ in ‘When You Are Old’: justify

‘When You are Old’ is a love poem in which the poet addresses his lady love in the present takes her to an unreal condition in the future and asks her to recall her past memories He does so lady low in present in order to persuade her or warn her not to ignore him and make a wrong decision. This time frame is the most compelling point of the poem because he wants her to remember him for his unique and conditional love for her.

The poet compares himself as a suitor with other suitors. He says, hut one man loved the pilgrim soul in you. He tries to distinguish himself from all the other suitors who tried to www her He argues that all the other suitors were only attracted by her physical and external beauty and saturally they would be put off by her looks of old age and might stop showing any interest in her On the other hand, unlike other suitors who loved her moments of glad grace, he loved her pot for ber physical beauty but for her ‘pilgrim soul. The word ‘pilgrim soul has reference to the biblical belief that every soul is a pilgrim on the way to salvation and redemption. The speaker, by referring to this aspect of the beloved rather than to her beauty and fame, seeks oneness with the inner spiritual self and not the external self.

3. ‘When You Are Old’ makes the “beloved’ look back on her youth. Discuss.

OR

Narrate how the speaker portrays his beloved’s future in ‘When You Are Old’.

When You Are Old’ is a short love poem in which the poet uses a time frame in which the speaker addresses his lady love in the present, takes her to an unreal condition in the future, and asks her to recall her past memories. He does so in order to persuade her or warn her not to ignore him and make a wrong decision.

The poet’s point of view is the most compelling point of the poem. The narrator is calling upon a woman who is not yet through with youth to, once past her prime, recall the days he was in her life and very much in love with her. Obviously, he wants her to remember him for his unique and unconditional love for her, and how she is choosing to ignore it in the present. By writing this poem in this fashion, the woman, when the poet hopes that she grows old, will remember the days when she was young with happiness but will grow regretful that she did not take advantage of his love.

Alternatively, the woman, in the present will see what an opportunity she is missing by ignoring his love for her and leaving him to fade into the past. The speaker fears that his lady love will not act upon his love for her and that she will only remember him in the book of memories. He hopes that if, once old, she puts down the book of memories, she will grow chilly and sorrowful that she did not foresee how steadfast his love was but how foolish she was for taking no notice of it. He is already fearful that she will grow old without him, and this can be seen as he requests that she remember him a little sadly and as a missed chance to have a happy future.

It is the time frame that the poet has used in this poem that facilitates the poet to write this sad and reminiscent poem which is not designed primarily to make an old woman regretful, but to keep a young woman from ignoring the narrator and making the wrong decision.

Multiple Choice Questions:

I. Answer the following questions by choosing the right option:

1. The poem ‘When You Are Old’ is addressed to ___________

a) a young lady with whom the speaker is deeply in love

b) an old lady the speaker used to love

c) a lady who no longer loves the speaker

d) a lady who regrets not having loved the speaker

2. In the poem ‘When You Are Old’, the speaker is addressing ___________.

a) the woman that he has admired in his life

b) an old woman that he has met now

c) a young woman he has loved

d) an old woman he used to love

3. According to the speaker in “When You Are Old, the lady will be gray and full of deep when ____________

a) she sits nodding by the fire

b) she paces up the mountains

c) she hides her face amid a crowd of stars

d) when she reads the book of memories

4. In ‘When You Are Old’ the speaker imagines his beloved, nodding by the fire, take down the ___________

a) glowing bars

b) book of poems

c) book of dreams

d) questing soul

5. In the line, “And nodding by the fire, take down this book”, the word ‘book’ refers to ____________

OR

The poet in ‘When You Are Old’ wants his beloved to readn___________

a) memories

b) a book of poems

c) an album

d) a diary

6. According to the speaker, __________ will be ‘nodding by the fire’.

a) suitors who were mesmerised by the lady

b) the beloved’s pilgrim soul

c) love that had disappeared

d) the lady love who is now an old woman

7. The speaker wants his beloved to sit by the fire and ___________

OR

The speaker wants his beloved to sit by the fire and __________

a) slowly read a book

b) think of her beauty that mesmerised many suitors

c) reminisce her memories of the past

d) respond to his love

8. In ‘When You Are Old’,’ the speaker suggests to his beloved to slowly read his book when she is _________

a) glad

b) old

c) proud

d) dreaming

9. The woman’s eyes once had a ___________ look.

a) soft

b) harsh

c) deep

d) natural

10. The speaker suggests his beloved to dream of ____________

a) how suitors were mesmerised by her beauty

b) how love paced upon the mountains and disappeared

c) the moral dilemma faced by a sincere lover

d) the soft look her eyes once had and the deep shadows they now have

11. According to the speaker, many loved the lady for her __________

a) wealth

b) physical beauty

c) pilgrim soul

d) changing face

12. The phrase ‘glad grace’ suggests ___________

a) questing soul

b) inner beauty

c) true love

d) physical beauty

13. According to the speaker, his love for the lady is different from that of others because __________

a) he alone loved her pilgrim soul as well as the sorrows of her changing face

b) he alone loved her physical beauty

c) he too has passed through sorrows and difficulties

d) he is worried about the future predicament of the lady

14. Many loved the lady’s __________ in the poem ‘When You Are Old’.

a) wealth

b) pilgrim soul

c) physical beauty

d) grey hair

15. ‘Pilgrim soul’ means the soul _________

a) which is immortal

b) that has gone on a pilgrimage

c) which is questing for true love

d) that keeps travelling

16. In ‘When You Are Old’, the speaker loved the pigrim soul of his beloved and abo lived her _________

a) wealth

b) inner beauty

c) happiness

d) sorrows

17. In ‘When you are Old’, ____________ loved the beloved’s pilgrim soul.

a) many suitors

b) the mountains

c) the stars

d) the speaker

18. According to the speaker, but une man loved the _________ of his beloved.

a) physical beauty

b) pilgrim soul

c) wealth

d) moments of glad grace

19. Besides the pilgrim soul, the speaker loved the _________

a) many suitors she had

b) wealth she had

c) changes that appeared on her face as she grew old

d) soft look her eyes had once

20. The speaker loved the pilgrim soul of __________

a) a young lady

b) an old lady

c) an old lady who is no more

d) a lady who felt regret

21. The phrase ‘your changing face’ suggests ____________

a) face hidden amid a crowd of stars

b) fickleness of false love

c) love has fled and hidden his face

d) physical beauty is transient

22. The speaker loved the _________ of his beloved’s changing face in ‘When You Are Old’,

a) grace

b) sorrows

c) soft look

d) beauty

23. According to the speaker in ‘When You Are Old’, love paced upon __________

a) the mountains

b) the hills

c) the sky

d) the valleys

24. ‘Love fled’ connotes ___________

a) the death of the man who loved her

b) the fleeing of her lover to the mountains

c) the loss endured by her

d) the sorrows of her changing face

25. In the poem ‘When You Are Old’, love fled and hid his face _________

a) beside the glowing bars

b) upon the mountains

c) amid a crowd of stars

d) in a pilgrim’s soul

26. According to the speaker, when she is old the lady will regret __________

a) the soft look her eyes once had and the deep shadows they now have

b) that she gave importance only to physical beauty

c) that she has no passion or zest left

d) that she had rejected the speaker’s true love

27. According to the speaker in ‘When You Are Old’, __________ fled and hid his face.

a) his beloved

b) love

c) the pilgrim soul

d) the old woman

28. In ‘When You Are Old’, many loved the lady’s moments of __________

a) goodness

b) sorrows

c) glad grace

d) happiness

29. The speaker wants his beloved to __________ when is old.

a) recollect her memories of the past

b) recollect her memories of the present

c) recollect her memories of childhood

d) recollect the sorrows of her changing face

30. According to the speaker in ‘When You Are Old’, __________ will be nodding by the fire.

a) his beloved

b) the pilgrim soul

c) the stars

d) love

About the poet:

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) is an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. His early poetry is part of the Celtic twilight or the Irish Literary Revival and it uses the history, myths and heroic figures of Ireland. Yeats wrote plays, was one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, and was a witness to the revolutionary politics of Ireland. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923. Later, under the influence of Ezra Pound, he began to write modernist poetry. He is one of the great love poets of the world.

In this love poem, the speaker (who is the lover) imagines his beloved in the future when she is old and reading the book of poems he is now writing. Reading the book she will remember the past, her youthful beauty and the many who admired her. While the others loved her physical beauty and grace, only he loved her soul and her soul’s search for something meaningful. However, she will also feel sad that that love also vanished.

Note how love is personified in the last lines.

Background:

Most critics opine that this poem is a real description of the poet’s love. In 1889 Yeats met his great love Maud Gonne, an actress and Irish revolutionary, However, she married Major John Macbride in 1903, and this episode inspired Yeats to write down this heart-stirring poem. Many critics believe that the poem presents the resentment he feels towards her for not reciprocating his love. The ambiguity of the last stanza of the poem illustrates that the poem is not only about the regret the woman feels when she becomes aware of what she has lost, it also strengthens the argument that this work is actually about the resentment he wants the woman to perceive.

Summary:

When You Are Old’ was written to express the writer’s true and unforgettable love. The theme is a painful one of unrequited love, which the poet manipulates in an interesting manner. Instead of focusing on 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 forever apart. The poet imagines an unreal condition that the woman be loved became old and felt regret for refusing his true love.

That is why the poem begins with the presumption that an old gray lady is sitting beside the fire nodding her head. She is imagined to be reminiscing her memories when she recalls the soft look that her eyes had once, and how many suitors 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 t tell her that he was the only lover who loved the pilgrim soul in her. He wants her to know that he swat attracted by the beauty of her inner self and that his love would remain constant even after she grows old He assures her that he loves even the sorrows of her changing face. He means to say that over a period 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.

He concludes visualizing that she is now bending down beside the dying fire, and tells herself in a whisper in a regretful tone that her true love has fled and is hiding his face anmild a crowd of stars.

Analysis of the poem:

In ‘When You Are Old’ the poet W.B. Yeats expresses his deep love for a lady who has been rejecting his advances. The poet is ready to go the extra mile in loving the lady but she keeps rejecting his advances. The poet asks her to open her heart for him, because if she doesn’t, love will grow inaccessible to her. With the passage of time ber liveliness and youthful energy would vanish and people who loved her for her beauty would abandon her. The poet will still love her but she will no longer be able to reach for that love.

The speaker asks his beloved to think beyond the present moment and imagine the future He recounts how, with the passing of time, his beloved would grow old and grey-haired. She would lose the natural vivacity and energy of youth, and sit lonely and half-asleep, as old people often do, by the fire. She would perhaps take down a book of poems, and read slowly the poems in which the speaker has expressed his love for her and praised her manifold charms. This book could also mean the speaker wants her to read from the book of memories and remember the past. She would then be reminded of the soft looks her eyes once had and of ‘their shadows deep, symbolizing pessimism and depression.

The speaker is reminding his lover of how many people once loved her moments of glad grace The speaker says that many people loved the woman, but some of those people did not love her truly, perhaps only valuing her for her physical beauty. He says that, though many loved her for her youth and beauty, the love of only one person was true and sincere. It was the speaker alone who loved her, not merely for her physical beauty but also for her soul. He says that, had she returned his love. he would have loved everything about her, even the way her face would age and change with time.

The alliteration ‘glad grace’ expresses that when she is young and beautiful, many will be interested in her, but their love for her will be false or superficial love. However, the speaker will love her no matter what happens to her beauty. There is also a contrast between ‘glad grace’ and ‘sorrow’s of your changing face, which suggests that while the others love her in her happy times, the speaker will love her at all times, including the worst ones.

The phrase ‘pilgrim.soul’ refers to the long walk that her soul has had, searching for real happiness, but really being alone. So, many lovers can love her for how she looks but only the speaker can love her for who she really is.

The speaker imagines his beloved in her old age, bending beside the glowing bars, the iron bars in the fire-place that are glowing red with the heat of fire. The speaker imagines his beloved lamenting what she did not recognize in the past, and the speaker portrays the beloved as murmuring in remembrance, regretting how quicidy life passed and ‘how Love fled. In the last two lines the speaker personifies love. Paced’ suggests that she was given a chance as ‘Love’ waited for her: it also suggests the gradual diminishing of the love which may then loiter over mountains for a while and then disappear. The phrase ‘how love fled’ refers to the possibility that the speaker’s love would just fly away because she is not receptive to his love. The speaker portrays Love as ashamed and hiding ‘his face amidst a crowd of stars’.

The poem presents a picture of perishing youth and vanishing beauty. The poem is a sort of warning to his beloved. If she does not respond to the poet’s true love, a love which is not physical but spiritual in character, she would have to repent for her folly in her old age. Her youth and beauty would wither and perish one day, and the false lovers who now surround her, would desert her one by one. Then she would suffer from a sense of remorseful agony for her cruelty and callousness towards the poet. The speaker intends to forewarn her.

ಸಾರಾಂಶ:

ಈ ಪ್ರೇಮಕವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಏಟ್ಸ್ ಕವಿಯು ತನ್ನ ಪ್ರೇಯಸಿಯು ತಾನು ಈಗ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪದ್ಯಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಆಕೆಯ ವೃದ್ಧಾಪ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದುತ್ತಿರುವಂತೆ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಓದುತ್ತಿರುವಾಗ ಆಕೆ ಯೌವನದ ತನ್ನ ಸೌಂದಯ್ಯವನ್ನು, ಹಲವಾರು ಮಂದಿ ಅವಳನ್ನು ಆರಾಧಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದನ್ನು ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದೆಂಬುದು ಅವನ ಕಲ್ಪನೆ. ಇತರರು ಆಕೆಯ ದೈಹಿಕ ಸೌಂದರವನ್ನು ಮಾತ್ರ ಪ್ರೀತಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ ತಾನು ಆಕೆಯ ಆತ್ಮಸೌಂದರವನ್ನು ಆರಾಧಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದಾಗಿ ಆತ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆದರೆ ಆಕೆ ತನ್ನ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಭಾವನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅರ್ಥಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳದೇ ಹೋದುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಆತನಿಗೆ ವಿಷಾದವಿದೆ.

ಅನೇಕ ಮಂದಿ ವಿಮರ್ಶಕರ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಇದು ಕವಿಯ ಸ್ವಂತ ಅನುಭವದಿಂದ ಮೂಡಿದ ಪದ್ಯವಾಗಿದೆ. 1889ರಲ್ಲಿ ಆತ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಂಡಿನ ಖ್ಯಾತ ನಟಿ ಹಾಗೂ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಕಾರಿಯಾದ ಮಾಡ್ ಗಾನ್ ಎಂಬುವವಳನ್ನು ಭೇಟಿಮಾಡಿ ಆಕೆಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರೀತಿಸ ಲಾರಂಭಿಸಿದ. ಆದರೆ 1903ರಲ್ಲಿ ಆಕೆ ಮೇಜರ್ ಜಾನ್ ಮ್ಯಾಕ್‌ಬೈಡ್ ಎಂಬಾತನನ್ನು ಮದುವೆಯಾದಳು. ಈ ಅನುಭವದಿಂದ ನೊಂದ ವಿಟ್ಸ್ ಈ ಪದ್ಯವನ್ನು ಬರೆದಿದ್ದಾನೆ ಎಂದು ವಿಮರ್ಶಕರು ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಪಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತ ಪದ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕವಿಯು ತನ್ನ ನೈಜವಾದ ಮತ್ತು ಎಂದೂ ಮರೆಯಲಾರದ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯನ್ನು ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಭೂತ ಅಥವಾ ವರ್ತಮಾನದ ಸಂಗತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪಿಸುವ ಬದಲಿಗೆ ಭವಿಷ್ಯದ ದಿನಗಳನ್ನು ಆತ ಕಲ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಆ ವೇಳೆಗಾಗಲೇ ಈ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಪ್ರೇಮಿಗಳೂ ಶಾಶ್ವತವಾಗಿ ದೂರವಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತನ್ನ ಪ್ರೇಯಸಿಯು ಆ ತನ್ನ ವೃದ್ಧಾಪ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕವಿಯ ನೈಜ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯನ್ನು ತಿರಸ್ಕರಿಸಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಷಾದವನ್ನು ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಾಳೆ ಎಂದು ಕವಿ ಊಹಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ.

ಆದ್ದರಿಂದಲೇ ಕವಿಯು ಆಕೆಗೆ “ನೀನು ಮುದುಕಿಯಾಗಿ ನಿನ್ನ ಕೂದಲೆಲ್ಲ ನರೆತು ಬಿಳುಪಾದಾಗ, ಕಣ್ಣಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಿದ್ದೆ ತುಂಬಿ ಕೊಂಡಿರುವಾಗ ಬೆಂಕಿಯ ಗೂಡಿನ ಬದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಳಿತು ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಕೈಗೆತ್ತಿಕೋ. ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಓದು, ಯೌವನದ ದಿನದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿನ್ನ ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲಿ ಹೊಮ್ಮುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಮಧುರವಾದ ನೋಟವನ್ನು ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೋ” ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ. “ಎಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಜನ ನಿನ್ನ ಹರ್ಷಭರಿತವಾದ ಸಂಚಲನವನ್ನು ಪ್ರೀತಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಅವರ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ನಿಜವಾದದ್ದೋ ಅಥವಾ ಕೃತಕವೋ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಒಬ್ಬ ಮಾತ್ರ ನಿನ್ನಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಪವಿತ್ರಾತ್ಮವನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ನಿನ್ನ ಮುಖದ ಮೇಲೆ ಆಗೀಗ ಬದಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ದುಗುಡಗಳನ್ನೂ ಸಹ ಪ್ರೀತಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ” ಎಂದು ಕವಿ ತನ್ನ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೇ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಕಡೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆತ “ಪ್ರಕಾಶಮಾನವಾಗಿ ಉರಿಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಬೆಂಕಿಗೂಡಿನ ಸರಳುಗಳ ಮುಂದೆ ಮುಖಬಾಗಿಸಿ ಕುಳಿತು ಹೇಗೆ ಆ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ದೂರದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಗಿರಿಶಿಖರಗಳನ್ನು ಏರಿ ಹೊರಟುಹೋಯಿತು, ಆತನ ಮುಖ ಹೇಗೆ ನಕ್ಷತ್ರಗಳ ಸಮೂಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಲೀನವಾಯಿತು ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ನಿನ್ನಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ನೀನೇ ಹೇಳಿಕೋ” ಎಂದು ಸಲಹೆ ನೀಡುವ ಮೂಲಕ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ತನ್ನನ್ನು ಅಮರನನ್ನಾಗಿಸಿದೆ ಎಂಬ ಸಂದೇಶವನ್ನು ನೀಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ.

Glossary:

The pilgrim soul : questing soul

The glowing bars : the bars of the fireplace full of glowing coal (‘Bars’ refers to the bars of the Iron grate in the fire-place)

Nod : move one’s head up and down repeatedly

Murmur : a softly spoken or almost inaudible utterance

full of sleep : drowsy due to old age

moments of glad grace : the days of youth when she was graceful

nodding : feeling sleepy; a sign of sleepiness

pilgrim soul : a Biblical belief that every soul is a pilgrim, on the way to salvation and redemption.