Can love be eternal? Does love still stay around in some form after one's lover deceased or does it wither away like one's lover does when he died? To the author, love is eternal and that love stays with people forever in a form of memory. Memory doesn't fade away since it is intangible even when one's partner dies. Through the old woman in the poem, "When You Are Old,"" Yeats conveys his belief of love when one's partner became old.
This opening line, "When you are old and grey and full of sleep,"" (864) strongly connected with the title, "When You Are Old,"" since the exact words of the title is in the first line. The line states that the woman is old and has grey hair and is easily tired; thus, she needs to sleep more. In the second line, "the fire- (864) symbolizes the intensity of her love for her lover. The book that she is holding and reading can be the family's album since she is dreaming of the soft look that her eyes once had, "and of their shadows deep- (864), which she can see in herself in the photos. What kind of love did her beauty attracted?.
Her beauty attracted some love that is unreal since some lovers care more about her beauty than her personalities. "How many loved your moments of glad grace, and loved your beauty with love false or true- (864). But there is a love that is real, which is eternal. It is a lover, who loves the "pilgrim soul- in her more than her beauty. The pilgrim soul represents her, struggling and never feeling secure, wandering around to find her destiny just like a pilgrim does. The lover might have made her feel safe by being there where she is. In the next line, the sorrows of her changing face means the fading beauty of the woman. This line reinforces that the love is true and eternal since he loves her not for her beauty but her traits.
According to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, memory means "an image or impression of one that is remembered.
