Tuesday, February 24, 2009

When you are old

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

When You Are Old

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 among a crowd of stars.

1. Based on the poem, explain what the theme is for this poem. Support your answer with important details from the poem.

2. Connect this poem's theme to another book that we've read this year. Provide at least 2 text to text connects.

3. Your response should be clear (complete sentences) and error free. (PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING)

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

The theme of this poem is non-fiction because they tell you the facts obaut when you get old. This book reminds me of Jip when Sheldon had this poem stuck in his head.

Anonymous said...

When You Are Old
I think this poem theme is even if you are old you can still be have happy and do whatever you want. This book reminds me of the old man named Grayson in the book Maniac Magee. The poem reminds me of the book because he was independent and happy even though he was growing old.

Anonymous said...

I predict that the theme is age because of the title WHEN YOU ARE OLD. It’s like throwing its self out there. Like when it says, “when you are old and gray and full of sleep” it is talking about how sometimes in age you can get very sleepy. This poem reminds me of JIP because. However time they talked about how Put used to be in the army but now he was in a box with cramped bones. And also how Toddy asks Jip if Sheldon was in heaven at the funeral.

Anonymous said...

One book that I think is similar is The House On Mango Street. One of the vignettes was about that Ezperanza didn’t want to grow old because she thought that she was getting old and she would die. I think “face is hiding behind a crowd of stars” means they are in the heavens or somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

The theme of this book is what happens when you become old at a point in your life. It sows what you look like and how others think of you. It is telling you that u die and people think that you are over mountains. They also really miss you. That is the theme in the story.

One text-to-text connection I saw in a book was a book called flip-flop girls. It was a hard time to see there father die but people think that you are still alive when you are dead. The little boy also thought his dad was still alive and just sleeping but he was going to sleep forever. My second text-to-text connection was bridge to terabithia because Jess was sad when Leslie died and murmured for a long time and always thought about her. That is my text-to-text connection.

Anonymous said...

I think the theme is about life. It reminds me of a book called “witness to freedom”. It reminds me of that book because this poem talks about life. That book talks about other peoples lives and how they survived. I think that this poem is more similar to witness to freedom because they both are talking about lives. Also because it a nice book just like the poem and they can connect to each other by making some of the book can become a poem too.

Anonymous said...

I think this poem really speaks to me in a familiar way. I think the theme is that when you grow that up it’s telling you to not make mistakes and do bad things. Also it’s telling you the author is as he grew up and as he entered the life of being a grown up. The book that it connects to for me is Bronx masquerade because in the book they do poems as little kids.

Anonymous said...

THE THEME OF THIS POEM IS TRUE BECAUSE THE FACTS THEY TELL YOU WHEN YOU GET OLD IS TRUE. THIS POEM MAKES ME THINK ABOUT JIP BECAUSE SHELDON KEPT THINKING ABOUT THAT POEM.

Anonymous said...

I think that the theme is Life. I know this theme is Life because it said” When you are old and full of sleep, “ That tells that the person had lived their life. Also, “How many loved your moments of glad grace,” tells that he was rejoicing his happy moments. And, “Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;” the sad moments.

This poem reminds me of a book that I read this year. The books title is Maniac Magee. This poem reminds me of the book because there was a part in the book when he looked at the happy moments in his life and the sad moments in his life.

Anonymous said...

1. Based on the poem, explain what the theme is for this poem. Support your answer with important details from the poem.

2. Connect this poem's theme to another book that we've read this year. Provide at least 2 text to text connect.

3. Your response should be clear (complete sentences) and error free. (PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING)


My thought of the poem is that I think the theme is like when your old and things you do. And how you’re going to look when you get old. Also about like even if your old your still beautiful and you could still enjoy your life. This Poem remind me of Jip because is the closes book that I read that talks about family and all the stuff that happens are good and bad and this poem reminds me about all those things.

Anonymous said...

I think the theme is life because it talks about how when you’re old what happens to you and what you do and how you fell. Another book this can relate to be the great gilly Hopkins because it talks about what might happen or feel if you were an orphan.

Anonymous said...

I think that the theme is Life. I know this theme is Life because it said” When you are old and full of sleep, “ That tells that the person had lived their life. Also, “How many loved your moments of glad grace,” tells that he was rejoicing his happy moments. And, “Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;” the sad moments.

This poem reminds me of a book that I read this year. The books title is Maniac Magee. This poem reminds me of the book because there was a part in the book when he looked at the happy moments in his life and the sad moments in his life.
Another book this reminds me of is Jip. Put lived a life and he fought to the last second of his life.

Anonymous said...

Keyandra Roberson February 24, 2009



Based on the poem the theme is even if you are getting old it doesn’t matter you still have the knowledge to do things. For example the poem said that it said take a book and slowly read. Also I think the theme is that because when you get old u might feel different but other people think u are very beautiful and people love u the way you are.

The theme of this poem reminds me of a book I read. The book I read was Maniac Magee. For example Grayson was getting old and Maniac Magee told him he’s not getting old you are you’re a nice and delightful man.

Anonymous said...

It is about love and how a old man found love. If you found love what will you do I will be happy but if you lost love I will be sad and get a new one. This poem is like Jip he found a friend and he lost one. That is some sad stuff.

Anonymous said...

When you are old

I think the theme is sadness because in the poem when he said that murmur a little sadly. I also think that it is happiness because the character in the poem was also happy. The poem I am comparing to is when you are old and the book the Great Gilly Hopkins. Because in chapter 2 or 3 she got a letter from her mother Courtney. After reading the note she started to cry. The happy part was when she got to see her mother and her grandmother.

Anonymous said...

I think the theme is Old because the title is When You Are Old. It is telling that the theme is Old because in the first line it says WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep right there it just told u the answer. This poem reminds me of Jip.

Anonymous said...

i think the theme is non fiction because they tell what happens when get old this book remind me of a story i forgot the name but he was dying because he is 98

Anonymous said...

When You Are Old

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 among a crowd of stars.

1. Based on the poem, explain what the theme is for this poem. Support your answer with important details from the poem.

2. Connect this poem's theme to another book that we've read this year. Provide at least 2 text to text connects.

3. Your response should be clear (complete sentences) and error free. (PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING)


i think that when you are old that you can do some of the same things that you did when you were young as you can do when your old i also think that it is non-fiction

Anonymous said...

this poem is non-fiction and the person that wrote this reminds me of a book and it is non-fiction because everything it tells you is true there is nothing that is not.

Anonymous said...

Feb 25, 2009

The theme of the poem is being lonely because in the first stanza it says WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire that shows a sound of loneliness.
A book that I have read this year is Jip that book shows a sign of loneliness because his best friend Sheldon and Put both died and hey where very close to Jip. The next book is Maniac that shows a sign of loneliness because his mother and father died in a really bad car accident. The last book is Witness to Freedom. That shows a sign of loneliness because Martin Luther King went to jail because he was fighting for people rights.

Anonymous said...

I think the theme is when you go old. The reason is that in the beginning it says WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep. That shows that it talks about when you grow old .a
And in the second stanza it says How many loved your moments of glad grace, so your looking back at your own life. I do not no about any books I read the this year but it reminds me of a book I read calls the notebook. It talks about the woman and the man have a back looking back at all their memories. Just like the poem. And the man in the book loved the girl. Just like the poem.

Anonymous said...

Based on the poem that I read was talking about that this old man was a pilgrim he liked to dream the book that he all way read and get good thinking that why I am a pilgrim then he could not think about.
This poem that I just read was about look similar the book that I read is it called Bronx masquerade this book has I lot of poem that he wrote and dose poem that he wrote. It mean something to him like his family.

Anonymous said...

Based on the poem that I read was talking about that this old man was a pilgrim he liked to dream the book that he all way read and get good thinking that why I am a pilgrim then he could not think about.
This poem that I just read was about look similar the book that I read is it called Bronx masquerade this book has I lot of poem that he wrote and dose poem that he wrote. It mean something to him like his family.

Anonymous said...

I think this poem theme is even if you are old you can still be have happy and do what he want to do how he want to. I like the part when they said that when you are old and gray and full of sleep and nodding by the fire take down this book.

Anonymous said...

Based on this poem it says that one man loved the pilgrim soul in you and I think that it means that the old man lost his love and if you lose your love you get sad because that person left you. This poem reminds me of the book jip because in jip he lost a friend in it.

Anonymous said...

I think that the theme is life. I know this theme is life because it Said” when you are old and full of sleep, “that tell that the person had lived their life. Also, “how many loved your moments of glad grace,” tells that the was rejoicing his happy moments. And,” “your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep,” the sad moments.

Anonymous said...

1. I think that the theme in this poem is sadness and love.
2. This poem sounds like it is something that is said in Jip, His Story. I thought that because most of the time Put (the lunatic) always said something touching. And in that book it’s mostly about sadness.

Anonymous said...

1. I think the theme is that when you get old all the fun an excitement is gone so you should enjoy wall your young. So it’s explaining how it’s going to be like when you get old. So it’s basically about getting old.

2. Witnesses To Freedom was one of the books that’s like this poem because, it talked about how people fought for freedom. An how young people fought for civil rights.

Anonymous said...

1.I think the theme in the story is that this author is trying to say to enjoy when your little because when your old everything changes in your life, like your hair turns gray and you are full of sleep you think of the soft look your eyes had once and it say that we are going to miss that we love that are faces are changing.
2.i think the book that is like this poem can be witness to freedom , because it talks about old people fighting for freedom.

Anonymous said...

miss coleman is so sexy

zareah said...

The Hound Of The Baskervilles

I myself think that the house was very horrible. Also why did the hound demon choose the Baskervilles family. I think the creature was a very gleaming, dreadful an unearthly creature. The hound smelled really disgusting.