W.B Yeats

W.B Yeats’ “When You Are Old”, to me, projects a somber message to a person Yeats once deeply cared for.  I got the impression that this person was no longer in Yeats’ life at the time the poem was written.  In the poem, he is telling this person to reflect back on their life when they are older and to remember what once was: the happiness this person brought unto others, and also their beauty (perhaps inner as well as outer beauty) whether it was meaningless or not.  Also, this person was loved for their young and innocent soul and continued to be loved throughout the years as they grew older and changed physically and mentally.  But sadness is to be expected after reflecting on the past: “…a little sad, from us fled love”.  Yeats (or the speaker) is no longer in this person’s life and when this person is looking back they’re reminded of this.  The last line of the poem also suggests that they’re practically strangers now.  Yeats’ poem, “A Coat” is referencing to the changes that were brought about by the English, such as their attempts to convert the Irish into Protestant or replace their language.  The “song” in which Yeats writes about could be the Irish traditions that are trying to be altered.  I view the “fools”, as stated in the fifth line, as the British that are forcing the Irish to do away with their heritage and the normalcy of their everyday life.  Not wanting to conform, the speaker would much rather do away with his “coat” as opposed to being forced to change his traditions.