Abstract:W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) enjoys the reputation of being “the eternal soul of Irish poetry”. Yeats’ early works have obvious characteristics in form and style of Romanticism. “When You Are Old”, an oft-quoted lyric Yeats wrote for his first girlfriend Maud Gonne, is his romantic masterpiece. This paper analyzes the stylistic features of this poem from the aspects of language, imagery and context, aiming at a thorough analysis of Romanticism embodies in Yeats’ early works.
The present paper includes four parts: the first part is the introduction; the second part focuses on a general introduction to Yeats and his “When You Are Old” and a brief review of Romanticism; the third part deals with the brief analysis of Romanticism embodied in “When You Are Old” in terms of language, imagery and context and the last part is the conclusion.
Key words: W. B. Yeats; “When You Are Old”; Romanticism
