For Anne Gregory

1.0About the Poet

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an Irish nationalist. He was educated in London and Dublin and was interested in folklore and mythology. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist (playwright). Some think he was the greatest poet of the twentieth century. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923. The works of William Butler Yeats form a bridge between the romantic poetry of the nineteenth century and the hard clear language of modern poetry.

Central Idea

The poem 'For Anne Gregory' by William Butler Yeats is about the perception of love by different people. The poem is in the form of a dialogue between two people, Anne Gregory and another speaker, whose identity has not been made clear by the poet. Therefore it could be anyone; Anne's lover or a friend or the poet himself.

The poem shows the true nature of the humans as they are always carried away by the outer beauty which is insignificant, and never pay attention to the true nature of the person. Men always judge women by their outward appearance alone but beauty exists within us and not outside. Poet has given the view that most people love others just because they attract them physically. The complexion of the skin and the colour of the hair are more important for us than the 'real' worth of a person. We rarely love people 'for themselves alone'. Even the beautiful Anne Gregory is not liked or loved for her inner beauty or her rare qualities of head and heart, but for her beautiful yellow hair. Shallow minded people adore only physical beauty. We should look for spiritual beauty before falling in love with a lady. Physical beauty is just skin-deep. It is momentary. Unfortunately, most of the people are attracted by the colour of the skin and hair. Only God can love a person for himself alone.

2.0Inner Beauty

The poem is basically a conversation between probably the poet, Yeats and a young girl named Anne Gregory. The poet tells her that if she finds a young boy who becomes sad because of her rejection, it doesn't mean that he was a true lover. He could have been in love with her because of her beautiful yellow hair. This means that the boy might be in love with her because of her attractive looks. He says that a true lover will be the one who will love her for her inner qualities and not her looks. To this, Anne says that she will change her looks by dying her hair into some other colour. She will become less attractive and then, maybe, she will find a true love for herself. So, at last, he explains to her that the previous night, he had heard some religious man saying that only God loves us for what we are. This means that God never loves us for our looks but for our inner beauty.

3.0Poetic Devices used in the Poem

• Metaphor - It is a literary device that makes a comparison between two non-similar things. Example : 'Honey coloured ramparts' the poet has compared Anne's hair with ramparts of a fort.
• Alliteration - It is the repetition of a letter at the start of closely placed words. Examples : The repetition of the letter ' $y$ ' in "your yellow." The repetition of the letter 's' in "Set Such." The repetition of the letter ' h ' in "he had" The repetition of the letter ' $y$ ' in "your yellow".
• Anaphora - It is the repetition of a word at the start of two or more consecutive lines. Example : That he had found a text to proven That only God, my dear

4.0Let's Recall

• In this poem, the poet probably addresses to young Gregory and tells her that a young man can become sad and hopeless if she rejects him.
• The poet goes on to describe her beauty and says that she has such beautiful golden hair that anyone will fall in love with her. And when her hairs fall, the poet begins to think about her beauty which spellbound him.
• Her hair is so beautiful that any man can fall in love with her.
• At this Gregory gives response to the poet that she can change her hair color. She can get a hair dye and colour her hair as brown, black or carrot colour. By that She means that the outer beauty is temporary; it can change at any time.
• Because she wants a man who love her for actual nature behind the beauty & not only for her yellow hair and external beauty.
• At this, the poet concludes that he had heard an old religious man saying that only God can love us for what we are.
• Because humans do not have a deep understanding to look into the soul of a person. Only God can do so and love us for our inner qualities.