For Anne Gregory - W. B. Yeats

  FIRST FLIGHT -10TH. FOR ANNE GREGORY - WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS. THE POEM, GLOSSARY, SUMMARY, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. https://unsplash.com/phot...

 FIRST FLIGHT -10TH.

FOR ANNE GREGORY - WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.

THE POEM, GLOSSARY, SUMMARY, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

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THE POEM -

" Never shall a young man,

Thrown into despair

By those great honey-coloured

Ramparts at your ear,

Love you for yourself alone

And not your yellow hair."

" But I can get a hair dye

And set such colour there,

Brown, or black, or carrot,

That young man in despair 

May love me for myself alone

And not my yellow hair."

" I heard an old religious man

But yesternight declare

That he had found a text to prove

That only God, my dear,

Could love you for yourself alone

And not your yellow hair."

                                                                                ----- WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.

GLOSSARY - 

1. Ramparts - the high, wide walls around a castle or fort, for example, the ramparts of the Red Fort.

SUMMARY -

The above poem is written by W. B. Yeats, and he talks about the importance of purity of the soul and heart rather than stressing an individual's outer features. Here, the central character is a young and beautiful lady named, Anne Gregory who has beautiful yellow honey-colored hair, and she expects that any young man should not propose to her only because she has beautiful hair but should propose to her because of her virtues, qualities, and purity of her soul.

Here, she further adds that if anyone does so, she may get her hair color changed to another color like black, brown, or a carrot colour by hair dye, and even if he admires her personality, then she would gladly accept his proposal. 

At the end of the poem, the poet suggests that he heard from an old religious man who had a text to prove that only God loves every being not because of any outer appearances but as a being or existence, or as a person.

THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT-

1. What does the young man mean by, " great honey-colored/ Ramparts at your ear? Why does he say that young men are, " thrown into despair" by them?

Ans - It means that Anne has such beautiful yellow-colored hair that covers her ears in a manner walls around a castle protect it. When any young man falls in love with her after appreciating her outer appearance and she rejects his proposal by chance, he may be thrown into despair.

2. What colour is the young woman's hair? What does she say she can change it to? Why would she want to do so?

Ans - The colour of the young woman's hair is yellow. She says that she can change it to brown, black, or a carrot colour with the help of hair dye, and she wants to do so because she wants that the young man who gets attracted to her should not be only because of her outer beauty, but he should like her by her inner beauty.

3. Objects have qualities that make them desirable to others. Can you think of some objects ( a car, a phone, a dress...) and say what qualities make one object more desirable than another? Imagine you were trying to sell an object; what qualities would you emphasize?

Ans - Each object has certain unique qualities and at the same time it will have a few drawbacks too! So before buying any object, we need to consider many things such as our specific requirements, and budget, and then we compare two similar objects, their features, and drawbacks and finally a better one.

If I were to sell a car, I would try to highlight its unique qualities such as mileage, condition, other features, durability, etc. Still, at the same time I would suggest certain precautions and limitations of the car to the possible customer so that after buying the car, he should not feel cheated.

4. What about people? Do we love others because we like their qualities, whether physical or mental? Or is it possible to love someone " for themselves alone"? Are some people 'more lovable' than others? Discuss this question in pairs or in groups, considering points like the following.

Ans - Yes, we do love others because of their qualities, whether physical or mental, or it may be because of any extraordinary skills they have. We can not love or admire a person without having any quality or skills, and only because of their difference in quality, some people are more lovable than others. But this may not apply to our dear and near ones, we accept them as a whole even though they may not have any qualities.

1. A parent or caregiver's love for a newborn baby, for a mentally or physically challenged child, for a clever child or a prodigy.

Ans - We can never compare the love of a parent and caregiver. The parent will definitely take care of a child more affectionately than the caregiver whether the child is a newborn baby or a physically disabled child. Yes, it may be true that care would be different for different children, but for a newborn baby, there would be very keen and kind attention, for a clever child attention would be minimized and when it is the case of a disabled child it may be more stressful.

2. The public's love for a film star, a sportsperson, a politician, or a social worker.

Ans- This is a very different situation, especially in the case of a film star or a sportsperson, people are simply mad at them. People admire, like, praise even worship them like a God, and their love and respect for them is simply unimaginable, they just like their films or games, and even in their adversity, they stick to them by all means. 

3. Your love for a friend, brother or sister.

Ans - In the case of a brother or a sister, love comes naturally and selflessly, we just love them without observing any qualities or skills, especially in the case of a younger brother or a sister, we believe that it is our moral responsibility to take care for their well-being and even taught by our parents, so it is natural responsibility as well as love.

4. Your love for a pet, and the pet's love for you.

Ans - Today, pets have become an integral part of our life, and because of their extraordinary qualities, selflessness, and great affection and love towards us. Especially, the dogs are symbols of loyalty and responsibility to their owners. We might hear many true incidents that for the sake of the owner, the pets even sacrificed their lives. In modern life, we feel stress, pressure, and loneliness, but when we come home and are greeted and welcomed by them, we just forget our stress and tensions. They do not expect much from us, but in turn, they give us everything. They symbolize love, joy, happiness, protection, selflessness, and many more. So, their love is just incomparable.

5. You have perhaps concluded that people are not objects to be valued for their qualities or riches rather than for themselves. But elsewhere Yeats asks the question: How can we separate the dancer from the dance? Is it possible to separate" the person himself or herself from how the person looks, sounds, walks, and so on? 

Ans - Actually it is a rather difficult question to answer because each and every individual is known by his own qualities and skills, for example, a reputed or skilled dancer is known to the outer world because he dances well, and because of his dancing skills he is known as a dancer, now here in the question, it is asked that. " Can we separate the dancer from the dance"? If we separate dance from the dancer, then in that case, the dancer is nobody, because he doesn't possess any other skills. 

But, it can not be true in the case of family members, here Other family members of a dancer will love and appreciate him even if he leaves dancing, meaning they don't love him because of his virtues, but they would love him because he may be the son, brother, or a father, but we can not expect same response from the outer world. In the society, in which we live, we are known by others because of our profession, skills, and qualities. In the poem, the poet suggests that God loves every human being as an individual, as an existence, and not by our outer appearance.

My perspective on the Poem - In today's modern world, we often get fascinated by the outer appearances of anything, whether it is a commodity, object, or even a personality, and we get so impressed that we are not even trying to understand its reality. For example, if we are approached by a salesperson, and he offers such a sugar-coated deal, we simply grab the deal without looking at its inner features and qualities, but after some time, we feel cheated because that object is not at all working as it was promised by the so-called salesperson. So, where exactly, we do make a mistake? The probable answer is given in the poem, that a boy should not get attracted just by the beauty that has got yellow hair. The actual problem is this yellow-colored hair. But the young lady is of a completely controversial nature, which is often very rare in today's world, rather people use this yellow-colored hair as a weapon to get desired results, and the world runs behind it. She is appealing that don't love, or like me because I do have certain beautiful outer features, you just peep into my soul or heart, and if you find me very pure and divine, then propose to me.

What a beautiful thought is given by the poet. If we just jump on outer appearance it may be possible that after some time, this feature may get faded and faint, then there would be no cause remain to appreciate the beauty, and at that point of time conflict, a difference may arise and relationships would be in a complete vain.

So. the beauty of thoughts, character, and qualities matter because those are everlasting and forever and can not be separated from the personality, and it is strongly applicable in today's fast age.

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