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ENLIGHTEN COACHING: CLASS 10: POEM 11: For Anne Gregory, William butler yeats, About 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., Introduction to the lesson, W.B. Yeats has tried to touch a very important topic through his poem. He says, that it is almost impossible to find a person in your life who loves you truly. By, saying truly, he means the one who loves you for your qualities and not your, looks. He says that only God loves us for what we are from inside., Summary of the poem, The poem is basically a conversation between 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, For Anne Gregory Poem and Explanation, “Never shall a young man,, Thrown into despair, By those great honey-coloured, Ramparts at your ear,, Love you for yourself alone
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And not your yellow hair.”, Despair: sadness, Ramparts: The high, wide walls around a castle or fort, for example, the, ramparts of the Red Fort, This poem is a conversation between the poet and a girl named Anne Gregory., The poet says to the girl that a young man can become hopeless, if you will, reject him. But this doesn’t mean that he had true love for you in his heart. It is, because you have beautiful hair with which he had fallen in love. The girl has, very beautiful hair. They fall on her ears and seemingly protect them just like a, boundary wall protects the fort. So, here, the poet is pointing out at the reality, which many people face during their youth, that they are liked by the opposite, gender, not because of their inner beauty but because of their appearance., Literary Devices:, Rhyme Scheme: abcbdb, Metaphor: honey-coloured Ramparts at your ear (Anne’s hair is compared, to the ramparts of a fort), “But I can get a hair-dye, And set such colour there,, Brown, or black, or carrot,, That young men in despair, May love me for myself alone, And not my yellow hair.”, Anne replies that she has a nice solution to this situation. She can dye her hair, and change the colour into black, brown or carrot as this will no longer make, her look less attractive. Then maybe she will find the young man who will love, her inner beauty and not her appearance., Literary Devices:, Rhyme Scheme: abcbdb
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Alliteration: repetition of consonant ‘s’ sound at the start of two, consecutive words. (Set Such), “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.”, Yesternight: the previous night, After hearing Anne Gregory, the poet says that he had heard an old religious, man say that he could prove a fact with a text that he had found in some, religious book. The fact was that it is only God who loves us for what we are and, not how we look. He loves us for our inner qualities. Only God can do this., Literary Devices:, Rhyme Scheme: abcbdb, Anaphora: Repeated use of a word at the beginning of two lines (That, he….That only god), Alliteration: he had, your yellow, For Anne Gregory Poem Question and Answers, Q1- What does the young man mean by “great honey-coloured /Ramparts at, your ear?” Why does he say that young men are “thrown into despair” by, them?, A1- The “great honey coloured/ Rampart at your ear” means the yellow, coloured hair of the girl. They are very beautiful and cover her ears like a, protective wall around a fort. Young men may fall in love with Anne because of, such beautiful hair. They may be thrown into despair if she rejects them., Q2-What colour is the young woman’s hair? What does she say she can change, it to? Why would she want to do so?
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A2- The hair of young woman is yellow in colour. She says that she can change, them to brown, black or carrot color by using a hair dye. She wants to do so to, get rid of the lover who loves her for the yellow – coloured hair. She seeks a, true lover – one who loves her for her inner beauty.
