Shakespeare turns the focus on himself. "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" — look at me, witness the changes, and love me more deeply because of it. In contrast, Yeats directs his gaze toward his beloved, Maud Gonne. He urges her to envision herself old, sitting by the fire, and realize what she has lost. One poet expresses *I am fading, so love me now*, while the other conveys *you will fade too, and then you will regret it*.
This reversal — Shakespeare's raw vulnerability compared to Yeats's quietly piercing projection — is what makes pairing these two poems so enriching. They share a setting and a theme, but the emotional narratives they create are entirely different. The most valuable takeaway for students: Shakespeare turns his own decline into a gift for his beloved, while Yeats uses the beloved's inevitable decline as a critique.
The Reader's Atlas · Compare · Love Letters
When You Are OldSonnet 73
Two poems about aging, written three centuries apart, feel like they belong together when read back to back. W.
Poets
W. B. Yeats / William Shakespeare
Years
1893
Chapter
Love Letters
§01 The thesis
When You Are Old & Sonnet 73
A reader's case for putting these two side by side — what each carries, and what they argue when they sit on the same page.
§02 The dialectic axes
The two poems on four axes
Each axis isolates one specific vector — speaker, form, image, closing move — and reads the two poems against each other on that single dimension.
Axis
Poem A
When You Are Old
W. B. Yeats
Poem B
Sonnet 73
William Shakespeare
01Speaker
Poem A · When You Are Old
In "When You Are Old," Yeats adopts a controlling perspective. He outlines the beloved's future inner experiences — her thoughts, her stance, her regrets — while he himself is not present in the scene. The speaker creates the situation rather than taking part in it.
Poem B · Sonnet 73
In "Sonnet 73," Shakespeare lays himself bare. He becomes the bare tree, the dimming light, the dying fire. The speaker presents himself as proof and invites the beloved to come to her own conclusions.
02Form
Poem A · When You Are Old
"When You Are Old" consists of three quatrains written in loose iambic pentameter, featuring an ABBA rhyme scheme—this structure is intentionally drawn from Ronsard's sonnet "Quand vous serez bien vieille." By using this form, Yeats subtly indicates that he is engaging with and transforming a poetic tradition.
Poem B · Sonnet 73
"Sonnet 73" is a Shakespearean sonnet composed of three quatrains followed by a couplet, all written in strict iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The couplet delivers the main argument — it's where Shakespeare presents his central idea — and the poem's concise structure lends it the essence of both a legal brief and a love lyric.
03Fire image
Poem A · When You Are Old
In Yeats, the fire is a cozy, passive presence — the "glowing bars" of a hearth where an old woman sits. It offers background warmth rather than representing the speaker's life. Instead of symbolizing something burning out, the fire highlights the beloved's solitude.
Poem B · Sonnet 73
In Shakespeare, the fire represents the speaker: "the glowing of such fire, / That on the ashes of his youth doth lie." It burns itself out, consuming the very fuel that once sustained it. This imagery is darker and more vivid — youth turns to ash, and the fire flickers out above it.
04Closing move
Poem A · When You Are Old
"When You Are Old" concludes by sending love away — it "paced upon the mountains overhead / And hid his face amid a crowd of stars." Love moves to the cosmic and the unattainable. The last impression is one of distance rather than closeness, leaving the beloved alone with her regret.
Poem B · Sonnet 73
"Sonnet 73" concludes by drawing the beloved in: "To love that well, which thou must leave ere long." The final couplet carries a gentle command. The beloved is encouraged to love more deeply, not less, and the poem closes with a sense of connection instead of parting.
§03 Synthesis & departure
The shared ground and the divergence
Shared
Both poems use age not just as a theme but as a means to engage in a relationship. The poets aren't merely nostalgic about aging; they aim to evoke specific feelings in a particular person, in the moment.
The imagery of fire is prominent in both works, and the similarities are striking. Shakespeare describes a fire "on the ashes of his youth," which consumes itself, while Yeats depicts his beloved "bending down beside the glowing bars" of a hearth in old age. In each case, the fire is low, intimate, and associated with endings.
Both poems also achieve their effect through compression. Shakespeare combines three layered metaphors — bare tree, fading sunset, dying fire — into fourteen lines. Yeats condenses an entire imagined future into twelve lines and three stanzas. Neither poem indulges in unnecessary scene-setting; every image justifies its existence by contributing emotionally.
Lastly, both poems are directly addressed to a beloved — "thou" in Shakespeare and "you" in Yeats — which gives them the quality of a letter or a heartfelt plea rather than a public statement. This direct address is key to the emotional impact of both poems.
Where they diverge
The most notable difference lies in how each poet directs the gaze. In "Sonnet 73," Shakespeare makes himself the focus of pity and love. Each "In me thou see'st" serves as a moment of self-exposure, even self-sacrifice — he offers the beloved a glimpse of his own decline while asking for deeper love in return. The concluding couplet emphasizes this: "This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong." The beloved's love intensifies because she sees him as he truly is.
In contrast, Yeats never presents himself in his poem as a deteriorating figure. He remains offstage, substituted by a book — specifically, his own — which he instructs the aged beloved to take down and read. The poet's essence is embedded in the text, not in a failing body. It is the beloved who ages, who nods, and who murmurs "a little sadly." Yeats's most striking choice is the line "loved the pilgrim soul in you" — he suggests that he alone truly sees her, while others only admire her beauty. This isn't comfort; it is a judgment made from a distance. Where Shakespeare is exposed, Yeats comes across as detached.
§04 A reader's order of operations
Which to read first
If you arrived at this page via "Sonnet 73," I recommend reading "When You Are Old" next for a surprising twist. Shakespeare's poem is generous—he offers himself to his beloved as a lesson. In contrast, Yeats's poem is unsettling because it turns the focus inward, giving the beloved a warning while the poet remains detached. Together, these poems illustrate the full spectrum of what love poetry can convey about mortality—ranging from comfort to accusation, and from vulnerability to control.
If you began with "When You Are Old," check out "Sonnet 73" to experience authentic self-exposure in a love poem. Shakespeare reveals himself completely, while Yeats maintains a sense of distance.
§05 Reader's questions
On When You Are Old vs Sonnet 73, frequently asked
Answer
Yes, often. Both are included in secondary and university syllabuses that focus on love poetry, the sonnet tradition, or themes of time and mortality. The common fire imagery and the reversed arguments make them a perfect match for comparative essays.
Answer
Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73" came out in 1609, but it was probably written in the 1590s. Yeats's "When You Are Old" was published in 1893. It’s likely that Yeats was very familiar with Shakespeare's sonnets, but the more immediate influence for this poem was a 16th-century sonnet by the French poet Pierre de Ronsard.
Answer
From "Sonnet 73," there's the line "Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang" — a favorite among many in English literature. From "When You Are Old," we find "But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you" — a line that gives the poem a sense of judgment as well as a love story.
Answer
Yeats never mentions her by name in the poem, but the background is clear. He was head over heels for Maud Gonne, who turned him down time and again, and "When You Are Old" was penned during that time of heartbreak. The poem feels like a personal note to her, though it stands strong on its own without that context.
Answer
Both readings hold merit. The self-revelation in "Sonnet 73" is authentic — Shakespeare truly presents his aging body as the focus — yet the couplet also guides the beloved toward a particular emotional reaction. Like many exceptional love poems, it blends sincerity with strategy.
Answer
The image juxtaposes the bare winter branches of a tree with the ruined stone choir lofts of dissolved English monasteries—roofless and stripped, once home to choristers. It weaves together natural decay and human religious ruin in one phrase, which explains its appeal to critics.
Answer
No. It consists of twelve lines arranged in three quatrains with an ABBA rhyme scheme, creating a sonnet-like quality. However, it doesn't have the fourteen lines or the concluding couplet that are characteristic of traditional sonnets. Yeats drew inspiration from Ronsard's structure instead of the English sonnet tradition.
§06 More from this chapter
The vow, the catalogue, the reproach
7 comparisons in this chapter
George Gordon ByronvsWilliam Shakespeare
She Walks in BeautyagainstSonnet 18
Robert BurnsvsElizabeth Barrett Browning
A Red, Red RoseagainstHow Do I Love Thee
Christina RossettivsRobert Burns
A BirthdayagainstA Red, Red Rose
W. B. YeatsvsElizabeth Barrett Browning
When You Are OldagainstHow Do I Love Thee
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowvsElizabeth Barrett Browning
The Cross of SnowagainstHow Do I Love Thee
John KeatsvsChristina Rossetti