For Anne Gregory, Class Tenth Poem

 

For Anne Gregory, Class Tenth Poem 

For Anne Gregory

By William Butler Yeats

1-Introduction

2-Poem Explanation

3-Poetic Devices

4-Word-Meaning

5- Textbook Exercises

6- Exam Practice

7- To Conclude

1-Introduction 

The poem is in the form of a dialogue between two people. This is a very beautiful poem written by William Butler Yeats who was an Irish poet, writer, dramatist and one of the renowned figures of 20th century. 

The poem shows the true nature of human beings as they are always attracted by outer beauty and never put efforts to see the nature of that person. In other words we can say that people don’t pay attention to the hidden qualities of human beings.

Only God loves the inner beauty and have the power to identify the worth of that particular person. God is not at all attracted by outer beauty. Poet has beautifully described the poem in conversational form.

2- Poem Explanation

Stanza 1

“Never shalll 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”.

Explanation

In these lines, the speaker says to Anne that her Beautiful honey coloured hair can make any young man fall in love with her. And this love is not for Anne but for her beautiful yellow hair. Annie’s honey- Coloured here have been compared to walls of the fort, which prevents anyone from looking inside her soul. Thus, no man can love Anne for her inner beauty and neither he can love any for her yellow hair as he was thrown into a miserable condition.

Stanza 2

“But I can get a hair-dye

 And set such colour there,

 Brown, or black, or carrot,

 That young men in dispair

 May love me for myself alone

 And not my yellow hair.”

Explanation

In these lines, Anne replies to the speaker that she can get her hair dyed and she will change the colour of her hair into brown or black or carrot. According to her, such an act will make the young men love her for herself and not for her outward appearance that is yellow colour hair.

 According to Anne whatever is visible from the outside is artificial and is not important or true.

Stanza 3

“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.”

Explanation

The Poet mentions and an old religious man who had announced last night that he had found a religious text. In the text it was written that only God is capable of looking beyond the external beauty. Humans do not have the capacity to look inside the soul of that person. They are always attracted by outer beauty. Therefore the poet finally tells Anne that only God can love her for her inner qualities and not for her yellow hair.

3- Poetic Devices

•Rhyme scheme- abcbdb

•Anaphora- Repetition of the words in two consecutive lines.

That he had found a text to prove

That only God, my dear, (Stanza 3)

• Alliteration- It is the occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of the closely connected words.

Your, yellow

Set, such

He, had

• Metaphor- Is comparing two unlike objects or things that have some common qualities in them.

Honey- coloured ramparts at your ear.

It is like the walls of the fort that prevents looking inside her inner soul.

4- Word-Meaning

•Despair- miserable condition

•Declare- to announce

•Yesternight- last night

5- Textbook Exercises

i-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?

Ans- Anne's hair have been called rampart which means a wall. It is so called because her hair acts like a wall as they prevent young men from looking beyond those yellow hair into her soul. Her hair are so attractive that young men cannot look at anything else, and hopelessly fall in love with her. They love her for her outer beauty i.e. Yellow hair and not for her nature and inner soul.

ii- 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- Anne’s hair are beautiful are yellow like the colour of the honey. She says that she can dye her hair and change it to black or brown or carrot. She says so to prove that the outer beauty is changeable and temporary. She also wants young men to look into her soul instead of looking at praising her outer beauty. She also needs to show them the artificiality of her external beauty.

iii- Objects have qualities which 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 emphasise?

Ans- The things we use whether it’s a car, a dress, or some other thing physical qualities matter the most. 

If I were to sell a dress, I would always go for comfort level. Also I would definitely emphasize on the durability of the dress so that customer feels satisfied on his or her spending.

6- Exam Practice

i-Between Whom does the conversation in the poem takes place? What does the first speaker say to the second speaker?

Ans- The first speaker probably the poet tells the second speaker that is Anne that young men would love her for her outer beauty that is for her beautiful yellow hair. They will not love her for her beauty.

ii- Why would young men never love Anne Gregory for ‘herself alone’?

Ans- Young men would never love Anne Gregory for ‘herself alone’ because they are attracted by her outer beauty. Her yellow hair are so beautiful that no man can ignore to her inner beauty.

iii- What did the old religious man declare? What did he want to prove?

Ans- The old religious man declare to the poet that he had found a text which says that only God is capable of looking to the inner beauty of human beings. Whereas humans are always attracted to the outside beauty and are not capable of looking to the inside beauty.

iv- The poet in the poem ‘For Anne Gregory' conveys that we should give importance to the inner beauty and not the physical appearance. Elaborate with reference to the poem.

Ans- In the  poem ‘For Anne Gregory' a conversation between Anne and probably the poet takes place. The poet through this conversation wants to convey the messages that we should always give importance to the inner beauty instead of outer appearance. He also tells Anne Gregory that young men fall in love with her because of her beautiful hair.

 To such as statement,Anne replies that she would change the colour of her hair so that men would love her for her personality and inner beauty. Then the poet says that only God loves one for ones inner beauty. The poet believes that outward appearance is artificial and we must prefer internal beauty.

Class 10th English 

7- To Conclude

I hope the above article would be a great help in your upcoming exams. if any doubts you can reach me through the comments section below and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Also check my home page for other chapter notes.

Thank You....

All The Best For Your Upcoming Exams ...