Ch 19For Anne Gregory

For Anne Gregory

Poet: William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), the greatest Irish poet of the twentieth century and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1923). Anne Gregory was the young granddaughter of his close friend and patron Lady Augusta Gregory of Coole Park, where Yeats often stayed.

Introduction

"For Anne Gregory" is a short, witty poem written as a conversation between the poet (or an older speaker) and a beautiful young woman, Anne Gregory, who has striking yellow (blonde) hair. The dialogue raises a timeless question: can anyone love us for what we truly are, and not for our outward beauty? Through three neat stanzas — the speaker's claim, Anne's reply, and the speaker's final answer — Yeats concludes, half-playfully and half-seriously, that only God is capable of loving a person for the self alone, ignoring physical appearance altogether.

Stanza-wise Explanation

Stanza 1

'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.'

The speaker tells Anne a hard truth: no young man who sees her beautiful golden hair will ever be able to love her for her inner self alone. Her "honey-coloured ramparts" — the thick masses of blonde hair falling beside her ears — are compared to the defensive walls of a fortress. Just as ramparts stop soldiers from reaching the castle, her dazzling hair stops young men from reaching (that is, seeing and valuing) the real Anne within. Her beauty throws her admirers "into despair" — they are so hopelessly lovesick about her looks that they never get past them.

Stanza 2

'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 with youthful confidence and wit. If her yellow hair is the obstacle, she can simply dye it brown, black or even carrot-red. With the famous golden hair gone, the young men who despair over her would then be forced to love her for herself alone. Her answer shows her intelligence and her wish to be valued for her inner qualities — but it also innocently assumes that outward beauty is the only barrier, and that changing it can change human nature.

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.'

The speaker gently closes the argument. He says that only the previous night he heard an old religious man declare that he had found a text (a passage of scripture) proving that only God can love a person for the self alone. Human beings, the poem implies, are inescapably drawn to external beauty; their love is always coloured by appearances. Only God's love is perfect and unconditional — He sees and loves the inner soul, untouched by yellow hair or any outward charm.

Poetic Devices

• Metaphor: "great honey-coloured / Ramparts at your ear" — Anne's thick blonde hair is compared to the fortress walls that keep admirers from reaching her true self; "honey-coloured" itself compares the hair's colour to honey.
• Symbol: "yellow hair" stands for outward, physical beauty in general, while "yourself alone" stands for the inner self or soul.
• Hyperbole: "Never shall a young man..." and lovers "thrown into despair" exaggerate for effect, stressing how completely beauty enslaves admirers.
• Refrain / Repetition: the closing pair of lines "love you/me for yourself/myself alone / And not your/my yellow hair" is repeated with small changes in every stanza, hammering home the central question.
• Dialogue form: the poem is a dramatic conversation in three turns — statement, counter-argument and conclusion — which gives it the feel of a friendly debate.
• Alliteration: soft repeated sounds such as the 'h' in "honey-coloured... hair" and 'y' in "you for yourself... your yellow".

Theme / Central Idea

The poem contrasts inner beauty with outward appearance. Human love, Yeats suggests, is rarely pure: young men fall for Anne's golden hair, not her character, and even removing the beauty (dyeing the hair) cannot cure this human weakness — people will always judge by what they see. Only God's love is truly unconditional, directed at the soul "for yourself alone". The poem thus gently criticises the superficiality of physical attraction and reminds us that being valued for one's real self is the rarest form of love. At the same time, its light, teasing tone keeps it affectionate rather than preachy.

Rhyme Scheme

The poem has three stanzas of six lines each. The rhyme scheme of each stanza is abcbdb — the second, fourth and sixth lines rhyme (despair–ear–hair; there–despair–hair; declare–dear–hair), while the odd lines do not rhyme. The recurring "-air" sound running through the whole poem keeps the key word "hair" echoing in the reader's ear.

Important Word Meanings