Summary: The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner

W.B. Yeats

The poem entitled “The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” by W.B. Yeats is spoken from the point of view of an old man who looks upon the political and romantic obsessions of the youth. This poem is the remake version of the poem “The Old Pensioner”. The latest version presents the poet’s reminiscences of his young life which become more agonizing when he looks at his present stage and contrasts his time of youth with his state in old age. This version begins in a state of rejection and misfortune, and consequently leads to a more aggressive and raging tone. Because of his dissatisfaction with the act of time, he doesn’t surrender like the general people rather he shows his contempt for time.

It begins with the conjunction ‘Although’ which states something unexpected. ‘The rain’ stands for the troubles and suffering of the old man whereas ‘the broken tree’ stands for the carelessness and neglect of the youth toward the old. He states that once upon a time he too “talked of love and politics” but that now, with his age and perspective, his thoughts rest on Time and eternal questions. He is more aware of the outside world and looks towards it for the evil force that has caused him his demise. In the second stanza he makes a comparison of the direction of his own rage to the direction of the rage of “lads” and “crazy rascals.” His rage is toward Time that has done him direct harm unlike the more abstract concepts of “conspiracy” and “human tyranny” that others direct anger toward. The pikes to which the “old pensioner” refers are the weapons traditionally used in nationalist uprisings against the British, which the man is too old for, so regards as futile. In the final stanza we learn that these meditations are not pleasant, as he suggests that no woman pay him attention due to his age, though he still recalls the women he once loved. The poem ends as he curses Time, which has changed him from young to old.

The elderly pensioner’s lamentation is that time has transformed him into someone that is no longer important or viable. This is in contrast to Yeats’ other, more wistful and gentle portrayal of age in the rest of the collection. This old man, who is forced away from politics and love, shows the downside of such contemplative non-participation in life. Of course, he is still tormented by the passions of his youth for women and conversation.

The speaker is crying out rather than muttering softy at that which has been unjust to him: time. It is repetition of the words “Time that has transfigured me” in lines 11-12, 17-18 and “Time transfigured me” in line six that plays a particular role in the Personification of time and the attitude of bitterness directed upon it. The repetition of the words “Time…transfigured me,” forms a transition from an object that grows into a threatening being. The first instance in which time is mentioned, it is of an object that has caused harm to the speaker. The next instance “Time” is given a more ominous tone because the speaker contemplates its destruction. This gives the impression of “Time” as a more complex object of enmity. By the end of the poem “Time” has become a monstrous entity with the specific human characteristic of a face that the speaker spits into.

However, this is paradoxical in itself because the personification of Time is extremely abstract. The speaker is saying it is Time that has caused him to become “a broken tree” against his will. It is Time, as an evil force that has caused his destruction. This is demonstrated in the last stanza when the speaker says he is capable of loving women, and it is not his fault that women no longer look at him. Rather, it is Times fault. It is Times fault that the only women he can love now are in his memory. It is Time that has changed him, which is why he “spits into its face.”

Summing up, the poem of the second version ends with a terrific declaration of the speaker’s contempt for Time. The words “transfigured me” are rhythmically interrupted in the last line in order to bring special attention to the fact that this is a statement of the harm that Time has done to the speaker himself. The poem ends with a sound of loud violence and hatred. The speaker in this version does not harbour the same inward feeling of depression, but rather directs his misfortune on an outward force. This leads to a stronger voice of aggression within the poem.