How does William Butler Yeats’s For Anne Gregory, challenge the notion that physical beauty is the only basis of love?
Answer as written by the student:
William Butler Yeats’s For Anne Gregory challenges the notion that physical beauty is the only basis of love.
- He shows that many people are attracted to Anne’s yellow hair, but they do not love her for herself alone.
- He also suggests that only God can love someone for their true self, and not for their appearance.
- He implies that human love is often superficial and conditional, while divine love is pure and unconditional.
Step-by-step explanation of the answer:
- The poem For Anne Gregory by William Butler Yeats is a dialogue between the poet and a young girl named Anne Gregory, who has beautiful honey-coloured hair. The main idea of the poem is that physical beauty is not enough to win true love, and that only God can love someone for their inner self . The theme of the poem is the contrast between human and divine love , and the role of appearance and personality in love.
- The poet challenges the notion that physical beauty is the only basis of love by showing that many people are attracted to Anne’s yellow hair, but they do not love her for herself alone. He tells her that a young man who is in despair because of her rejection may not be a true lover, because he may only love her for her hair. He also tells her that even if she changes her hair colour to brown, black, or carrot, she may not find a true lover who loves her for herself alone. He also quotes an old religious man who says that only God can love someone for their true self, and not for their hair
