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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker questions why an aging mind should obsess over past symbols of love and war.
In plain terms
Why should an old person worry about old ideas of war and love?
What can you take from it?
Let go of past symbols to find peace.

Where it applies

  • late life reflection
  • mental health
  • philosophical inquiry

Putting it to work

  • focus on present thoughts
  • redefine meaning

Questions to consider

  • Is memory a burden or a gift?
  • What should older minds focus on?

Another view

It suggests memory is a burden rather than a source of wisdom.

More from William Butler Yeats

  1. I gave what other women gave That stepped out of their clothes. But when this soul, its body off, Naked to naked goes, He it has found shall find therein What …

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  2. My Soul. Such fullness in that quarter overflows And falls into the basin of the mind That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind, For intellect no longer kno…

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  3. Speech after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly …

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