Anne Gregory

Introduction
The poem is in a form of dialogue between two people, Anne Gregory and another is identifiedas
speaker. It could be anyone i.e. Anne’s lover or a friend or the poet himself. The poem is about
perception of love by different people.

Theme

The “old religious man” that the poet mentions in the last stanza are the embodiment of wise men.
These are men who are very learned, and who know all there is to know about this world. The poet’s
man is also very well read, and in fact, in one manuscript he has read that only God loves a woman
for more than her physical appearance. Of course, the poet does not mean that such a manuscript
exists literally. What he means is that it is a universal truth that no man can judge a woman by
anything other than her looks. Moreover, it is only God who knows people for what they really are.
God also knows that Anne is a beautiful person, and therefore, God loves
her for her sweet and kind nature rather than her good looks.

Message
In this poem, a young man discusses why a person falls in love, i.e what determines it.
According to them, a person is not loved for his basic nature but because of his/her physical feature,
i.e. outward physical appearance. It is not possible to love one for oneself. Only God can do so. In this
poem, the poet addresses young Gregory and tells her that her hair is of the same colour as honey
and when it falls, the poet begins to think of her beauty being spell bound. Her hair is so beautiful
that every man falls in love with [Link] this, Gregory gives response to the poet that man loves her
only for her outward beauty while this outward appearance may change at any time. At this, the
poet proclaims it a truth since time immemorial that man cannot easily judge a woman other than
her looks. He tells Anne that she can never be ugly inward or outward even if she wishes to be so.

Rhyme scheme:
If we divide this poem of 18 lines into 3 units of 6 lines each, then each of these units will be found to
follow the same simple rhyme scheme, that is, ABCBDB.
Poetic devices:
Apostrophe:
This rhetorical device is used when a poet addresses his or her poem to an absent audience. In this
poem, the poet follows the device of the apostrophe as he is addressing himself to Anne Gregory,
but we the readers never see her at any point in the poem.
Metaphor:
This rhetorical device is used when a covert comparison is made between two different things or
ideas. In this poem, the poet uses the device of metaphor on the 4th line when he compares Anne
Gregory’s hair with the ramparts of a castle. Like the ramparts, her hair also protects her face from
being seen fully.

TEXTUAL QUESTION
Question 1.
What does the young man mean by “great honey-coloued /Ramparts at your ear?” Why
does he say that young men are “thrown into despair” by them?
Answer:
The young man in the poem praises the great honey-colored hair of Anne. Anne’s hair has been
called rampart, meaning a wall. It is called so because they act as a wall, as they prevent young men
from looking beyond that yellow hair and into her soul. Her hair is so attractive that young
men cannot look at anything else. Anne’s yellow hair is so pretty that young men hopelessly fall in
love with her. She is so pretty that everyone wants her, which cannot happen; hence, they are
thrown into despair.
Question 2.
What colour is the young woman’s hair? What does she say she can change it to?Why would she
want to do so?
Answer:
Anne s hair are yellow, like the colour of honey. She says that she can change it to black, brown or
carrot; she means that she can change it to any colour she wants. Anne says so to show that outer
beauty is changeable and not permanent or real. She wants young men to look in her soul and love
her for her inner beauty. In order to do so, she needs to show them the superficiality of her external
beauty.

EXTRA SHORT ANSWER QUESTION

Question 1: What was not liked by the young men?
Answer: The young men do not love the real person but love appearances. Everyone wants one
should be loved for his actual personality and not by what he looks like. The young man does not like
grey or yellow hair, and they do not care for inner beauty but love.
Question 2: The young woman’s hair is yellow coloured. She is ready to change her hair colour to
another colour. Why would she want to do so?
Answer: The young woman is ready to do so because she wants someone to love her. Moreover, she
wants that someone should love her for her inner beauty and not for the colour of her hair.
Question 3: What does the old religious man say?
Answer: The old religious man says that he has found a text which proves that only God could love us
for ourselves alone and not for physical beauty. He is the one who truly loves us.
Question 4: What is the central idea of the poem, ‘For Anne Gregory’?
Answer: The poem conveys the idea that physical beauty may be important for young men or human
beings, but God does not love human beings for their physical beauty. In this poem, the poet gives an
example of a lover who loves the yellow hair of a young lady but does not like her ramparts. The lady
disapproves his love.
Question 5: To whom is the first stanza of the poem addressed? What does the speaker say to her?
Answer: The first stanza of the poem is addressed to a lady named Anne Gregory. She had a great
influence on the poet. He had great respect for her. He tells her that although she is a noble lady, yet
nobody would love her for herself alone.
Question 6: What makes a young man not to love the woman referred to in the first stanza?
Answer: The woman has beautiful yellow hair. But the outer part of her ears is not [Link]
poet says that men shall never love her only for herself.
Question 7: What does the woman say she can do to make herself more desirable to young men?
What does this show?
Answer: The woman says that she would dye her hair brown, black or carrot colour. This shows that
young men give more importance to physical appearance than inner beauty.
Question 8: What does the religious man tell the poet about God’s love for man?
Answer: The religious man has told the poet that he has found a religious text. According to that,
God loves a person, not for his or her physical qualities, but for their inner qualities.
EXTRA LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS.
Question 1: 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.
Answer: In the conversation that takes place between Anne Gregory and another speaker, the poet
has tried to show that inner beauty is real beauty, whereas physical appearance is changeable and
hence, unimportant. The first speaker says to Anne that young men love her for
her beautiful yellow hair and may never love her for what she really is. To this, Anne replies that her
hair-colour can be changed into black, brown or carrot, meaning that external beauty is all superficial
and men should not love her for that. Through Anne’s reply, the poet has made clear
his preference for internal beauty over physical appearance.
Question 2: How right or wrong is it to judge someone on the basis of his/her physical
appearance?
Answer: Physical appearances never give the true account of a person as it can be changed with the
help of clothing, make-up and other such things. Something which is not true and real should not be
used to judge the person carrying it. A person must be judged on the basis of his behaviour that
shows the true characteristics of his personality. This is explained by Anne in her
reply to the first speaker that her beautiful hair-colour which attracts men is changeable, hence, men
should not fall in love with her based on her hair colour.
Question 3: Why do you think, the other speaker mentioned the old religious man and the text that
proves that only God can love Anne for herself alone?
Answer: It is so because the speaker wanted to tell Anne that her desire that men should not see her
outer beauty is not going to be fulfilled. The speaker tells Anne that only God can be so great as to
avoid external beauty and look beyond it. Man, on the other hand, falls for all things that
appear pretty from outside and never bothers about what lies inside.

Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Question 1: “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.”
a. What does the old man’s text prove?
b. What, according to the poet, is more essential in the eyes of God?
c. What does ‘I’ refer to here?
d. How is God’s love different from the love of the young lovers?
Answer:
a. That only God could love Anne for herself.
b. God loves an individual for himself/herself alone.
c. The poet
d. Young lovers love her hair that represents physical beauty whereas God loves an individual for
being himself/herself.
Question 2: “Never shall a young man,
Thrown into despair
By those great honey-coloured
Ramparts at your ear,”
a. Name the poem and the poet.
b. Who speaks these lines and to whom?
c. What is her hair compared with?
d. What is the honey-coloured rampart?
Answer:
a. The poem is ‘For Anne Gregory’ and the poet is ‘W.B. Yeats’.
b. A young man to Anne Gregory.
c. Her hair is compared with honey.
d. Anne’s yellow hair is the honey-coloured rampart.
Question 3: “But I can get a hair-dye
And set such colour there,
Brown, or black, or carrot,
That young man in despair
May love me for myself alone
And not my yellow hair.”
a. What different colours have been mentioned in the above lines?
b. What does the speaker want?
c. Who does ‘I’ stand for?
d. Why does the speaker talk about changing the colour of hair?
Answer:
a. Brown, black, carrot and yellow.
b. The speaker wants that she should be loved for what she is and not for the colour of her hair.
c. ‘I’ stands for Anne Gregory.
d. The speaker wants to change the colour of hair so that she would be loved for what she is and not
for the colour of her hair.