Successful Rhythm in Yeats' "When You Are Old" We read many thing a and do not generally consider rhythm as part of the reading experience. However, with poetry rhythm emerges as an important aspect of the poem, creating a mood and tone that the poet would otherwise have difficulty achieving. William Butler Yeats creates rhythm in "When you Are Old" by using a familiar rhyming meter, literary devices such as alliteration and assonance, and a simple rhyme scheme. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, which creates a slow and even rhythm that is easy to read. Rhythm gives this poem an added feature, which makes it more memorable...

"When you Are Old" displays Yeats' style and ability as a poet.
"When you Are Old" is written in iambic pentameter, following the ABBA rhyme scheme. This form allows the poem to feel more romantic and even mesmerizing. The rhyming pattern enhances the poem's romantic essence and words such as "book," "look," "stars," "bars," "face," and "grace" feel attractive and alluring to the reader. The rhyming has a hypnotic quality that only serves to enhance the mood of the poem. Yeats uses alliteration to stress the mood for this poem. The sounds of the letter s" force readers to slow down when they read, forcing the…