Point of View

“Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” is told from the first-person point of view using the pronoun “I” (the exception is the title, in which the speaker is referred to by an outside observer). The poem is presented as a dramatic monologue, with the speaker looking back on their youth and how much they have changed. The first-person perspective allows the reader an intimate look into the speaker’s thoughts and frustration at the direction his life has taken. The first stanza of the poem is immediate and personal, while the later stanzas broaden slightly to show the speaker’s perspective on the wider world. In each instance, however, the image of society is blurred by the speaker’s own bitterness.

Language and Meaning

Characteristic of Yeats’ later work, this poem mostly discards complex and traditionally “poetic” language in favor of a straightforward, conversational tone. Certain...