Before the World Was Made
Before the World Was Made - fact Summary
Reflecting Yeats's Occult Interests
The speaker stages appearance and feeling to recover an ideal, pre-world self: cosmetic adjustments, repeated mirror checks and冷 emotional distance aim to recreate the "face I had before the world was made." The poem frames love and identity as cultivated images rather than spontaneous truth. Its themes reflect Yeats's interest in an idealized past and occult/spiritual concerns, which shaped poems in his collection The Tower.
Read Complete AnalysesIf I make the lashes dark And the eyes more bright And the lips more scarlet, Or ask if all be right From mirror after mirror, No vanity's displayed: I'm looking for the face I had Before the world was made. What if I look upon a man As though on my beloved, And my blood be cold the while And my heart unmoved? Why should he think me cruel Or that he is betrayed? I'd have him love the thing that was Before the world was made.
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