The poem “Before the World Was Made” could be about one of William Butler’s (1865 – 1939) Yeats sisters. In any case, it is about how a woman can react to her jealous lover.
About this article
This article previously appeared on The Ministry of Poetic Affairs website. This website was active between 2016 and 2018. After that, the website was active in 2020 and 2021. The website was an initiative of De Goede Huisvader, also responsible for Artigenda. That’s the reason why you can now find this article on this website.
Sisters
The question is whether Yeats‘ poem is indeed about one of Yeats’ sisters. Which sister was it about, then? Was it about Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868 – 1940)? She was also affectionately called Lolly. The other sister was also affectionately called Lily and her full name was Susan Mary Yeats (1866 – 1949). The only one who could have answered was Yeats himself. He didn’t, by the way.
The woman in the poem knows what to do to make herself attractive. That could be considered an act of vanity. She just doesn’t see it that way herself. It is merely an act of displaying her face “before the world was made.”
Oh, beauty can give power and she knows it. This produces tension. Only she is not the one struggling with this. On the contrary, the other person is. It is a kind of disquiet for the other. In the end, she just wants to love him. Strange, but it is. She only wants to love and have his love. That was true “before the world was made.”
Yeats tells us in this poem that a woman is more than her looks or the cosmetic products she uses. Inner beauty and strength. That’s what it’s all about, too. These are just things that have been forgotten. Things that have been forgotten even though they were there “before the world was made.” At some point in history, this caused harm. Not just for the woman in this poem, you may argue. For women in general. This damage was so great that they even began to doubt their inner beauty and strength. Therefore, some women longed back to “before the world was made.”
Before the World Was Made
If 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.
