The poem
Why should not old men be mad? Some have known a likely lad That had a sound fly-fisher's wrist Turn to a drunken journalist; A girl that knew all Dante once Live to bear children to a dunce; A Helen of social welfare dream, Climb on a wagonette to scream. Some think it a matter of course that chance Should starve good men and bad advance, That if their neighbours figured plain, As though upon a lighted screen, No single story would they find Of an unbroken happy mind, A finish worthy of the start. Young men know nothing of this sort, Observant old men know it well; And when they know what old books tell And that no better can be had, Know why an old man should be mad.
Yeats is saying young men know nothing of life's trevails, "Young men know nothing of this sort." Yeats is saying old men know to well the struggles of life, the missed opportunities and regrets. Yeats is more gentle than Dylan Thomas in persuading us to
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at the close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Hi--I was looking for another great Yeats quote to end an article/tribute to a deceased friend. My, Yeats had so many of them. Here I think there's not too much to add except it reminds me of a quote from James Hillman a lovable old Jungian that Plato wrote how Treason against the state should never be considered a crime in old age. After living through Iraq as a repeat of Vietnam I can see why, though this could get me on an Intelligence. Fine. See, when you get older you don't care as much anymore.