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For Anne Gregory
For Anne Gregory
SUMMARISE THE POEM IN FORM OF DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE POET AND ANN GREGORY
In this poem, the poet describes a conversation between himself and a girl named Anne
Gregory. He tells Anne that her yellow hair is beautiful and all the young men who claim to
be in love with her, love her for her hair. In other words, all men love her for her outward
appearance and not for her inner beauty. Anne then replies That she can easily dye her hair
black or brown or orange, and then she would look ugly. If she looked ugly, then perhaps
some man would look beyond her appearance and see her for who she really is on the inside.
However, the poet quickly assures her that even if Anne wants to look ugly, she cannot do so
for she is a beautiful person from inside. At last, he explains to her that the previous
night, he had heard some religious man saying that only God loves us for what we are.
The wise men say that only God love all its creations unconditionally despite of their
appearance.
CENTRAL IDEA
“For Anne Gregory” is both a sweet and a scathing poem. The compliment that the poet pays
Anne at the end of the poem is one reason for calling it a sweet poem. Young women often
suffer from insecurities about the way they look, but as the poet assures Anne, if you are a
beautiful person on the inside, then you can never look ugly. However, this poem has a
somewhat hidden meaning. Rather, it reveals certain stereotypes that are not generally
noticed. These notions are put into our heads since childhood or adolescence, and hence, it is
difficult not to be influenced by them. Men prefer women who are conventionally beautiful
rather than those whose beauty is of a different kind. They generally look only at the physical
appearance of women and not at what kind of person they are on the inside. The poet feels
that this is an injustice, and so he tells Anne to beware of men who love her for her yellow
hair or for her outward appearance only. He tells her that she should only value a man who
loves her for her inner beauty, even if such a man is hard to come by.
Poetic Devices
RTC
Q1.The poet in the poem ‘For Anne Gregory’ conveys that we should give importance to the
inner beauty and not the physical appearance. Elaborate with reference to the poem.
Answer:
In the conversation that takes place between Anne Gregory and another speaker, the poet has
tried to show that inner beauty is real beauty whereas physical appearance is changeable and
hence, unimportant. The first speaker says to Anne that young men love her for her beautiful
yellow hair and may never love her for what she really is. To this, Anne replies that her hair-
colour can be changed into black, brown or carrot, meaning that external beauty is all
superficial and men should not love her for that. Through Anne’s reply, the poet has made
clear his preference for internal beauty over physical appearance.
Q2.How right or wrong is it to judge someone on the basis of his/her physical appearance?
Answer:
Physical appearances never give the true account of a person as it can be changed with the
help of clothing, make-up and other such things.
Something which is not true and real should not be used to judge the person carrying it. A
person must be judged on the basis of his behaviour that shows the true characteristics of his
personality. This is explained by Anne in her reply to the first speaker that her beautiful hair-
colour which attracts men is changeable, hence, men should not fall in love with her based on
her-hair colour.