"The Brown Penny"

The Brown Penny is about W.B.Y’s love life. A brown penny in Gaelic folklore is a symbol for love; so when Yeats titled his poem, published in 1910, he was basically titling it Love. In the poem Yeats talks about all of his fears about love. He talks about all of the unknown of falling in love with someone, and what it is like to be wrapped up in love. “I am looped in the loops of her hair” is saying that he is so wrapped up in loving this girl, that it feels like he is tangled in her hair; something that is very close to a girl. This poem is probably about his unrequited love towards Maud Gonne. I’ve made this conclusion based on the fact that Yeats had yet to meet his future wife in 1910; when the poem was published.