Welcome: It's short, but it says a lot. "After Long Silence" (1932) by W.B Yeats

In this Getting Started module you should do the following:

Study "After Long Silence" (1932) by our poet.
Read the poem many times, carefully. Use the dictionary to find any words that you might not understand, such as "descant" or "decrepitude." And don't be satisfied that you are sure about the meanings of "wisdom" and "ignorant."
Think carefully about what you are reading, about the emotions the poet is expressing. Read it slowly. Notice how carefully the eight lines are put together, how the rhymes are so carefully crafted.
Only two of the rhymes are direct rhymes; the others are called "slant rhymes" because they are indirect: dead/shade; descant/ignorant; Song/young.
Questions:
Why is it important that "Speech" comes only "after LONG silence"? What does this tell us about the quality of the speech?
Why is the lamplight "unfriendly," and why is this word important for the poem?
Why does the poet tell us, and the character that he is speaking to, that "All other lovers [are] estranged or dead"? Why is it important to know that "other lovers [are] estranged"?
Why must the poet repeat the verb "descant"? Isn't once enough?
Why does the poet declare "the supreme theme of Art and Song"? And is he right about the "supreme theme"?
Why does he declare that "Bodily decrepitude is wisdom"?
Why does he declare that "young / We loved each other and were ignorant"?
Why does he use these two specific words, "wisdom" and "ignorant"?

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