Experiential And Themes Of The Community In William Butler Yeats's 'The Tower'

There is a strong contrast in this poem between the old, weary, lonely poet and the apparently ever-youthful, energetic and powerful swans. Yeats’ journey to Byzantium in “Sailing to Byzantium” is due to the fact that he wishes to become immortal, to flee the dreaded progression of ageing. He rejects Ireland as it is “no country for old men” and criticizes those who get too caught up in the wonders of life and who have no concerns about growing old “Caught in that sensual music all neglect, Monuments of unageing intellect”. The poet claims that one, namely, “an aged man”, can only break free from the spell of ageing if he is allow his spirit to break free “A tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing and louder sing”. Yeats obviously wants to bypass old age and become immortal in this poem and begs the “sages” to allow him to break away from his body, “a dying animal”, and to gather him “into the artifice of eternity”. In both “The Wild Swans at Coole” and “Sailing to Byzantium, a strong contrast is made. However, in “The Wild Swans at Coole”, Yeats merely seems envious of the youthful swans, in contrast to “Sailing to Byzantium” where he seems angry with the young who appear to waste their youthfulness. I found this theme very thought-provoking and therefore an entertaining theme to read about.

The timeless essence and the ambivalence in Yeats’ poems urge the reader’s response to relevant themes in society today. This enduring power of Yeats’ poetry, influenced by the Mystic and pagan influences is embedded within the textual integrity drawn from poetic techniques and structure when discussing relevant contextual concerns.

William Butler Yeats is one of the most esteemed poets in 20th century literature and is well known for his Irish poetry. While Yeats was born in Ireland, he spent most of his adolescent years in London with his family. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he later moved back to Ireland. He attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and joined the Theosophical Society soon after moving back. He was surrounded by Irish influences most of his life, but it was his commitment to those influences and his heritage that truly affected his poetry. William Butler Yeats’s poetry exemplifies how an author’s Irish identity can help create and influence his work.

W.B. Yeats’ poem “Sailing to Byzantium” presents his concerned about the progression of time and how someone can become eternal. Yeats lived from 1865 to 1939; so this poem, which was composed in 1926 at age 60, which reflects his fear about aging and becoming immaterial. The narrator of this poem seems concerned with the idea of the human condition, “that we are born, we live, and then we die”. The narrator seeks out a place where he will be able to join the monuments of history, so that he could survive endlessly. He emphasized a deeper journey of an old man seeking to escape the idle and uneducated society of Europe. Thereafter, the poet sails to a place called Byzantium, the ancient name for current day Istanbul. He chose Byzantium, because of its well known history, a place of paradise and the only place where art and man can become a single body. Thus, he hopes that by becoming an artificial object himself, he can setback the human condition.

In the first stanza Yeats expresses his conflicting loathing and admiration for modernity through the juxtaposition of “vivid faces” and “grey houses”. This represents the possibilities that modernity can bring; the revitalising of the community or the destruction of tradition and age old energy already lost by the modifications in the city. The repetition of the phrase “A terrible beauty is born” in the first and fourth stanzas articulate this inner turmoil revolving around modernity. This oxymoronic declaration is emphasised throughout the text by Yeats’ confusion towards the rebellion and its necessity. The fourth stanza embodies this conflict, removing the previously represented idea that life in pre-rebellion Ireland was a “casual comedy”, alluding to an Elizabethan play where the characters were content. By asking the rhetoric questions “was it needless death” and “O when may [British rule] suffice?” Yeats parallels the unresolved contradiction of “terrible beauty”. However, this sensitive treatment of conflict allows the retainment of ambiguity and can be related to any change within life, hence allowing audiences to superimpose their own beliefs and ideas into the poem. Yeats continues to explore his aversion towards modernism in The Second Coming with the appointment of a new “gyre” standing as the symbol for a new age. The fear of

All Souls’ Morning by Eamon Grennan is poem that explores the way of life and how the way things are in life. The poem isn’t supposed to be a sad poem, telling us about how life is quite meaningless, rather it is supposed to be an acceptance of the way life is for humanity. The poem uses the daily practices of life, recollection of past events, relationships developed as a human being and the circular motion of life to explore the way and the meaning of life in this poem.

Young Yeats spent much of his childhood in Sligo, Ireland. It was in Sligo where his earliest visions began to form. Through the Pollexfen’s, William was able to experience life on the water, as his grandfather owned a fleet of ships and the Sligo Steam Navigation Company. As the grandson of this sea merchant, the sailors onboard the fleets, as well as the servants back at home, would all treat young William like royalty. The Pollexfen’s world was complete with yachts and summer homes. Despite separation from his father for much of his youth, William was without want. He was free to wander about to discover the beauties, and explore the myths and legends of this enchanted place. William would miss Sligo immensely when this family would move

The poem I have chosen to discuss are, John Clare’s “I am” and “Ode to Autumn.” by John Keats. Both of these poems deal with the sublime and express the concern of self-consciousness that poetry addressed during the romantic period. John Clare’s “I am” is a refection upon ones last minutes of breathing life, or rather a pondering of death. The poem is cleverly constructed through the structured use of complex poetic techniques in the phonics and sense appealing aspects of the poem. Clare writes to manipulate the reader, not to show them his grief and despair from his point of view, but instead, a point of view of which he would like them to see from. I chose this poem because the poem itself, almost becomes self-aware, as though the experiences

And yet, this truth leaves us not alone, but struggling through our existence with all people. “We must love one another or die” is his most conclusive statement (Auden 2690). This shows his belief that even in the meaningless dark of war, we still have each other to love, and we must do so in order to live. Interestingly, Auden later changed the line to “We must love one another and die” and even later removed it from the poem entirely (Auden 2690). This shows how greatly Auden was disillusioned with life. In his mind, even if one lived a life of love, they still died, just the same as the senseless deaths of all the soldiers and civilians killed in World War Two. Although Auden found beauty in community, he also saw it as fleeting, almost meaningless, but still worth clinging to, so that he might “show an affirming flame” to the people lost in the darkness (Auden

The theme of physical and emotional isolation is explored in the first verse of the poem through the image of a man who had drowned in a sea (Charlesworth & Hilary). However, physical separation can be seen in the first line “Nobody heard him” (1) which had a meaning that he was too far into the sea that no one could hear his cries for help. On the other hand, it could also mean that no one was willing to listen or take time to understand him and, therefore, he is isolated and left with no one to lay a hand of assistance (Livatino 444). The man is lost and tormented as can be seen in the two lines, “Poor chap, he always loved larking” (5) and “Oh…no it was too cold always” (Flower & Dean). Under those circumstances, the author uses two contrasting moods and emotional expressions about the dead man to lament his illusive torment.

One of the important themes in William Butlers Yeats’s poem “Sailing to Byzantium” and Audre Lordes poem “Coal” is their explanation of different transformations and transitions.Each challenge that they faced was embraced to help them face any challenges they faced.In both poems the person seeked for changes in their life.Each poem also showed how certain items were significant to each author.Both proved how the specific items helped each have a reason for the changes each person wanted to make.

In his poetry Yeats combines a commitment to Irish themes with an explanation of his own psyche and an account of his own spiritual quest – Seamus Heaney. In light of your critical study, how does this statement resonant with your own interpretation of Easter 1916 and at least ONE other poem set for study?

The contemporary Roman Catholic middle classes had defeated the cause for which Yeats fought for at that time; hence Yeats felt oppressed by his own people. (Abram 2303)

“English Romantic lyric poet John Keats was dedicated to the perfection of poetry marked by vivid imagery that expressed a philosophy through classical legend” (Jones). John Keats’ poems were written with specific messages that could be obtained from what his main topic was. Something that Keats grew passionate about was the idea that he could travel through reading books rather than going from place to place. Keats wanted to travel to learn, but as he lived his life he slowly realized that he did not have a lot of time left in order to experience his life. Keats wanted to live his life to the fullest while he had the chance, and although he only lived to the age of 25 he did exactly that. In each of the poems he constructed, a specific message can be learned from each.

The aim of this article is an attempt to know the different moods of the poet John Keats how Keats moves from Negation to Affirmation how he reacted against problems, how he turned between reality and unreality, joys and sufferings, imagination and reason, and how he turned towards poetry. The poet who once declared that he wanted to “fade for away, dissolve and quite