Discuss Ways in Which Yeats Presents the Fisherman Essay Example
Discuss ways in which Yeats presents the significance in, 'The Fisherman'
In your answer explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how this poem relates to other poems you have studied by Yeats.
Yeats aspired to compose poetry for the Irish elite, whom he considered would venerate his literature. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case- Yeats expresses his frustration on how the public means have become materialistic, and one-dimensional. How the pureness of Ireland is being diluted by the lack of attention towards art and creativity leading towards an immoral, damaged Irish society. Yeats is using his poetry as a form of weaponry to attack the insolent public with his message, and utilizes the opportunity to fabricate this fantasy of the perfect man, and the perfect audience. That image is embodied in the persona of a fisherman.
Yeats’ idea of a hero is corresponded through the conception of this imaginary fisherman. ‘…A man who is but a dream…’Yeats elevates the significance of the fisherman by depicting him in a divine perspective; whom I feel he may be comparing to Jesus. He portrays the fisherman as a simple man but with the charisma, sensitivity and morals of a superhuman. It cements the fact that the fisherman is manufactured from Yeats ego ideal; someone he idolizes and worships-which promotes the fisherman’s aura of sanctity, and enhances the characteristics of the fisherman as a revolutionary figure in the poem.
Relatively ‘…where stone is dark under froth…’ have ambiguous connotations one regarding the resurrection of Jesus; where the body of Jesus was removed from the cave, and Jesus was elevated into the clouds of heaven. The word ‘dark’ indicates that there is a shadow- the shadow possibly referring to the superficial, materialistic Ireland, an image of darkness casted, that is intercepting light- which is a metaphor for the culture-loving people of Ireland, being dictated by the dark aims of the insensitive public. It is
In your answer explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how this poem relates to other poems you have studied by Yeats.
Yeats aspired to compose poetry for the Irish elite, whom he considered would venerate his literature. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case- Yeats expresses his frustration on how the public means have become materialistic, and one-dimensional. How the pureness of Ireland is being diluted by the lack of attention towards art and creativity leading towards an immoral, damaged Irish society. Yeats is using his poetry as a form of weaponry to attack the insolent public with his message, and utilizes the opportunity to fabricate this fantasy of the perfect man, and the perfect audience. That image is embodied in the persona of a fisherman.
Yeats’ idea of a hero is corresponded through the conception of this imaginary fisherman. ‘…A man who is but a dream…’Yeats elevates the significance of the fisherman by depicting him in a divine perspective; whom I feel he may be comparing to Jesus. He portrays the fisherman as a simple man but with the charisma, sensitivity and morals of a superhuman. It cements the fact that the fisherman is manufactured from Yeats ego ideal; someone he idolizes and worships-which promotes the fisherman’s aura of sanctity, and enhances the characteristics of the fisherman as a revolutionary figure in the poem.
Relatively ‘…where stone is dark under froth…’ have ambiguous connotations one regarding the resurrection of Jesus; where the body of Jesus was removed from the cave, and Jesus was elevated into the clouds of heaven. The word ‘dark’ indicates that there is a shadow- the shadow possibly referring to the superficial, materialistic Ireland, an image of darkness casted, that is intercepting light- which is a metaphor for the culture-loving people of Ireland, being dictated by the dark aims of the insensitive public. It is