becomes incapable to continue in the physical world. The soul is trapped within the body‚ and when the body can no longer continue in the physical world the soul wants to transcend to an otherworldly plane. In William Butler Yeats’s poem “Sailing to Byzantium” the speaker describes the journey to release the soul from his ageing body. The poet uses imagery of life such as birds‚ trees‚ salmon‚ and mackerel crowded seas. These images of life are “The dying generations” (line 3). How is it that these
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including Sailing to Byzantium‚ The Lake Isle of Inisfree‚ The Second Coming‚ September 1913‚ Easter 1916 and The Wild Swans of Coole. Yeats’s interest in mysticism‚ the occult‚ ancient civilizations‚ eastern religions‚ theosophy and Celtic myths and motifs are highly influential in supporting this tension between the real and the ideal. This statement exemplifies Yeats’s adage; “People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of their mind.” Sailing to Byzantium
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Literature for what the Nobel committee described as: “inspired poetry‚ which in a highly artistic way gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.” The poems I feel which perfectly support this statement are: “Lake Isle of Innisfree”‚ “Sailing to Byzantium”‚ “The Wild Swans at Coole”‚ “1913” and “1916”. “Lake Isle of Innisfree” is a sentimental poem of escape. Here Yeats wishes to replace the dreariness of London with the idyllic world of Innisfree. The poem opens with an almost hypnotically
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needless death after all? For England may keep faith For all that is done and said’ [Easter 1916] A man in old age alienated vibrant youthfulness: ‘The young in one another’s arms‚ birds in the trees – Those dying generations – at their song’ [Sailing to Byzantium] Death of innocence: ‘The ceremony of innocence is drowned’ [Second Coming] The self in old age‚ forsaken by beauty: ‘when I awake some day to find they have flown away’ [Wild Swans] Death chosen out of a sense of despair: ‘A waste of breath
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Archive. Hofstra U. 28 Jan. 2011 < http://www.jstor.org/pss/441010 >. Frazer‚ James. Golden Bough. 3rd ed. New York: The Macmillan Co.‚ 1935. “The Wild Swans at Coole (poem).” Wikipedia. 14 Jan.2011 28 Jan. 2011 . Rukhaya. “Poetry Analysis: Yeats’s Byzantium.” BRIGHT HUB 3 Oct. 2010 28 Jan. 2011 . Yeats‚ William Butler. Plays and Controversies. New York: The Macmillan Co.‚ 1924. ‐‐‐. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. New York: The Macmillan Co.‚ 1956.
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Pursuing the ideal is a central theme frequently mentioned within the three poems Sailing to Byzantium‚ Betting on the Muse‚ and Constantly Risking Absurdity and Death. While writing poetry‚ an artist’s main objective is often to reflect on their perception of beauty depicted in either the eternal or temporal realm. Throughout the poetry unit‚ it became quite evident that the eternal realm is the ideal due to its expression of everlasting love and happiness with an emphasized correlation to art and
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of reality verses the ideal. Yeats is an idealist‚ yet he is looking at the reality certainly in two cases ‘September 1913’ and ‘Easter 1916’. We see that Yeats is escaping the reality to his ideal world in ‘The lake Isle of Inisfree’ and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. As we analyse ‘September 1913’‚ we discover that the poem is a scathing criticism of the mercenary materialism‚ which Yeats felt was rampant in Ireland 1913. ‘September 1913’ is a political ballad that contrasts the old nationalists to
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symbolism Yeats uses draws heavily from his metaphysical beliefs; he used well-known symbols to get his point across as well as cryptic and ambiguous symbols to keep his works relevant throughout time. In the poems “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium”‚ Yeats uses symbolism to make poignant‚ haunting statements on the contemporary issues of his time involving society and human existence that‚ by his own design‚ are still relevant today. In the poem “The Second Coming”‚ Yeats is waxing
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suggests that this event leads to the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra (the latter being the daughter of Leda) Sailing to Byzantium It uses a journey to Constantinople (Byzantium) as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Yeats explores his thoughts and musings on how immortality‚ art‚ and the human spirit may converge. Through the use of various poetic techniques‚ Yeats’s "Sailing to Byzantium" describes the metaphorical journey of a man pursuing his own vision of eternal life as well as his conception
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returns to the temporal and eternal as central contrasting themes in his work. From “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time‚” in which a young Yeats appeals to the eternal rose to save him from the temporal world and its woes‚ to the much later “Sailing to Byzantium‚” in which an older Yeats‚ cognizant of his death‚ entreaties the artists of the Hagia Sophia to immortalize him in one of their famed mosaics. Humans back to the age of Gilgamesh have feared death‚ but Yeats’s use of eternity stems less from
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