W.B. Yeats

W.B. Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
1. setting=nature. personal poem. metaphorical journey of the mind and soul (imagination can create the ideal. Use of repetition to create elevated, musical expression of longing
2. I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
  1. ceremony, serious, old-fashioned style makes the poem very hard to date thereby giving it a certain timelessness
3. bee-loud glade
  1. use of sound provides a vivid image of the natural beauty. Ear hears only beautiful sounds
4. There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
  1. Eye sees only beautiful sights. Vivid image of the Heather plants reflected in the calm water
5. I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore
  1. onomatopoeia, alliteration. Evocation of the sound of lake water.
6. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
  1. While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
    1. desire to be elsewhere. Relatable: everyone needs a place of peace even if it only exists in the locked room of our minds
  2. Beautiful, tranquil
The Wild Swans at Coole
1. romantic image but autumn mood matches Yeats' mood. Tireless continuity of life
2. The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry,
  1. Beauty and sadness of Autumn. Rhythm is slow, mood is meditative
3. Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty swans.
  1. Prompt an emotional response within the reader as one is left without a mate. Possible reference to Yeats' own struggles withlove
4. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count
  1. unhappy affair with Maud Gonne. The passing of time has brought increasing sorrow. Aware of his mortality?
5. And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore,
  1. Remembering the good times when the "bell-beat of their wings" caused him to trod with a lighter tread and his heart to lift
6. Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away?
  1. Yeats is left with a heavier heart as he imagines the men the swans will continue to delight and the love they will continue to share
September 1913
1. personal opinion to public audience. Simple and straightforward. He is disappointed with the present and compares it with the past
2. And add the halfpence to the pence And prayer to shivering prayer
  1. profound disillusionment, scathing/ironic. The people of the present day are without dignity or beauty. Money=Power
3. For men were born to pray and save
  1. Ironic: he does not believe men should simply save money and pray for their souls
4. Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
  1. Repetition: lack of energy and fiery optimism that Ireland was known for. Bitter, dismissive tone. Anger
5. Yet they were of a different kind, The names that stilled your childish play
  1. Those heroes were selfless and reckless and Yeats regrets their passing
6. For this Edward Fitzgerald died, And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone, All that delirium of the brave?
  1. The naming of names gives the poem an energy and authenticity. "For this" indicates Yeats' disappointment and disillusionment
7. They weighed so lightly what they gave. But let them be, they’re dead and gone, They’re with O’Leary in the grave.
  1. Ireland's Romantic Visionaries were selfless and giving, they did not view their lives in a calculating manner. Yeats' bitter, angry tone has given way to acceptance
Easter 1916
1. Takes back his denunciation of the Irish middle-class,he admits that he misjudged them.
2. I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces
  1. the backdrop of the everyday society is grey but the faces of the rebels are animated, "vivid" showing passion and enthusiasm for a cause.
3. polite meaningless words
  1. Repeated to capture the distance between him and them and to portray himself and his companions "at the club" in an honest, bad light
4. All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.
  1. powerful, paradoxical image captures Yeats' conflicting emotions
5. REBELS who were given anonymous "Vivid" faces in stanza one are now given qualities and attributes
  1. "Ignorant good-will" = well-intentioned but uninformed nature of Countess Markiewicz
  2. John MacBride
    1. A drunken, vain-glorious lout. He had done most bitter wrong To some who are near my heart,
      1. Married to Yeats' unrequited love, Maud Gonne, but had hurt her deeply resulting in divorce
6. He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterly
  1. The complex "terrible beauty" transformed the rebels
7. Hearts...Enchanted to a stone To trouble the living stream.
  1. Stone hearts=resistance, persistence. Symbolize individuals choked by hatred. Stream=those who dies are permanent presences in the constant flow of time
8. And what if excess of love Bewildered them till they died?
  1. Asks the question on everyone's mind, Were they so single-minded that they couldn't see passed their love for their country?
9. Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.
  1. Once again taking back his accusations of "September 1913" and praising the actions of the tragic heroes
Sailing to Byzantium
1. Yeats withdraws from the world and explores more personal themes. This is a stately, graceful journey of the mind and soul to an ancient and beautiful place Praising and celebrating the importance of art.
2. That is no country for old men.
  1. rejects Ireland. He is no longer at ease in his birthplace
3. Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
  1. The youth are unaware of their mortality but they will grow old too
4. An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick
  1. Looks at himself in a negative light. Paints a grim self image which explains his longing to escape this imperfect world and enter an immortal one
5. Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
  1. The soul defies its ageing, mortal body. Repetition gives the simple, childlike, spontaneous, delightful image momentum
6. be the singing-masters of my soul. Consume my heart away
  1. Having now made the journey to Byzantium (a journey of the imagination) Yeats' soul/heart can bask in the beauty of art. Contrasts heart and soul, body and spirit
7. Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing...to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
  1. Rejects the natural world, conjures up an elegant civilisation in his mind
An Irish Airman Foresees his Death
1. Writing as Major Robert Gregory who died in action in 1918 allows Yeats to speak with foresight. There is a determined, certain tone and a feeling of the inevitable
2. I know that I shall meet my fate
  1. The poem begins with a sense of urgency. He seems to be confronting his destiny which he feels was doomed from the onset (TITLE)
3. Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love
  1. He does not hate the Germans, he does not love the British. The mention of "Kiltartan Cross" creates an image of an unassuming, sympathetic man.
4. No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before.
  1. The people whom he cares about will be unaffected by the outcome. "My country", "My countrymen" = emphasis on himself shows his true commitment
5. A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds
  1. presents us with the haunting Romantic explanation, not "law", "duty", "public men", but a "lonely impulse". Was this done on a whim out of love for his cause (like the rebels in Easter 1916)
6. In balance with this life, this death.
  1. calculated, clear, understanding tone. The choice was an impulse but it was a balanced decision. Showing Gregory's final moment and the futility of life

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