Upload
safdar
View
226
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
1/62
Yeats
A study of selected poems by
W.B. Yeats
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
2/62
List of Poems
Broken Dreams
The Cold Heaven
Easter 1916
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth...
Leda and the Swan Sailing to Byzantium
The Cat and the Moon
The Fisherman
The Man and the Echo
The Second Coming The Stolen Child
The Wild Swans at Coole
Among School Children
An Irish Airman Foresees his Death
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
3/62
BROKEN DREAMS
Context:
1917: Yeats last proposal to Maud
Themes:
TimeDeath
Decay
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
4/62
Form and Structure
The varied length of the stanzas illustrates Yeats feelings, the shift
of focus makes the poem feel very modern
The enjambment is used when Yeats looks back on the past, this
technique is used particularly when he is recalling Maud in her youth
and how beautiful she was
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
5/62
Imagery
Decay/Time:
There is grey in your hairMauds beauty withered with time
But in the grave all, all, shall be renewed Maud was once
beautiful in her youth, Maud may have lost some of her appeal; but
Yeats looks forward to the afterlife when her former beauty will berestored (which is quite fickle). It seems here beauty is only in the
eye of the beholder
Beauty:
Burdensome beautybeauty here is seen as negative as it is like a
curse and with time beauty will only wither away You are more beautiful than any one/ And yet your body had a flaw /
Your small hands were not beautifuleven Maud has her faults
with makes her human like the rest of us and not angelic
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
6/62
THE COLD HEAVEN
Context:
Yeats is wondering what life after death is like, and if Heaven existsand what that could be like etc
Yeats is confused; which is reflected in the vagueness of the poem
Themes:
Death
Crisis of Faith
Binary Opposites
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
7/62
Form and Structure
The poem itself is romantic in style as it focuses on a spectrum ofdifferent emotions
Structure
Alexandrines: these are woven into free verse to reflect order andchaos (another binary opposite). The blending of the two reflect
Yeats confusion about the afterlife and what awaits him after he diesForm
Enjambment: used to represent stream-of-consciousness (Yeatsthoughts) this is typical of modern literature
E.g. Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven/ That
seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, Line length: there is a rocking back and forth effect created by the
length of lines and by the number of accents which goes: 6, 7, 5, 6,6, 7, 5, 6, 7, 5, 6, 5.
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
8/62
Imagery
Vanished and left but memories, that should be out of season/With thehot blood of youth..here Yeats is saying that youth should not beconcerned with death, hot blood of youth could suggest that theirinnocence can be seen as ignorance, maybe Yeats did some things inhis own youth that he feels was impulsive and foolish. In Sailing toByzantium Yeats similarly mocks the youth in the lines commend all
summer long/ Whatever is begotten, born and dies rook-delighting an omen of death; Yeats is not sure if the afterlife isa good or bad thing as it is uncertain what awaits him
Riddled with light-this is used to represent the body dying, finally weare coming to a climax in the poem
Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent-the spirit leaving the body
Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken/ By theinjustice of the skies for punishment?-the afterlife seems harsh, evenmore endurable than the process of the death itself. Yeats ends thepoem with a rhetorical question, as he does in Leda and the Swan andThe Second Coming, he doesnt provide us any answers instead weare left to make our own assumptions
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
9/62
Oxymorons and Opposites
The title itself is an oxymoron as we associate Heaven to be warm
and friendly aspheric. Cold Heaven also contrasts Hell,
temperature wise
ice burnedas we know ice doesnt burn, Yeats is simply stating
that some opposites and relationships cannot work as they are sodifferent
rook-delighting heaven-a rook is a black bird: perhaps an omen of
death, a death-delighting heaven which is a very unlikely
combination when we think of the two
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
10/62
EASTER 1916
Context:
Based on the Easter 1916 uprising in Ireland
Themes:
Politics
Death
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
11/62
Historical Background
Cons tance Markievicz:A freedom fighter who dedicated her life toending British government in Ireland. With the new Irish government,Markieviczheld the position of Minister of Labour.
Patrick Pearse:An accomplished Irish writer who was editor of theGallic Leagues paper. He also founded the St. Endas School inDublin. Yeats refers to Pearse in Easter 1916 as the man who had
kept a school / and rode our winged horse (24-25). The wingedhorse represents Pegasus, a figure from Greek mythology the use ofthis image highlights Pearseslearned statehe almost, in Yeats mind,rises to take his place among the great Greek philosophers (seeAmong Schoolchildren for furtherYeatsian reflection on the value ofthe great Greeks)`
Thomas MacDonagh:He studied the Irish language and met Patrick
Pearse through his involvement with the Gallic League. He joined theteaching staff at PearsesSt. Ednas School. In addition to hisinvolvement in education and the fight for Irish independence,MacDonagh was also an Irish writer. Yeats asserts Pearse andMacDonaghs relationship by referring to MacDonagh as Pearseshelper and friend(26).
Information copied from www.aterriblebeautyisborn.com
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
12/62
Historical Background
Major John Macbr ide:An Irish revolutionary and was married toMaud Gonne. He was predominately featured in Yeatspoetry. Although Yeats held particular bitterness against Macbrideas a man who had done most bitter wrong / to some who were nearmy heart(33-34), Yeats overcame these judgments (or at least
admits that a man in death may bear little resemblance to a man inlife
Maud Gonne:The inspiration for many ofYeatss early poems. Afeminist and actress she later moved on to try and release the Irishpolitical prisoners from jail during the Easter Rising.
James Connol ly :Joined the British army at the age offourteen. During the time he spent with the armed forces, Connollyeducated himself as well as developing his interest in bothNationalism and Socialism. In the Easter Rising rebellion, Connollywas Commander-General of the Dublin Brigade.
Information copied from www.aterriblebeautyisborn.com
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
13/62
Form and Structure
Yeats varies between Iambic tetrameter and Iambic trimeter perhaps
to reflect the changes in Ireland and/or to show the coming of age
Ireland as it tries to seek its own identity
The rhyme scheme of the poem changes in ABAB
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
14/62
Analysis
vivid facesthese faces lack description showing their
unimportance
A terrible beauty is bornthe people of Ireland coming together to
fight for independence; however Yeats expects that it will only end
up in bloodshed and death
ignorant good-will / Her night in argument / Until her voice grew
shrill painting Constance Markievicz in a negative light (just as he
does in In the memory of Eva Gore...), he thinks that she
manipulated good however uneducated supporters/people for her
own desires
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
15/62
IN THE MEMORY OF EVA GORE-BOOTH AND CONSTANCEMARKIEWICZ
Context:
Based on two friends of Yeats, who he spent a lot of time with in hisyouth
In the poem Yeats looks back on the choices they made in life andcomments on them
Themes:
Time
Regret
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
16/62
Form and Structure
The poem is made of 3 stanzas consisting of 10 or 12 lines
The poem, like An Irish Airman Foresees his Death, is personal
therefore there is no regular rhyme scheme
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
17/62
References to events in History
Easter 1916:
Conspiring among the ignorant An image of such politics
Here Yeats is referring to Constances role in the Easter 1916
uprising.
The phrases themselves seem rather negative as he doesnt believein her method of protest and thinks she took advantage of
uneducated people to do her deeds
The older is condemned to death Constance was condemned to
death after the uprising; however she was pardoned as she was a
woman (women in that time were not executed)
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
18/62
Imagery
Wealth:
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
that old Georgian mansion
Here it is clear that the girls are of upper class as they are living in aGeorgian mansion and wearing the latest fashions silk kimonos
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
19/62
Imagery
Youth:
I know not what the younger dreams/ Some vague Utopia
young, foolish and nave
Time: Blossom from the summers wreathas from the first four lines, the
girls were clearly beautiful in their youth but here Yeats is saying that
time has stripped them for their beauty as they are nowWhen
withered old and skeleton-gaunt
Dear shadows shadows of the past, past memories, speakingagain of their ignorance
Have no enemy but timetime is the true enemy here
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
20/62
LEDA AND THE SWAN
Context:
Loosely based on the mythological tale of Leda and the Swan of awoman who is raped by Zeus and later falls pregnant with Helen ofTroy.
Yeats uses the story to symbolise Englands boisterous control overIreland
Themes:
Mythology
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
21/62
Portraits of Leda and the SwanIt is very interesting to see that artists paint the story to be sensual, even as a great
love story
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
22/62
Form and Structure
The structure follows the Petrarchan sonnet (abab cdcd efg efg); it is
quite ironic that Yeats has used this structure as it is normally to
reflect emotions of love, which contrasts this poems violent and
dark qualities
There is caesura following the word blow as Leda is shocked and
vulnerable against the sudden attack
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
23/62
Analysis
The poem itself is ambiguous as we do not know if it is consensual
or rape
Images of it being consensual:
her thighs caressed her nape caught in his bill,/ He holds her
helpless breast upon his breast A shudder in the loins We could interpret this phrases as that Leda was giving herself to
Zeus; however the by the adjective helpless we could interpret that
she had no choice
Images of rape:
Above the staggering girl terrified vague fingers her looseningthighs A shudder in the loins engenders there/ The broken wall
Here Leda is portrayed to be weak and victim-like as she cannot
push the swan off
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
24/62
Analysis
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/ And Agamemnon
deadYeats is referring to the destruction of Troy after/during the
war and Agamemnons demise
Yeats, like most of his poems, finishes the poem with a rhetorical
question which leaves the reader wondering what happened next.
Maybe here he is questioning the fate of Ireland, questioning what
will happen next to the country and its people
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
25/62
SAILING TO BYZANTIUM
Context:
A myth originating from the Old Testament, a group of men built a grandtower but God destroyed it and divided the people. Using this idea Yeatscould be referencing to the destruction caused by the First World War.
Themes:
Death
Art
Nature
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
26/62
Form and Structure
Yeats uses Ottava Rima as he does in Among School children
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
27/62
Imagery
Yeats paints a negative self-portrait, he is bitter about his ownageing and decay therefore he reduces himself to a tattered coatupon a stick An aged man is but a paltry thing
that is not a country for old menYeats feels he no longer belongsin Ireland
Nature
Nature here is presented to be harmonious the young in oneanothers arms, birds in the treesYeats seems bitter as they haveeach other and their looks, Yeats again is wallowing in self-pity
Eternal Glory Yeats wants to be more than the scarecrow-like figure, he wants to
be cast in gold to be forever, and eternal work of art Greciangoldsmiths make of hammered gold and gold enamelling
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
28/62
THE CAT AND THE MOON
Context:
After Maud turned Yeats proposal of marriage down for the final time,he proposed to Mauds daughter
The poem can be interoperated as the relationship between Maud andYeats as the cat Minnaloushe was purposively owned by Maud
Themes:
Nature
Gyres
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
29/62
Form and Structure
The poem itself is song-like as it is very rhythmic and repetitive
There is a lot of rhyming; which adds to the rhythm of the poem
Use of alliteration makes the poem lyrical, and childish
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
30/62
Analysis
The cat in the poem is Yeats, who is attracted to and influenced by
the Moon (Maud)
The moon has always been associated with women and the
menstrual cycle
In the poem the moon is almost tormenting the cat The pure coldlight in the sky/ Troubled his animal blood
However the moonlight shining on the cat implies that Maud is what
makes Yeats works so magnificent, as Maud is the muse behind
most of Yeats poems
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
31/62
Analysis
The yolk and the white of one shell
The cat went here and there / and the moon spun around like a
top.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils Will pass from change to
change, And that from round to crescent Yeats here implies that the cat and the moon are meant to be
together and their similarities is what unites them
Contrast:
The cat is black and the moon is white; the use of binary opposites
shows how distant the two objects really are
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
32/62
Moon cycle/ Cats pupils
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
33/62
THE FISHERMAN
Context:
The Fisherman is about Yeats scorn for the public and their disrespect ofart.
Yeats longs for an ideal Ireland of a time long passed, a perfect Ireland, aperfect audience, and a perfect man which the Fisherman is theembodiment of
Themes:
Time
Opposites
An Ideal Ireland
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
34/62
Form and Structure
Yeats uses a simple rhyme scheme to illustrate his point, Yeats also
makes his sentence structures simple for the wise and simple man
His poem has almost been forced to be made simple as the public
and the new world have demanded it so
Yeats uses the form and structure to criticize the audience, tensionsbuild in the second stanza until a crescendo at the end of the
stanza, here the structure and form is used to mirror Yeats emotions
of anger
The beating down of the wise/ And great Art beaten down.
Stanza three is more of a reflection stanza as Yeats looks back onwhat he has written, here in the third stanza he writes with clarity as
he writes of the fisherman
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
35/62
Imagery
Yeats begins and ends the poem creating an image of an idealisticIreland and the perfect man
The freckled man who goes/ To a gray place on a hill/ In grayConnemara clothes/ At dawn to cast his flieshere we have anidealistic picture of a rural Ireland where men work hard doing
physical tasks At the start, after Yeats describes the fisherman, he goes on to talk
about the disrespectful audience and by the middle of the secondstanza Yeats anger is overpowering
Though the fisherman fires Yeats argument and anger at the start ofthe poem; by the end of the poem in stanza three the fishermanrepresents an only form of comfort that Yeats has, almost like theimage of the fisherman is the only thing keeping him going
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
36/62
Oxymorons and Opposites
The wise and simple man here Yeats is being ironic as the
audience are simple, and if there was a wise man he is consumed
by materialistic things of the modern world.
Here it is clear that Yeats longs for an ideal audience who
appreciate art and are just as intelligent as himself
as cold/ And passionate as the dawn-the use of opposites here
emphasises that the old world and the modern world do not mix as
they are so different. The world Yeats dreams of is a world where
literature and art were still cherished, in this new hedonistic world
materialistic objects and human pleasures (drinking, sex etc) seem
to be more important
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
37/62
THE MAN AND THE ECHO
Context:Based on the Greek Mythology of Narcissus and Echo
Yeats is thinking about things from his past and whether he could havedone more
Themes:
MythologyNature
Death
Regret
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
38/62
Narcissus and Echo
Echo was a nymph who fell in love with Narcissus when she sees him for
the first time
Echo reveals herself to Narcissus and he rejects her love
Echo wastes away until she remains just a voice in the wind Narcissus after hunting lays by a spring for a drink but catches sight of his
reflection, he instantly falls in love with himself and wont be moved from the
spring. He wastes away with the love for his own reflection
When Narcissus body is gone all is left is a Narcissus flower: a pale flower
near the river banks so it can be reflected on the water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Echo_and_Narcissus.jpg7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
39/62
Form and Structure
The poem is made of rhyming couplets:
Man. In a cleft that's christened Alt
Under broken stone I halt
At the bottom of a pit
That broad noon has neverlit,
Trochaic tetrameter
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
40/62
Mythology
In a cleft that's christened Alt-this is a reference to a hill in Ireland
that is supposed to a Celtic burial ground
Echo and Narcissus in the poem could be referring to Yeats (echo)
and Maud (Narcissus) or Yeats (echo) and Ireland (Narcissus) or
Yeats (Narcissus) and Margo (echo)
The Effect of echo:
Echo. Lay down and die. is put between each stanza to show
Yeats in conflict with his thoughts, the echo is an extension of
himself and his echo are only repeating his words and ideas back to
him adding to Yeats loneliness
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
41/62
References to historical events/
events in Yeats life
Did that play of mine send out/ Certain men the English shot?
this refers to Easter 1916 and the executions after the uprising. This
phrase also refers to a play that Yeats wrote Cathleen ni Houlihan
here Yeats is wondering if he was a cause of the uprising
Did words of mine put too great strain/ On that womans reeling
brain? here Yeats is referring to mentally unstable Margo Collins,
who was a writer and Yeats had an affair with. She became a muse
of his, and he tried to mentor her to improve her own poetry. Yeats
broke off the relationship, due to her poetry, she had a breakdown
and committed suicide
Could my spoken words have checked/ That whereby a house laywrecked? here Yeats is wondering if he could have done anything
to stop the destruction of Lady Gregorys mansion and the
destruction of Coole Park
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
42/62
Themes and Imagery
Crisis of Faith:
What do we know but that we face/ One another in this place?here, like in The Cold Heaven, Yeats is questioning what is thereafter death and if there is a Heaven
Death:
Echo. Lay down and die. is death the only way out?Nature:
Up there some hawk or owl has struck,Dropping out of sky or rock,
A stricken rabbit is crying out,
And its cry distracts my thought Here Nature is volatile and destructive, even to an extent pointless
Is Yeats distracted by what he sees, oris he trying to make a pointthat life is volatile and destructive?
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
43/62
THE SECOND COMING
Context:
Written after World War I, at a time of change
Themes:Gyres
Death
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
44/62
Gyres
a geometrical shape
- Yeats theory of life expressed in A Vision each gyre gradually
rotates towards a point of maximum expansion, at this point a new
gyre starts in the centre of the previous. And thus it continues in a
never ending line.
Source: www.aterriblebeautyisborn.com
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
45/62
Imagery
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the worldlike a caged beast being
released to cause destruction, the beast could be a symbol for
World War I
Is moving its slow thighs, while all around it / Reel shadows of
indignant desert birds the beast about to take its prey
The poem ends with a rhetorical question, like many of his poems
including Leda and the Swan, the effect is it leaves death and life in
the balance and our fates uncertain:
its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be
born?
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
46/62
Biblical references
The blood dimmed tide is loose -Revelation 17:3-6 that says thebeast will come as a predecessor to the second coming of Christ.
REVELATION 16:3
And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and itbecame as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in
the sea.MATTHEW 24: 27-31
27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth evenunto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28Forwheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gatheredtogether.
REVELATION 17: 3-6
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw awoman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names ofblasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
47/62
THE STOLEN CHILD
Context:
Yeats earlier poems, he wrote this aged twenty-one when he wasbeginning his career. In his earlier poems Yeats writes moreromantically and based his poems on Irish mythology
Themes:
Mythology
Nature
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
48/62
Form and Structure
The poem is almost lyrical due to certain qualities such as the line(s)
that repeat at the end of each stanza which almost acts as a
refrain/chorusFor the world's more full of weeping than you can
understand
The rhythm is quite steady due to the simple rhyming scheme, the
rhythm makes the poem seem like a childs song or poem, adding tothe child-like and fantasy quality of the poem
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
49/62
Imagery
Yeats creates this elaborate fairytale-like kingdom where he is able tobe free, free from his troubles and the modern world
the reddest stolen cherriesthe fruit seems very alluring andirresistible, here the faeries are trying to lure the child
Nature and Freedom
the waters and the wildfreedom
the frothy bubblesfree, without a care or so it seems on thesurface
wandering water gushes For the world's more full of weeping than you can understandthe
idea of escaping troubles/reality
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
50/62
THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE
Context:Yeats would come to Coole Park often to write poetry, Coole Park washome to a good friend of Yeats: Lady Gregory
Here in The Wild Swans at Coole he writes of the park and how itchanges over time
Themes:Time
Nature
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
51/62
Form and Structure
5, 6 line stanzas roughly following the iambic meter structure,
First and third lines are in tetrameter
2nd, 4th and 6th lines are in trimeter with the 5th line(s) in pentameter
The poem similarly resembles a ballad due to its structure and
strong emotion A-B-C-B-D-D rhyming scheme
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
52/62
Imagery
Harmony and Love:
Unwearied still, lover by lover, Their hearts have not grown old;-the swans are at peace with each other and are young at heart asthey seem to be passionately in love. Perhaps the swans remindYeats of a memory of his youth, he almost seems jealous and bitter
as they have each other and he can never have Maud: the womanof his dreams
on the still water/ Mysterious, beautiful;nature in harmony
Time:
Under the October twilight the water/ Mirrors a still sky;-natureseems to be harmonious; but also here we are reminded by the skythat with time and the change of seasons that the sky changes too
The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me
in great broken rings- time and its continuous cycle, time issomething greater than us humans: destiny, the bigger picture
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
53/62
Imagery and further analysis
Jealousy:
And now my heart is sore feelings of jealousy as he looks uponthe swans and sees how happy and in love they are
Loneliness:
nine and fifty swans-adding to feelings of being alone in a crowd
etc brilliant creatures-he can only watch these creatures and not touch
or join them adding to Yeats feelings of loneliness and issolation
Further Analysis:
Yeats ends the poem, like The Cold Heaven, with a rhetoricalquestion showing Yeats confusion as he ponders in mid-thought
Yeats could be thinking of what would he do after Maud dies, afterall she is the main focus of his life and his poetry
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
54/62
Use of Onomatopoeia
clamorous beat scatter
These words are harsh, powerful and even violent sounding
The use of onomatopoeia is used to show Yeats anger and
frustration as he looks back on certain parts of his life, from the
words chosen we can only assume that these are bad memories
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
55/62
AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN
Context:
Yeats was a famous public figure and was invited to many events andschools etc.
One day, when he was a special guest at a school, he walks aroundimagining what Maud was like at this age; and he also thinks about theGreat Philosophers
Themes:Mythology
Reflection
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
56/62
Form and Structure
Ottava Rima: normally used for epic poetry to reflect deep thoughtsor philosophical ideas
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
57/62
Analysis
The public manhere Yeats is referring to himself and hisimportance
stand before me as a living childhere Yeats is thinking whatMaud would have been like at that age
A Ledean body For even daughters of the swan can share
Something of every paddlers heritagea link to Leda and theSwan, Yeats is also referring to Maud
a comfortable kind of old scarecrowYeats here is aware that he isolder now and aged, he paints a haggard and negative image ofhimself. In Sailing to Byzantium he also describes himself asatattered coat upon a stick
How can we know the dancer from the dance?like most of hispoems, Yeats ends with a rhetorical question, making the readerreflect
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
58/62
The Great Philsophers
Plato the yolk and white of an egghere Yeats is referring to Platos idea
of the egg/sphere, Yeats here is implying that Maud and him aresupposed to be together
Plato thought nature but a spume that plays/ Upon a ghostly
paradigm of thingsreferring to Platos complex theory of the caveand shadows
Aristotle
Solider Aristotle played the taws/ Upon the bottom of a king ofkingsAristotle who taught Alexander the Great
Pythagoras World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras/ Fingered upon a fiddle-
stick or stringsPythagoras was a mathematician, who alsodabbled in music. He created the idea of perfect 4ths, 5ths andoctaves
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
59/62
AN IRISH AIRMAN FORESEES HISDEATH
Context:
Set in World War I
Yeats wrote this as an elegy to Major Robert Gregory: the son of Lady
Gregory (one of Yeats best friends) who lived in Kiltartan
Themes:
Death
Fate
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
60/62
Form and Structure
The tight structure creates an echo effect as if the airman is certainto die
In Iambic tetrameter
Caesurabefore the last two words this death emphasising that the
airmans life is in the hands of destiny, however the caesura could
imply that death is the only way out
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
61/62
Imagery and Analysis
Fate:
I KNOW that I shall meet my fate/ Somewhere among the clouds
above;-sense of being destined to die
clouds above-perhaps a link to The Wild Swans at Coole (the
place Major Gregory would have grew up/lived) mirrors a still
sky
In balance with this life, this deaththe airmans life in the hands of
fate
Death and destruction:
tumult in the clouds waste of breath
A lonely impulse of delightambiguous; however it could be
interoperated as the airman taking pleasure in killing/death
7/30/2019 Yeats Studyofpoems 130117140439 Phpapp01
62/62
Further Analysis
Those that I fight I do not hate /Those that I guard I do not love;Ireland did not feel threatened by World War I
Those that I guard I do not loveFighting with the British who had
oppressed the Irish for many years
The use ofpronouns makes the poem seem personal more than
just a poem written for the public for entertainment