An Analysis Of W. B Yeats Poetry
What do Yeats’ poems, taken as a whole, tell us about the man who wrote them?
In W.B. Yeats’s poetry there is a clear and ofttimes intense emphasis on the poet, and as a result much is revealed of the type of man Yeats was; his fixation with aging and the cycle of life in poems such as ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ and ‘An Acre of Grass’, his tendency toward escapism in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, and his passion for Ireland’s history and landscape, as shown in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’, ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ and ‘September 1913’ and a fear of insignificance in ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ and ‘An Acre of Grass’.
One of the prevailing themes in Yeats’ work is aging and the cycle of life. In ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, the
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‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’, an island in Sligo, is the basis of his utopia. His description of this idyll, with “lake water lapping” and a “bee-loud glade”, is reverent and dream-like, showing his captivation with the Irish countryside. Similarly, in ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ the poet uses Coole Park as the backdrop, describing the “autumn beauty” of the scene. Yeats also had great interest in Irish history, admiring particularly the efforts of past revolutionaries. In ‘September 1913’, Yeats speaks out against the Irish merchant class, who he believes are “greasy” and materialistic. He contrasts this unpatriotic and mercenary society to a romanticised vision of Ireland in the past and the patriots who shed their blood for their country. He feels that society at the time weighed “too lightly” all that was done for them in the …show more content…
In ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, this is particularly evident. He does not want to be just another “tattered coat upon a stick”, but rather a timeless work of art, something “Grecian goldsmiths” might make. Similarly, in ‘An Acre of Grass’, Yeats is desperate to reach the heights of “Blake” and “Michael Angelo” by creating great works in a “frenzy” even in his later years. He rejects society’s expectations, that now he is old he must lead a staid and dull life, and instead decides to create art and so ensure he will not be “forgotten…by mankind.” It is clear from this that as he aged, Yeats become more and more preoccupied with how he would be remembered and making a lasting impact on the
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