Main Themes In Yeats's 'Sailing To Byzantium'
The main theme of the poem is 'aging ', a theme quite personal and common for Yeats ' later poems “Sailing to Byzantium”: "An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick." Page 425 (Golden Treasury)
He renounces his almost- intensity. The second coming is at hand. This coming prophet will be the prophet of destruction. The falcon, symbolizing intellectual power, has got free of the control of the falconer, representing the heart or soul.
Then, a powerful expression of Yeats’ agony facing old age appears at the beginning of “Sailing to Byzantium”:
“That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees Those dying generations – at their song.” Page 425 (Golden Treasury)
In yeats’ poem there is no place for old men. Yeats sees old age as a symbol of
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In “Among School Children” he considers himself a comfortable scarecrow. The heart becomes ‘comprehending’, unfortunately attached to a ‘dying animal’. In “The Tower”, Yeats calls the aged body an ‘absurdity’.
In the poem “A Prayer for My Daughter”, Yeats is ever so worried with the present disorder situation and moreover the upcoming dangerous future that is near to the next generation. In this poem Yeats wishes to his daughter some abstract qualities with those she will be able to face the upcoming challenges of future. In the poem, Yeats’ prayer is not only for his daughter but also for all people of future generation.
In “Easter 1916”, Yeats’ sense of humanism is seen which is another modern trait in literature. The horrible effects of war cast a gloomy shadow on the poetic sensibility of the modern poets. The sad realities of life paved the way of humanitarian aspect in modern literature. Yeats’ poetry also abounds in humanism. In this poem, he feels even for his rival. He says:
“He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near
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