William Wordsworth: Poetry Analysis

SETTING:

Mythological and strange settings were employed to great effect by Wordsworth. He linked his poems with countryside settings and the natural world, viewing them as removed from metropolitan settings. Much of William Wordsworth’s poetry conveys a longing for life away from the city (Web.utk.edu, n.d.). In the case of Yeats, his country—its scenery, myth, and paranormal legend – coloured work and form the setting of many of his poems. He preferred more romantic settings in his early works. But, eventually, his friendship with Lady Gregory and her estate, Coole Park, became the setting for several of his poems. In terms of tone and mood, Wordsworth wrote in the simple language of common people, telling real stories of his life. The tones

He often misused free-verse form for his purposes. His early poetry was based on Irish mythologies, but his later work drew deeply upon current issues including the Irish Civil War (Literary Devices, 2014)

These fundamentals were vital in selections of Yeats’ poetry, as he avoided the use of complex literary devices, preferring instead to let natural rhyme and simple format to flow easily with the reader.

Yeats has used many techniques and poetic devices to convey his messages to his readers. While many have only been outlined and some not even mentioned here, it is Yeats’ innovative use of language, sound and rhythm which primarily appeal to the reader. Yeats’ minimal use of complex literary devices and ambiguous references in these poems (which he has been known for) allow the broadest demographic to appreciate his take on the human condition (Yeatspoetry.weebly.com, n.d.)

He turned his own understanding into public statement, and he altered public genres of writing with personal testimony. He departed from classic principles of uniformity and abstract diction, and he established the Romantic taste for the irregular experience rendered in concrete language. Life in the quiet of the Lake District provided him with subjects of rural living, but his education in sophisticated cities added richness of self-reflection and self-discipline. His writing came from all dimensions of his experience. In 1842 when his last volume, Poems Chiefly of Early and Late Years, was published, he accepted a government pension of three hundred pounds sterling per annum, a substantial sum. The next year, he succeeded Robert Southey as poet laureate of England. He died April 23, 1850, at Rydal Mount in his beloved Lake District (Guides & Wordsworth, n.d.).

Yeats's poetry grew over five decades from the unclear imagery and ambiguous rhythms of The Wanderings of Oisin, and Other Poems, his first significant work, to the forceful, incantatory verse of the Last Poems. Throughout his career, Yeats found occult research a rich source of images for his poetry, and traces of his obscure interests appear everywhere in his poems. Additionally, Yeats realized that only through imagination could the raw materials of life be transformed into something lasting ("Willam Butler Yeats", n.d.).