| William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats' poetic career can be broken up into three main phases through which his writing style traversed. The first was during his early writing. In books like The Wanderings of Oisin he developed himself as an Irish writer through the extensive use of Irish settings and themes. Of course there were other poets who also wrote as Irishman yet Yeats was unique for he took on the shadowy world of Celtic legends rather than the contemporary reality. These poems were usually slow-paced, mystical, and lyrical. After mastering that aspect of Ireland Yeats moved on to the second phase of his poetry. He tried to "write of nothing but emotion, and in the simplest language,..." in books like The Rose. In others, such as The Wind Among the Reeds the change is more noticeable for Yeats uses imagery much more liberally. Love is also incorporated into htese poems, delt with more directly yeat still unsure. Towards the end of this period it was evident that Yeats had begun to leave the mystical themes for those of real life, including real people, places, and things, though they were still in Ireland. Stylistically, Yeats' rhythm became more solid and his syntax much tighter. "Easter, 1916" is a good example of his writing style at that time. In his last phase, Yeats finally matured his writing and was able to leave his old and 'rather simple, rather sinsuous, and rather violent' poetry for a more passionate type. In some he had a recurring theme of the polarity between extremes, (physical vs spiritual, real vs imagined), that can be found in many poems. Occultism also found its way into his writing with the increased encouragement he recieved from his wife and her automatic writing. Often the topic for this phase's poems were places in Ireland that Yeats felt held the culture of his country, such as Coole Park. With his age increasing, Yeats also brought in the difficulties of old ate and the different functions of life. The best example of his mature stage is probably "Sailing to Byzantium" as well as "The Wild Swans at Coole" for the more visionary incorporation. Looking at Yeats' poetry in general, one will notice a few similarities. His main concern as a poet was the disparity between an imaginative persons need for immortality through vile methods and the love for things to die. It was this that he attempted to solve through his poetry by bringing them into some kind of balance. "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Byzantium" protray his attempts. In most of his works Yeats was also conserned with the relation between Life and Art, which he developed upon in all directions, though one might note that on other topics he was not nearly as learned. Yeats' obsession with making everything sound effective throughout his career definitely added to the popularity tht he recieved. His 'excessive devotion' to the syntax of his pieces was what put the final touches on his works, making them all the more lyrical, which can be witnessed in just about any one of his poems. Probably fitting best in his second phase, "The Fisherman" is a very interesting poem. Though I interpret it as being a tale of Yeats' grandfather who lived in Sligo, it obviously has another meaning. This poem illustrates how Yeats began writing of things other than exactly Ireland. Instead he created his own myth/legend in the form of a fisherman. As the poem goes on the fisherman gradually begins to change into a symbolic figure, representing the old Ireland of the past. When reading over the poem, one does not get the feeling that Yeats really ment to add the symbolism but rather that it just happened, as is his way. This would be his method to fight the British influence upon Ireland, who had been forced to forget its past. Yeats strangest poem by far is Byzantium and many would agree with me on that. An interesting fact about this poem is that almost every line in the poem can be found in another of Yeats' works, perhaps due to his obsessive syntax usage. Unlike many other poems of his, this one carries pieces of truth throughout it whole, leaving the imaginary realm for a moment. Because it is paradoxical and open to so many interpretations few have dared to even try, though it is accredited as being his masterpiece. Due to the fact that it is so close to being a visionary piece it is almost impossible to detemine what the author was trying to create. During his life, Yeats did try to experiment with visions in an effort to find a relgion and fell into occultims and the like. Although this was written later in his life, perhaps the influeence of his wife caused him to experiment more. There is obviously some kind of meaning behind it, though no one has come up with one definite theory, all are merely stabs in the dark as they try to enter the complex mind of a poet. Also from the later part of his life, "Sailing to Byzantium" does not pose mearly the problems as those of its predecessor. In this poem Yeats incorporated different aspects form three of his earlier poems, "The Indian to his Love," "King Goll," and "Fergus and the Druid." It is the parallels between the four that make understanding "Sailing to Byzantium" much simpler. The main question about the poem is what is Byzantium. Well, the answer that many believe is that it is the ideal city of imagination which Yeats created, a symbol of the members ability to carry us into a spiritual eternity. As to the form that Yeats takes, many possivilities exist as to what type of bird the speaker is and from what context it was taken. Often it is compared to Keat's imaginative poems, some even suggest that they borrowed from eachother for both prove to be mysterious, (for example the bird could be the one in Keat's 'immortal bird'). Perhaps it is the challenge that they provide the reader in their interpretation that makes "Byzantium" and "Sailing to Byzantium" so appealing to many. "The Wild Swans at Coole" is yeat another porm from Yeats' later period. It is definiterly typical of his style for he doesn't just write a poem but presents in, making it beautiful. It was in htis poem and others like it that Yeats tried to portray what Ireland was really like by examining it and the things in it. For hime, Coole was one of the best and most pure parts of his country which also had sentimental value for him after his stay therer with Lady Gregory. Through this he hoped to establish a love for their country in the citizens, a sort of nationalism that would help to fight the English influence which they left there after imposing it on the people. There were a great many poems which Yeats used to spread his beliefs. Yeats used this poem, "Easter, 1916," to het across a political message. On Easter in 1916 a group of rebel Irish Republicans revolted, resulting in the death of many for thier country. Through this poem Yeats was honoring them for giving up their lives for a nobel cause, though he does admit that they could have been wrong in their reasoning. All the same, they were recognized as being beautiful in the end, despite the necessity of their action. This could be expected of Yeats for he was such a nationalist himself, willing to give it all for his country and to restore it to what it once was. Poetry was his way of participating in these things, to help were he could, doing what he was best at. The literary divices in all of Yeats' poems are very similar. He stressed the syntax a lot, as was mentioned above. Beginning with "No Second Troy" Yeats began to use a type of metaphor characterisitc in his poetry. His sentence structure was normal in all of his poems that were edited, whereas when he wtote his poetry it often lacked any real punctuation of stanzas. When some of his early, posthumously published works were found the sentense structure was a problem in which the editor was forced to insert the needed puctuation. To me the tone of Yeats' poems is always fairly up-beat due to the rhyme and rhythm which accompany it, though they often include death, etc. and Yeats is fairly good at not making his works to morbid, which could drag them down. Overall, William Butler Yeats was an excellent poet with very few problems in his style and difiniteyl worthy of the Nobel Prize in Literature which he was awarded for poems like the five mentioned above. |