W.B. Yeats William Butler Yeats

W.B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats is one of the most acclaimed poets of the 20th Century. His works span a range of emotions and contexts. The purpose of this discussion is to investigate Yeats' passion along with his politics, his political changes, within the context of a select number of poems. Let us begin our discussion with a brief description of the poet and the Irish Literature that characterized the period.

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats) was born in 1865 in Dublin, Ireland. However his family moved to London where Yeats was reared. Yeats returned to Dublin in 1881 where he studied at the Metropolitan School of Art. Historians note that Yeats as fascinated with mysticism and the supernatural; this interest greatly affected the way in which he wrote. His first writings were published in 1885 and remained active in the literary world throughout his life as a poet and dramatist. Yeats received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.Yeats' married Georgie Hyde-Lee in 1917 but his first love and the inspiration for many of his poems was Maud Gonne an Irish activist. He continued writing and lived in Ireland for the rest of his life. He died in a French hotel in 1939.

The book Invention of Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation attempts to explain the atmosphere of Ireland responsible for the type of literature that was produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The author explains that at the time

The image of Ireland as not England helped to define England for English people. Victorian imperialists attributed to the Irish all those emotions and impulses which a harsh mercantile code had led them to suppress in themselves. Thus, if John Bull was industrious and reliable, Paddy was held to be indolent and contrary; if the former was mature and rational, the latter must be unstable and emotional; if the English were adult and manly, the Irish must be childish and feminine (Kiberd)."

Because Yeats was familiar with Dublin, Ireland and London England his poetry was greatly affected by both worlds. This is particularly true as it pertains to politics and the political situation that continues to plague Ireland even in the 21st century. This political situation along with the experiences of love and lost that Yeats had to confront throughout his life aided in forming the passion and politics that is displayed throughout his poetry.

According to the Academy of American Poets, in his youth, the poet was involved with the Celtic Revival. This movement was a countercultural movement against the influences of English rule in Ireland during the Victorian period. This movement was designed to encourage the spirit of Ireland's native heritage. The Academy reports that although the poet never learned Gaelic, the literature he wrote drew extensively from sources in Irish mythology and folklore. The academy also reports that "Yeats was deeply involved in politics in Ireland, and in the twenties, despite Irish independence from England, his verse reflected a pessimism about the political situation in his country and the rest of Europe, paralleling the increasing conservativism of his American counterparts in London, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound (W.B. Yeats)."

Passion and Politics

Passion

When one speaks of passion it can pertain to love or to the intensity in which one lives or completes a task. In Yeats case the word passion pertains to both.

It is obvious that Yeats was passionate about love, poetry, and politics. He produced many poems and prose throughout his career.

Throughout is poetry there is a theme associated with love and disappointment. Quite often the passion of his writing and his passion for love collided to make beautiful poetry One such poem is O. Do Not Love Too Long:

SWEETHEART, do not love too long:

loved long and long,

And grew to be out of fashion

Like an old song.

All through the years of our youth

Neither could have known

Their own thought from the other's,

We were so much at one.

But O, in a minute she changed do not love too long,

or you will grow out of fashion

Like an old song (Yeats)."

This particular poem shows the passionate way that Yeats had once loved. It seems that this love lost its passion and sincerity the longer the relationship lasted. It seems that this experience had a profound impact on Yeats and affected his emotions.

The author actually warns the reader not to "Love to Long" because such love can grow "out of fashion. This seems to imply that Yeats remained in a relationship even though the passion had faded. It is as if he loved so much that he remained even when the love was not returned.

Yeats then compares the fading of this passion to the fading popularity on an old song. This is an interesting analogy because when a song is first heard there is a certain passion about that song that can never be felt or experienced again, and this passion begins to fade each time the song is heard. The fading of this passion is not developed because the value of the song is decreased but because the song has been played so much that it has become familiar and this familiarity results in a loss of enthusiasm. Love can follow much the same pattern.

The poem goes on to explain youthful love. The author asserts that when the couple was young their minds were as one. Meaning that they were so close that they shared the same thoughts and hopes for the future: there souls were one.

However, the like-mindedness that they shared in their youth evaporated because "in a minute she changed." The author again reiterates his passion about the issue of loving too long and warns the reader not to and repeats his analogy between love lost and an old song.

Yeats passion about this subject is almost palpable in this particular poem. The repetition of the poem is evidence of this passion. In addition, the shortness of the poem, demonstrates that the author wanted to get straight to the point and warn the reader no to love once the passion has faded.

Yeats passion did not end with the way that he felt about love and relationships. He was also passionate about politics and went through political changes throughout his life. According to a book entitled "W. B. Yeats: His Poetry and Thought"

Yeats ideas about politics and society are as unpopular as his preoccupation with magic. Many of his admirers find them even more annoying, because in active life beliefs about heroes and aristocrats have more disconcerting social consequences than beliefs about spirits, and are therefore less easy to laugh off as idiosyncrasies. Yet they, like his magic, are part of an intricate, coherent design of thought, which throughout his life he seemed to be not so much constructing as discovering. It was only when a Vision had been written that the whole mass was laid bare even before his own eyes, and afterwards he could move with a new assurance from point to point."

His poem entitled Politics discusses the distraction that a girl causes when he is attempting to fix his mind on politics. The poem is as follows

HOW can I, that girl standing there,/My attention fix/on Roman or on Russian/or on Spanish politics?/Yet here's a traveled man that knows/What he talks about,/and there's a politician/That has read and thought,/and maybe what they say is true/of war and war's alarms,/but O. that I were young again/and held her in my arms!(Yeats)"

In this particular poem Yeats shows that at the very least he is aware of varying political beliefs that are present throughout the world. He asserts that he is attempting to concentrate on Roman, Rusian and Spanish politics. In this particular poem Yeats also expresses how different people have different political views. This is evident in the lyrics "Yet here's a traveled man that knows/What he talks about,/and there's a politician/That has read and thought (Yeats)." On the one hand you have the man that has been all over the world and scene politics in action and the impact of various political beliefs. On the other hand, Yeats presents the politician that has studied and dwelt on politics and political consequences. Both of these men have formed opinions about politics based on there experiences in life.

This is significant because in his own life Yeats had the experiences of both men. On the on hand, although he spent most of his life in Dublin and London, his literary work also allowed him to travel and see politics and political processes in action. In addition, Yeats also studied various philosophies throughout his life. These experiences aided in forming Yeats political stance.

In the poem Politics Yeats also acknowledges that both of these men have valid beliefs saying "And maybe what they say is true/of war and war's alarms,/." This line is important because it asserts that these men from different experiences recognize the impact of wars and can recognize when a war may occur based on the conditions present in the country.

The final lyrics in this poem divert back to the young girl that has stolen Yeats attention away from politics. The line reads "But O. that I were young again/and held her in my arms!(Yeats)" This line is significant in that Yeats seemingly asserts that although there is a certain fascination with politics, to a young man winning the affections of a girl is too much of a distraction and seemingly more important than politics. This line can also be a refection of Yeats life. It is as if he is looking back in hindsight and acknowledging that when he was younger he had an interest in politics and studying political systems but did not pursue this interest because of the aforementioned distraction.

Indeed, Yeats often expressed his political beliefs through poems that were also about love. Such was the case with a poem entitled No Second Troy. It is believed that he wrote this particularly poem after the love of his life Maud Gonne married another man. The poem is as follows

WHY should I blame her that she filled my days/With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,/or hurled the little streets upon the great, / Had they but courage equal to desire?/What could have made her peaceful with a mind/That nobleness made simple as a fire, With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind/That is not natural in an age like this, Being high and solitary and most stern?/Why, what could she have done being what she is?/Was there another Troy for her to burn?(Yeats)"

No Second Troy is part of the collection known as the middle poems. The middle poems are those poems written and published during the middle of a poet's career. For Yeats the middle poems were the fourteen years between 1900 and the Great War of 1914 (Bloom). This means that Yeats was between the ages of thirty six and fifty. According to Bloom the poem No Second Troy had Yeats equating Maud Gonne with Deirdre, Helen of Troy, and Cathleen ni Houlihan (Bloom).

This particular poem is said to equate Maud Gonne with politics itself. In the first two lines the poet writes "WHY should I blame her that she filled my days/With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,/or hurled the little streets upon the great,(Yeats)" Yeats assertion that "she" filled his days with misery is reflecting his disdain for the love he lost and the political situation or the "politics" that were present at the time. In this portion of the poem Yeats asserts that Gonne (Politics) had been teaching "ignorant men most violent ways." The ignorant men being referred to is believed to be the Irish Nationalists who chose insurrection over other non-violent forms of politicking which was unacceptable to Yeats. The next line which speaks of hurling little streets upon the great is referring to the Irish nationalist as the "little streets" and the British Empire as the "Great."

Indeed this insurrection pitted the weak against the strong and proved to be problematic as was witnessed at the time and continues to be evident in the 21st century.

The next section of the poem discusses the beauty of Maud's stature and her mind. Yeats asked what could have made her peaceful. As if to suggest that her condoning the violent actions of political factions of the time could have been fixed or somehow managed. Yeats also suggests that Maud Gonnes Politics and beliefs could be likened to Helen of Troy and the burning of Troy.

However, Yeats asserts that there is no second Troy.

An essay entitled "Yeats and Maud Gonne: (Auto)biographical and Artistic Intersection" asserts that the relationship between the two was "a politically charged and mystically coded relationship (Khan)." Several historians have noted that it is this relationship that became the source of many of Yeats' poems even into old age. Yeats and Gonne shared different political views and in many cases these differences led to frustration for Yeats.

Some of his poems such as Easter, 1916 which commemorates the Irish uprising, show his disdain for violent politics (Khan).

The first stanza of the poem is as follows have met them at close of day/Coming with vivid faces/From counter or desk among grey/Eighteenth-century houses./I have passed with a nod of the head/or polite meaningless words,/or have lingered awhile and said/Polite meaningless words,/and thought before I had done/of a mocking tale or a gibe/to please a companion/Around the fire at the club,/Being certain that they and I/but lived where motley is worn:/All changed, changed utterly/a terrible beauty is born (Yeats).

This poem is extremely significant because although this uprising brought about a terrible beauty created through the sacrifice of Irish nationalist, Yeats did not wholly support the uprising (Khan). Yeats believed that it could have been handled in a less violent manner and that they uprising somehow may have done more harm than good.

The third stanza of the poem reads

Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart./O when may it suffice?/That is Heaven's part, our part/to murmur name upon name,/as a mother names her child/When sleep at last has come/on limbs that had run wild./What is it but nightfall?/No, no, not night but death;/Was it needless death after all?/for England may keep faith/for all that is done and said./We know their dream; enough/to know they dreamed and are dead;/and what if excess of love/Bewildered them till they died?/I write it out in a verse -/MacDonagh and MacBride/and Connolly and pearse/Now and in time to be,/Wherever green is worn,/Are changed, changed utterly:/a terrible beauty is born (Yeats).

In this stanza the poet is obviously tormented by the uprising and contemplates the necessity of the deaths that occurred as a result of the uprising. This torment is evident in the lines which read "Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart./O when may it suffice?/That is Heaven's part, our part/to murmur name upon name,/as a mother names her child/When sleep at last has come/on limbs that had run wild./What is it but nightfall?/No, no, not night but death;/Was it needless death after all?/" in these lines Yeats seems to be weary of the sacrifice that many made as a result of the insurrection. He asserts that such sacrifice can make the heart hard like a stone. The poet also asserts that murmuring the names of the dead will never be an adequate enough acknowledgement for the sacrifice that they made. Yeats also questions if such a sacrifice was even necessary with the line " Was it needless death after all."