William Butler Yeats Essays (Examples)

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From there, the speaker addresses the sages and asks that they teach him to sing. In other words, he is tired of the life that he has on this earth, and he wants to give up his earthly form and move on to what comes next. He feels that he is still fastened to something (his body) that is dying, and he wants to set free his soul and move into what eternity has to offer to him, where there is no 'old' and no one that does not know how to 'sing.' The speaker will then take his form in whatever he likes, such as a golden bird, and will not be concerned with these earthly issues anymore. The speaker wants to pass on, out of this world, and move away from being old and unnoticed as he has been for some time. Life, he apparently feels, is for….

Yeats justification of contemporary Irish Nationalism by creating a myth of the Irish past:
The use of magic, myth and folklore in the poetry of .B. Yeats, specifically in his book "The anderings of Oisin and Other Poems."

Although the poetry of the Irish .B. Yeats is largely known today for the writer's espousal of a spare, harsh modernism, in his early 20th century poetry, Yeats' tone in verse also had a substantial mythological component. To justify his views of the Irish independence movement and the value of Irish history, Yeats created his own form of elegiac verse. This verse both recreated the ancient forms of Irish epic myths, based upon old folkloric tales, and also created a new self-enclosed schema of mythology within the framework of the poet's own individualistic vision.

The contrast between the modernist and the folklorist within Yeats is widely accepted by most contemporary critics of Irish verse. Most….

In all of these poems Yeats brings these fantastic worlds into such clarity -- both visually and emotionally -- for the reader that they feel swept away for the time they are reading. "ho Goes with Fergus" is exceptional in its ability to transport the reader into Yeats' world especially considering its brevity.
Finally, the poem that is most poignant in placing the Romantic movement is "The ilde Swans at Coole." This poem is about change, and it clearly relays the heartache that one must feel when confronting the dramatic change of all that you know in your youth. Both I and the Irish Civil ar were fought in the time between his first viewing of the swans and the one that he describes in this poem (Pierce 89). Both of these war changed the face of Ireland's world, both literally and figuratively, and Yeats was coming from a generation….


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….

Poetry of William Butler Yeats [...] theme of Ireland in Yeats poetry and show in several poems how this one theme is developed and changed over time. Poems discussed are "To Ireland in the Coming Times," "Down at the Salley Gardens," "No Second Troy," "When you are Old," "At Galway aces," "ed Hanrahan's Song about Ireland," "The Falling of the Leaves," and "The Two Trees." William Butler Yeats was a famous Irish poet whose love for his homeland is evident in his works. This love changed and matured as Yeats himself matured, but he never lost the affection he felt for his homeland, or the ability to communicate that love to his readers.
Themes in William Butler Yeats Poetry

William Butler Yeats was a prolific writer, penning both plays and numerous poems. His poems encompass many themes, but none more enduring than his love for his homeland of Ireland, and to….

WB Yeats's Poem
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Yeats' "The Stolen Child"
An Analysis of the Temptation to Flee Reality in Yeats' "The Stolen Child"

Yeats' "The Stolen Child" depicts a world in which fantasy and reality are in contention with one another. The conflict is between the sense of reality (barely perceptible and inundated by a flood of dreamlike perceptions) and the flight of fantasy. A parallel might be drawn between the poem and the social problem of addiction. If the poem on one level is about a child's escape/flight from reality into fantasy, it might also be said that the poem on a deeper level is about those who suffer from addiction are unable to face reality and must fly from it. Indeed, the imagery used by the fairy narrator evokes scenes comparable to states of inebriation or drunkenness. While fear and the ominous sense of death both appear to be underlying factors in the poem, this paper….

Yeats' Poem the Isle of
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hile imagination is important to the poem, it is not all of it. Stuart claims that the poem is often "dismissed as a youthful, nostalgic, derivatively romantic lyric" (Stuart 71). In this way, we can see how the poem is more than just a wishful place. The "retreat to the island of Innisfree is a journey in search of poetic wisdom and spiritual peace, a journey prompted by supernatural yearnings, a journey in quest of identity within a tradition" (71). Stuart claims that the wisdom and peace that the author seeks can only be "realized through a poetic and spiritual grasp of the purity and even identity that exists between the legendary past of the Celtic world and the present" (72). The place is real and it is imagined. Clearly, Yeats intended for us to see both worlds through his lens.

Chrism Semansky agrees. He states, "The details in the first….

Thus, at the end of the poem, Yeats uses words to suggest that Leda has made a full transformation from weak women to one with a sexual assertiveness that can only be described as a shudder and a power that is greater than Zeus's. Through this suggestion, Yeats also points out that women are different than the Greek's conception of them in the myth. Instead of being weak, his word choices argue that they are powerful enough to overcome even the greatest of powerful men, and that this struggle to become powerful is what makes them gain that ability.
Finally, the structure of Yeats' poem itself suggests Leda's eventual rise from a weak, sexually conquered, "staggering girl" (2), to a strong, sexually assertive woman. This can be seen, first, through the chronological nature of the poem. Content, imagery, and word choice all trace Leda's evolution in a chronological fashion. In….

W B Yeats and Eavan Boland
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W.. Yeats and Eavan oland
While William utler Yeats and Eavan oland may be united by a common nationality and literary heritage, they are divided by almost a full century. Eavan oland, as an Irish poet living after Yeats, has certainly been indebted to his influence. Ignoring such a debt would indeed be impossible, and oland herself has even admitted to the importance of Yeats' Irishness to her:

There were great and wonderful Irish male poets, all of whom I found inspiring in different ways. It meant an enormous amount to me in a very tribal way that William Yeats was Irish. And I would have liked, I suppose, to include in that tribalism a woman as well.

The Stoicism of Love")

oland here admits that she sees herself in a line of Irish poets and that she has a literally "tribal" kinship with other Irish poets. While, this may seem like a strange….

The verse structure is not consistent from book to book, though the third book consists purely of four-line stanzas, whereas the rest of the poem does not even have this regularity. Its use in the third book could foreshadow the return to normalcy and balance that comes with Oisin's literal fall.
Yeats uses form to help clarify and define meaning. In the third book, with its regular four-line stanzas, there is a driving and almost monotonous pace that recalls the hoof-beats of the horse from which Oisin must not alight. In the first two books, when the end is not so imminently near, stanza length is adjusted to account for each piece of the story, with enough lines used per stanza to tell each discrete piece of the story, whether that be only three lines or twenty. Yeats' adaptation of the poem's form at various pints reinforces the storytelling and….

Gyres by W B Yeats
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GYRES
Yeats is well-known as a poet who has used a lot of symbolism in his works, especially mythological. 'The Gyres' is also one such poem where he introduces his readers to one of the most important esoteric concepts of his works - gyres. There are numerous references of circles and of re-occurring periods, as a whole, in Yeats' poems, and those references are somehow linked back to the concept of 'gyres' - conic spirals that signifies cycles of 2000 years that bring major changes in the world. Intensity of the change that a gyre cycle is capable of bringing can be evaluated by the second line of the poem - 'Things thought too long can be no longer thought (2)'. One needs extensive deciphering of symbolism when reading (and getting underlying meaning) of Yeats' poems - The Gyres is no exception. The period Yeats has in mind started with the….

Successful Rhythm in Yeats' "hen You Are Old"
e read many thing a and do not generally consider rhythm as part of the reading experience. However, with poetry rhythm emerges as an important aspect of the poem, creating a mood and tone that the poet would otherwise have difficulty achieving. illiam Butler Yeats creates rhythm in "hen you Are Old" by using a familiar rhyming meter, literary devices such as alliteration and assonance, and a simple rhyme scheme. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, which creates a slow and even rhythm that is easy to read. Rhythm gives this poem an added feature, which makes it more memorable to readers. "hen you Are Old" displays Yeats' style and ability as a poet.

"hen you Are Old" is written in iambic pentameter, following the ABBA rhyme scheme. This form allows the poem to feel more romantic and even mesmerizing. The rhyming pattern….

Frost and Yeats
The poems "Sailing to Byzantium" by illiam Butler Yates and "Birches" by Robert Frost both tell narratives about one generation and how the death of the old is what allows the present generation to thrive. hereas Yates uses a narrator describing the evolving mental state of a man who knows that he is not long for this earth, Frost uses the degradation of the forests over time to illustrate the same point. One line of Yates' poem acts as a motto for both: "hatever is begotten, born, and dies" (line 6). They are epitaphs to a dying generation, which includes the narrators of the poems themselves.

Yeats' poem "Sailing to Byzantium" is a sad tribute to the older generation who can no longer survive in the modern world. "That is no country for old men" (line 1). The narrator, closely approaching death remarks upon the fragile nature of humanity.….

Childhood
Poets of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century concerned themselves with childhood and its various experiences, but the particular historical and aesthetic contexts within which different poets wrote affected their perspective on the matter greatly. As literature moved from Romanticism to naturalism, the tone poets took when considering children and their place in society changed, because where children previously existed as a kind of emotional or romantic accessory, they soon became subjects in their own right, with their own experiences and perspectives. By examining illiam ordsworth's "Michael," illiam Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper," and .B. Yeats' "A Prayer for my Daughter," one is able to see how the gradual transition from Romanticism to naturalism brought with it a less exploitative consideration of children, one that better reflected their place in the rapidly changing world.

The first poem to examine is illiam ordsworth's "Michael," because it fall squarely in the realm of….

Yeats acknowledged that Synge was a true genius when regarding things from an artistic point-of-view and insisted that they develop a collaboration in bringing life to the Irish theatre environment. "For some time after his return Synge spent his time renewing his kinship with Ireland, sensing the life and belief of its peasantry" (JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE).
Many critics believe The Playboy of the estern orld to be one of the most significant of Synge's plays. Synge's work was accompanied by strong critique from behalf of the masses in both Dublin and Philadelphia. People felt that the play was immoral and that it was thus likely to instill confusion in individuals who were vulnerable to being influenced by the playwright's corrupted thinking.

illiam Butler Yeats was one of the foremost individuals in the Irish Theatre environment and also played an important role in the English and Irish literary movement. He joined Lady….

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1 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Butler Yeats Poetry of

Words: 411
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Term Paper

From there, the speaker addresses the sages and asks that they teach him to sing. In other words, he is tired of the life that he has on this…

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7 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Butler Yeats Early Poetry

Words: 2211
Length: 7 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Yeats justification of contemporary Irish Nationalism by creating a myth of the Irish past: The use of magic, myth and folklore in the poetry of .B. Yeats, specifically in his…

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5 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Butler Yeats the Early

Words: 1694
Length: 5 Pages
Type: Term Paper

In all of these poems Yeats brings these fantastic worlds into such clarity -- both visually and emotionally -- for the reader that they feel swept away for…

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12 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

W B Yeats William Butler Yeats

Words: 3453
Length: 12 Pages
Type: Term Paper

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…

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4 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

Poetry of William Butler Yeats Theme of

Words: 1461
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Term Paper

Poetry of William Butler Yeats [...] theme of Ireland in Yeats poetry and show in several poems how this one theme is developed and changed over time. Poems…

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4 Pages
Poem

Literature

WB Yeats's Poem

Words: 1421
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Poem

Yeats' "The Stolen Child" An Analysis of the Temptation to Flee Reality in Yeats' "The Stolen Child" Yeats' "The Stolen Child" depicts a world in which fantasy and reality are in…

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2 Pages
Essay

Literature

Yeats' Poem the Isle of

Words: 648
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Essay

hile imagination is important to the poem, it is not all of it. Stuart claims that the poem is often "dismissed as a youthful, nostalgic, derivatively romantic lyric" (Stuart…

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7 Pages
Research Proposal

Literature

Yeats' Implications of Female Power

Words: 2310
Length: 7 Pages
Type: Research Proposal

Thus, at the end of the poem, Yeats uses words to suggest that Leda has made a full transformation from weak women to one with a sexual assertiveness…

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5 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

W B Yeats and Eavan Boland

Words: 1430
Length: 5 Pages
Type: Term Paper

W.. Yeats and Eavan oland While William utler Yeats and Eavan oland may be united by a common nationality and literary heritage, they are divided by almost a full century.…

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1 Pages
Thesis

Literature

Yeats' the Wanderings of Oisin

Words: 318
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Thesis

The verse structure is not consistent from book to book, though the third book consists purely of four-line stanzas, whereas the rest of the poem does not even…

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2 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

Gyres by W B Yeats

Words: 631
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Term Paper

GYRES Yeats is well-known as a poet who has used a lot of symbolism in his works, especially mythological. 'The Gyres' is also one such poem where he introduces his…

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image
2 Pages
Essay

Literature

Successful Rhythm in Yeats' When You Are

Words: 431
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Essay

Successful Rhythm in Yeats' "hen You Are Old" e read many thing a and do not generally consider rhythm as part of the reading experience. However, with poetry rhythm emerges…

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2 Pages
Essay

Literature

Compare and Contrast Birches by Robert Frost and Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats

Words: 796
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Essay

Frost and Yeats The poems "Sailing to Byzantium" by illiam Butler Yates and "Birches" by Robert Frost both tell narratives about one generation and how the death of the old…

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6 Pages
Essay

Literature

Childhood Poets of the Eighteenth Nineteenth and

Words: 2033
Length: 6 Pages
Type: Essay

Childhood Poets of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century concerned themselves with childhood and its various experiences, but the particular historical and aesthetic contexts within which different poets wrote…

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3 Pages
Research Paper

Literature

Isabella Augusta Persse Also Known

Words: 826
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Research Paper

Yeats acknowledged that Synge was a true genius when regarding things from an artistic point-of-view and insisted that they develop a collaboration in bringing life to the Irish…

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