W.B Yeats deals with an interesting variety of subjects in his poetry and is full of powerful images and impressive descriptions
you have been asked to give a talk to a group of your classmates. on the poetry of William B Yeats. write out the text of a talk you would give in response to the above statement.
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W.B Yeats deals with an interesting variety of subjects in his poetry and is full of powerful images and impressive descriptions
You have been asked to give a talk to a group of your classmates on the poetry of William B Yeats. Write out the text of a talk you would give in response to the above statement.
Yeats’ poetry is far-reaching, exploring various themes and issues. Yeats wrote not just on his own experiences, but on his view and opinion of various issues in the world around him. His poetry can be characterized in three separate ways: firstly its personal perspective, secondly its political perspective and thirdly through the variety of themes it covers. In this article I also wish to focus on two of the features of Yeats’ poetry that he uses to explore the aforementioned themes and issues, his powerful imagery and impressive descriptions. Poems that this can be seen in are The Lake Isle of Inisfree, Easter 1916, September 1913, The Stare’s Nest By My Window, An Acre of Grass, The Wild Swans of Coole and The Second Coming.
Yeats’ poetry contains a personal perspective. Many of his poems deal with various life experiences, be they his view on the events occurring in the world around him or a direct experience that he endured. This subject matter ensures that his poetry is intense and meaningful, which is a direct result of the personal nature of the issues in his poetry for the poet. The result of this is that his work is not like that of other poets who often deal with abstract, far-off and hence indistinguishable issues. This is seen with The Lake Isle of Inisfree. Here Yeats explores his time spent in London and his missing of Ireland while there. He clearly admits ‘I will arise and go now, and go to Inisfree’ in Sligo where he spent his summer holidays, explicitly indicating his discontent at unfamiliar surroundings. Such clarity is also present in September 1913, which relates to Yeats and his friends’ attempts to raise money for an art gallery to house an important collection of Hugh Lane’s French Impressionist paintings, which were offered to Dublin under the condition that they be properly housed and the poor response to this by the wealthy Catholic middle class. Yeats’ mention of those that only ‘fumble in a greasy till/ And add the halfpence to the pence’ is an obvious criticism of the cheapness of the wealthy Catholic middle class. Elsewhere, in The Wild Swans at Coole, Yeats focuses on his return to Coole, where he spent many summers years previously when he was younger. Seeing the surroundings of his youth reminds him of the passing of time, obviously alluded to when he compares himself, who has aged, to the swans who appear to be exactly same – ‘Their hearts have not grown old’.
Yeats’ poetry also contains a political perspective. He includes the politics of the period he lived in, which he was involved in. This quality provides a valuable insight into an essential period in Ireland’s development as Yeats was involved with such politics. His view is hence one that will not necessarily provide the right viewpoint of such issues and events, but certainly a somewhat authentic view of the events of the time, which featured conflicting beliefs and ideologies. In September 1913, which focuses on the 1913 Lockout, the reader is provided with a viewpoint of Dublin at this time, which featured a workers’ strike and lock-out. Yeats here declares his disgust at the general lack of care at the issues of the time. He declares that those who would act for Ireland’s benefit ‘were of a different kind’ and laments that ‘Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,/ It’s with O’ Leary in the grave’. Later, in Easter 1916 Yeats realizes that such a commitment he longed for from the Irish in September 1913 is not all that he wanted it to be. Now the Irish are commitment, fighting for their country in the 1916 Rising, stretches as far as death. Yeats realizes that while all is ‘changed, changed utterly’ that ‘A terrible beauty is born’ with people caring so much for their country that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for her. Elsewhere, From Meditations in Time of Civil War reveals the time during the Irish Civil War of 1922-23 between the counties supporting and the counties rejecting the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922, which stated that six counties would remain in the United Kingdom. Yeats sums up the feeling during this time: those, such as Yeats, who are sheltered in the homes, may be safe but know that there is disaster outside, despite not knowing the exact nature of it, stating that ‘We are closed in, and the key is turned/ On our uncertainty’. Yeats is sure that ‘somewhere/ A man is killed, or a house burned’ but that is all he can tell, for he is locked inside: there is, he reveals, ‘no clear fact to be discerned’.
For notes on prescribed poetry check out http://www.ryjolc.wordpress.com and email me at ryjolc@gmail.com for the remainder of this answer.
John
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