Thinking Activity: on Yeats's poems

 

   William Butler Yeats 

 

         William Butler  Yeats was  an Irish poet , Dramatist and writer and one of the foremost  figures of 20th century literature . He was a driving force behind the Irish literary Revival and along with lady Gregory founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years.

      From 1900 his poetry grew more physical realistic and politicised . He moved away from the transcendental beliefs of his youth though he remained preoccupied with some elements including cyclical theories of some elements including cyclical theories of life. He had become the chief playwright for thw irisb literary Theatre in 1897 and early on promoted younger poets such as Ezra pound .

    He was awarded the 1923 Nobel prize in literature and later served two terms ad a senator of the lrish free state.His major works include The Land of Heart's Desire , Cathleen ni Houlihan , Deirdre , The Wild Swans at Coole , The Tower and Last Poems and Plays .

Poems : 

            " The Second Coming "

Turning and turning in the Widening gyre 

The falcon cannot hear the falconer: 

Things fall apart; The center cannot hold: 

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and

everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand

Surely the Second Coming is at hand

The Second Coming! Hardly are those

words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus

Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands

of the desert

A shape with lion body  and the head of a man , 

A gaze blank and pitiless as the suns, 

Is moving its slow things , while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant dersrt birds

The darkness drop again ; but now I know 

That twenty centuries of stony sleep 

Were vexed to nightmare by a roking cradle, 

And what rough beast , its hour  come round at last , slouches towards Bethlehem to be born ?

"The second coming" is a poem written by lrish poet W.B. Yeats in 1919 frist printed in The Dial in November 1920 and included in his 1921 collction of verses Michael Robartes and the Dancer.

 

The poem uses rich imagery and symbolism, drawing from Christian, Celtic, and historical sources.The tone is one of dread, anxiety, and a sense of inevitability.

"The Second Coming" remains a powerful and provocative poem, continuing to spark discussions about violence, change, and the future of humankind.

  The Poem opens with a mysterious metaphor a " falconer " searches for his lost falcon within a " widening gyre." The brid itslef can't hear the falconer perhaps because of the way that the surrounding are " widening."

Yeats  spent years crafting an elaborate , mystical theory of the universe that he described in his book A Vision. This theory issued in part from Yeats lifelong fascination with the occult and mystical and in part from the sense of responsibility yeats felt to order his ex- perience within a structured belief system . The system is extremley complicated and not of any lasting importance. The theory of histroy yeats articulated in A  vision centers on a daigram made of two conical spirals one inside the other spiral and vice versa. Yeats believed that this image captured the contrayry motions inherent within the historical process and he divided each gyre into specific  regions that represented Patricualr kinds of an individual's .

 

    In other words the trajectory along the gyre of science , democracy and heterogeneity is now coming apart, like the frantically widening flight patb of the falconthat has lost contact with the falconer the next age will take its character not from the grye of science , democracy and speed  but from the contrary inner gyre which presumably opposes mysticism primal power and slowness to the science and democracy of the outer gyre. The " rough beast " slouching towards Bethlwhem is the symbol of this new age the speaker's vision of the rising sphinx  of in his vision of the character of the new world.

This seems quite silly as philo sophy or prophecy . But as poetry and understood more broadly than as a simple reiteration of the mystic theory of A vision " The Second Coming " is a magnificent statement about the conflict between the modern world and the anceint world. The yeats best work and may not be poemwith which many people can personally identify but the aesthetic experience of its passionate langagaue is powerful enough to ensure its values and its importance in Yeats work as a whole.

Ultimately, the poem's message is open to interpretation. Yeats leaves the reader to question and find their own meaning in the coming "rough beast" and the future it signifies.

 

    " On Being Asked For a War Poem "

    I think it better that in times like these

A poet's mouth be silent, for in truth

We have no gift to set a statesman right;

He has had enough of meddling who can please

A young girl in the indolence of her youth,

Or an old man upon a winter’s night.

W.B. Yeats' poem "On Being Asked for a War Poem" isn't quite what it seems on the surface.

 Contrary to the title, the poem is actually a refusal to write a war poem. Yeats argues that it's more fitting for a poet to "keep his mouth shut" about war and politics, and instead focus on timeless themes like love, beauty, and nature.

 The poem contrasts two images: a young girl lost in "the indolence of her youth" and an old man contemplating a winter night. This suggests that true poetry transcends current events and speaks to universal human experiences.

Irony and self-awareness: While refusing to glorify war, Yeats still writes a poem about the matter. This creates a layered irony, questioning the role of poets and the very function of poetry in the face of such tragedy.

Focus on deeper struggles: Though written during World War I, the poem hints at Yeats' personal interest in Irish independence. He suggests that greater battles lie within: individual struggles, internal conflicts, and the search for meaning in a chaotic world.

In essence, "On Being Asked for a War Poem" is a meditation on the poet's voice and the purpose of art in a turbulent world. It subverts expectations, leaving readers to ponder the boundaries of poetry and the true nature of human conflict.

      

Thank you.