Term Paper on "Explication of Poems With Concentration on Yeats Political Changes"

Term Paper 12 pages (3453 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

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… READ MORE

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