Essay about William Butler Yeats

The Romantic Era spanned roughly between 1798 and 1832 and its poetry places an emphasis on the imagination, nature and feeling. The Romantic period was associated with imagination as people looked with fresh curiosity into the workings of their own minds, generating ideas that laid a foundation for modern psychology. Romanticism emerged out of the rational thought of the Enlightenment Era into a redemptive and inspiring period. John Keats was born at the beginning of Romanticism making him a significant figure in the expression of these values. His poetry was a great example to the Romantic era and his poems; “When I have fears that I may cease to be” and “Bright

When Yeats moved back to London to pursue his interest in Arts, he met famous writers like Maud Gonne. The Poem “To Ireland in the Coming Times” is one of the poems Yeats wrote in 1892 and was published in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends. “Know, that I would accounted

By the beginning of 1925 Yeats's health was stabilized and “A Vision" had reached its final stages; finished. All of the trials and tribulation Yeats had faced gave Yeats a new outlook. "His language became more forceful; the Jesuit Father Peter Finlay was described by Yeats as a man of "monstrous discourtesy", and he lamented that, "It is one of the glories of the Church in which I was born that we have put our Bishops in their place in discussions requiring legislation"." (¶3 W.B. Yeats) In Yeats's old age his health wasn't the only thing failing, He was filled with distrust and despite to those of the Roman Catholics in Ireland. He steadily warned his associates, pleading: "If you show that this country, southern Ireland, is going to be

As an observation of the opposing natures of the ocean's surfaces and depths, Hawthorne's "The Ocean" illustrates the tranquility of a grave beneath the ocean's waves. The melancholy tone of the poem acts like a unifying current, pervading the text of the poem and saturating it with a feeling of peace mingled with undertones of sadness. Divided into two octaves, the poem first depicts the nature of the ocean referring to it as "quiet" and "alone" then the second half of the poem contrasts typical graves with the graves of mariners beneath the sea (2). The poem also relies on a detached observer to act as the speaker to directly connect the audience to the image of the ocean which it is describing. The poem starts with a description of the ocean and its caves and the first octave also establishes the inherent contrast between the ocean's "silent caves" and its "fury" (1-3).

During the Romantic era which began in the late 18th century, there were many authors and writers who lived during the time of an expansive movement of art, literature and knowledge. Romanticism was focused on attacking rationalism with naturalistic thought and also focused on self-preservation and death. Authors of this time period are noted for reviving older methods of thought to convey the way people use their imagination. Two noted authors in era who were able to successfully do this were authors John Keats and Henry Longfellow. Both men wrote extensively on their life experiences and death but they mainly focused their writings on their earthly experiences. However both men conveyed their messages in a variety of different methods and used poetic and literary techniques to tell about their life.

William Butler Yeats is one of the most esteemed poets in 20th century literature and is well known for his Irish poetry. While Yeats was born in Ireland, he spent most of his adolescent years in London with his family. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he later moved back to Ireland. He attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and joined the Theosophical Society soon after moving back. He was surrounded by Irish influences most of his life, but it was his commitment to those influences and his heritage that truly affected his poetry. William Butler Yeats’s poetry exemplifies how an author’s Irish identity can help create and influence his work.

The sword signifies his words, which he holds in the "upstairs" of his mind. This metaphor gives the words great power. Either on a page or spoken, they can be called upon for battle to violently disrupt the world. However, Yeats is not concrete in presenting this perception as accurate. The last two lines highlight the questioning ?Did not? which begins the previous acclamation of poetic influence. Here the speaker gives a different perspective, saying, "Yet would be now, could I but have my wish, / Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish." (9-10). Now, Yeats's vision of the poet is cold, completely lacking passion. He is dumb and therefore unable to influence others with his words. He is deaf and therefore unable to be influenced by the words of others. Many levels of interaction in the present world are taken away from the poet by this image; but, the sense of sight remains. Just as the fish can only survive in water, the poet can only function as an observer.

The fourteen-line, sonnet poem breaks into four obvious parts. Lines 1-4 are an exaggerated list of the reasons that Keats is afraid of dying young. In lines 5-6, Keats takes the time to “behold, upon the night's starr'd face” (V) the “huge cloudy symbols of a high romance” (VI). This point in the poem is light-hearted and reveals to the reader that Keats thinks on a different level than most humans. Lines 7-11 bring the reader back to the depressing list of reasons that Keats is so afraid of dying young. The turning point of the poem is in line 12. From line 1-11 Keats focuses almost completely on his own fears, but starting in line 12, he turns to the “wide world” (XIII), which is the key to all romantic

Keywords: “The Wild Swans at Coole,” William Butler Yeats, Archetypal Images, Eternity, Anti-Self, Nature, Immortality.

Abstract: W.B.Yeats has certainly not suffered lack of critical attention, but the Yeats-Nietzsche connection has not been dealt with fully. Yeats’s later work can, more accurately be read and understood in the light of Nietzsche’s role in the development of Yeats’s thought. Yeats’s connection with Nietzsche is not simply a matter of literary influence; both of them are united by a common philosophic temperament and way of understanding the world. This paper is an attempt to study the influence that Nietzsche had upon Yeats, and what made it possible: the underlying kinship of a similar disposition.

In addition to trying to voice the public, he also made an essence of the poem by including the variations of the people in society; referencing the poem, he was sure to include the different people in society to acknowledge that the world will also be affected. Yeats mentions, “A young girl in the indolence of her youth…”, he is trying his best to make it conspicuous that an adolescent female has absolutely no say in the government's actions and the politics corresponding along with it. Although nobody will ever listen to a young girls opinion, Yeats was trying to show the world that the political decisions that the government makes will affect everybody, even those without a voice. In conjunction with Yeats referencing the young girl, he had mentioned an old man in winter. Yeats had used the old man in winter to refer to the fact that an old man is helpless anyway, so nobody cares about his opinion in the political aspect of the world. Also, the winter puts a damper on everybody, but especially the older folks who cannot help themselves. Yeats was asked to write a poem about the first world war, but he took it to another level and wrote about the different types of people it would affect. Because he has always had a passion for politics, when Henry James gave Yeats this opportunity, he could not turn it down. Because of Yeats love for political content, he had written this poem with no hesitation, he could have rejected James of this offer, but he quickly and very thoroughly wrote this poem bringing meaning to the world. Yeats had always cherished the government and its works, therefore, he incorporated his love for political content into his love for the poetic

This minority had controlled political, social, and cultural life in Ireland since the end of the 17th century, and many who belonged to this group preferred to think of themselves as Irish-born English folk; however, W.B. Yeats was incredibly proud of his Irish heritage, with a strong self-image of an artist. He preferred to be prideful about the rich culture, he was a part of, preferring the beautiful scenery of home to anywhere else in the world. These personal convictions caused many accuse him of elitism, but also contributed to his perceived greatness as a writer. In 1885 his nationalist attitude only grew stronger, this largely due in part to his new-found friend John O’Leary. O’Leary was a recently returned prisoner, and famous patriot, who had been incarcerated and exiled 20 years for his revolutionary nationalist activities. The former revolutionist had a great love for Irish arts and literature, which inspired Yeats to begin producing many poems based on Irish legends, folklore, ballads, and songs. While his friendship with John O’Leary was brief, it only nourished his nationalism and made way for many literary works to come in his

In the second quatrain, the speaker gives an explanation of why he wants to go: ‘And I shall have some peace there,’. He believes he cannot find peace in an urban environment but that this can be found in nature. The poem expresses his desire to find peace. The performative act of the poem lies in the fact that he wants to escape the city and go to the countryside. Yeats’ desire to escape into nature, more precisely to Innisfree, is connected to his childhood.

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dramatist, and a prose writer - one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century. (Yeats 1) His early poetry and drama acquired ideas from Irish fable and arcane study. (Eiermann 1) Yeats used the themes of nationalism, freedom from oppression, social division, and unity when writing about his country. Yeats, an Irish nationalist, used the three poems, “To Ireland in the Coming Times,” “September 1913” and “Easter 1916” which revealed an expression of his feelings about the War of Irish Independence through theme, mood and figurative language.

As the reader looks deeper into the poem he/she might find alternate meanings behind the luring of the child. Yeats was a nationalist during a time of great political upheaval in Ireland. Nationalists wanted Ireland return to years before when Ireland was considered one nation. The Celtic images of the past could represent a desire to return to a time where Ireland was united. The freedom that the faery world allows is representative of the freedom that unity throughout Ireland allowed before religion and politics became large issues.