Essay on William Butler Yeats' Poems Analysis

In many of his poems, W.B. Yeats portrays delusion and civilization. Yeats was once significantly enthused with the aid of the attraction of delusion and civilization and used it in several poems to reveal his complex philosophical understandings. Yeats used to be keen to change regular Greek and Roman mythological figures and civilization with figures from Irish folklore. In the following discussion, I will describe How W.B. Yeats portrayed delusion and civilization in his most important poems.

According to Yeats the nature of civilization adjustments after almost each two thousand years. His factor of view of the upward push and fall of civilizations as a gyratory procedure involves the symbols of wheel and gyre. A gyre spins rapidly around a constant Centre. At first, a civilization is extreme and slender and as it progresses, it broadens and slowly loses its depth and finally disintegrates. Thus when one civilization advances toward disintegration. Its ‘antithetic’ one emerges with a sluggish pace.

Leda and the Swan:

Myth is used in 'Leda and the Swan' to express Yeats's view of history. The legend of the woman Leda being raped by the Greek God Zeus in the guise of a swan is interpreted by using Yeats to illustrate his view of history and myth. The mating of Zeus with Leda gave an upward push to the Greco-Roman civilization with the start of Helen and Clytemnestra. Helen was responsible for the Trojan War and Troy's destruction as well as Agamemnon's downfall. Â

Agamemnon was once the King of Argos and as the commander of the Greek army, he went to Troy to get better Helen. Agamemnon was murdered with the aid of his wife Clytemnestra, as he again domestic after the Trojan victory. At the cease of the poem the poet questions whether or not Leda was thoroughly conscious of the magnitude of the pressured mating. In other words, the incident definitely refers to that guys are in simple terms instruments of impersonal forces, or he has a component of the divine brain himself. By this question Yeats indicates to us that Zeus' civilization was destroyed, Zeus himself destroyed his religion, way of life, and civilization by raping Leda on that day.

The Second Coming:

In the poem, 'The Second Coming' Yeats additionally offers the records of civilization and fantasy as well. In the opening of the poem, the poet offers us a photograph of the disintegration which has overtaken the Christian civilization. The poem is most tremendous for the expression of his notion that records consist of cycles and that each civilization has a time span of its own. According to records, the existing cycle of civilization started out roughly with the delivery of Christ.

Yeats believed that the existing cycle of history commenced two thousand years ago, with the beginning of Christ. Prevision to that there was Greco-Roman civilization. It began with the mating of the gods Zeus and Leda. Helen and Clytemnestra have been born as a result of his union. The pagan civilization broke down after the existence of two thousand years. Christ got here and a new civilization was once born. Similarly, the Christian civilization has almost run its course of two thousand years.

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However, the poem starts off-evolved most effectively with the photograph of the world after the First World War as it is seen through Yeats. The falconer has misplaced its manipulation over the falcon which does now not hear the falconer's call. In different words, the humans of the contemporary world have long passed off course, and Christianity as symbolized with the aid of the ‘Falcon’, cannot manipulate the world. Man has gone astray and does now not heed the words of God. The Centre can't maintain and absolute anarchy has been loosed upon the world.

In the poem, Yeats superbly portrayed his prophetic vision. Christianity has been a falcon that has misplaced its touch with the falconer. He visualizes the reversal of the world's gyre and the birth of a new violent, bestial anti-civilization in the destruction of the two thousand years Christian cycle.

Sailing to Byzantium:

Through this poem, Yeats portrayed myth and philosophical understanding. In the poem, Byzantium symbolizes some transcendental country, a vicinity out of time and nature, a world of artwork and philosophy. Here the poet rejects the natural world of biological recreation and decides to take refuge in the timeless world of art with a view to pulling away from the method of getting old and decaying. The poem is a transition from sensual art to mental art. The poet feels that a historic man is disgraceful except his soul can enjoy works of art and literature which are immortal merchandise of the human spirit. The weaker a man grows in the body, the larger ought to be his pleasure in the works of art. Appreciation of art and perception of art can be completed solely with the aid of analyzing mind-blowing and immortal works of art, the poet determined to go to Byzantium to commit himself to the learn about its treasures.

Easter 1916:

In ‘Easter 1916’ we can also find the remedy of fantasy and civilization of Yeats.

Here he transforms and modifies historical myths to swimsuit his purpose. Even he creates new myths. This poem offers cutting-edge Irish history. The opening traces of the poem grant us with an have an impact that some legendary figures are coming out of the lifeless previous to take a section in the exercise of the present. The Irish rebel merges into Yeats's philosophical myth and civilization.

The poem is a reaction to the Irish insurgence in 1916. In this poem, Yeats presents an account of some of the insurgents who had been in my view considered to him. Yeats tells that all these buddies have been the individuals of this equal comic world and performed their personal roles here. But now they have resigned from their roles, considering they are deceased. Their heroic sacrifice changed them utterly. But what is faster or later born out of this eternal transformation is a variety of horrible beauty, due to the fact this elegance can solely grant us the photograph of a range of graves. These people's hearts had been united by using having one reason alone. But now they are all lying in their graves. They are all deceased and past recalled. But still, to prevent life's natural direction they have taken refuge completely inner the hearts of each and every Irishman like a stone. As time passes, huge adjustments take vicinity in nature, on the other hand nevertheless, no adjustments appear around this stone. In the midst of all living activity, it stays like a great burden. The insurgence that they made proved an utter failure alternatively nevertheless these martyrs owe us admiration for their self-sacrifice, on the grounds that their intention was noble.

To conclude, we may say that W.B. Yeats beautifully portrayed delusion and civilization or imagination and prescience of life. Out of the historical fantasy he created poems that expose the historic and philosophical issues of the past, present, and future. Yeats' treatment of fable and philosophy, history, and civilization is sincerely praiseworthy.