5. W.B. Yeats

I wholeheartedly agree that Yeats makes masterful use of aesthetically pleasing language to communicate the insights he draws from history, myth and legend. This essay will examine how Yeats reflects on history in ‘September 1913’ and 'Easter 1916’ in order to examine his personal views on contemporary Ireland. His use of myth and legend will also be explored in ‘An Acre of Grass’ and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. Whilst this selection deals with diverse themes and insights, Yeats’ ability to use language powerfully and evocatively is common to them all.

This ability is patently clear in personal reflection with ‘September 1913’ where Yeats uses figures in history to create a scathing criticism of modern Ireland. The poem was written as a public reply to the condemnation that Yeats had received for attempting to raise funds to house the Hugh Lane paintings. He compares the greedy merchant classes of the time with the patriotic heroes of the past in order to provide an insight into the faults that he sees in society. The tension between the real and ideal is skilfully built around contrast, irony and a refrain. Yeats uses bitter irony as he addresses the merchant classes that, ‘...add the halfpence to the pence/And prayer to shivering prayer’. He creates a particularly unfavourable impression of these people who are so anxious to get money, that they ‘fumble’ in a ‘till’ that is ‘greasy’ from overuse and the dirty pennies of the poor. Their meanness is suggested by the idea that they would take all or dry the ‘marrow from the bone’. The language here was particularly evocative and a repulsive image of the greedy middle classes is conveyed. Yeats is at his scathing best as he extracts the maximum meaning from the line, ‘For men were born to pray and save’. The pun on ‘pray’ here is clearly intended — it alludes both to the merchants’ collusion with the church and their ruthless ‘preying’ on the less fortunate. The harshness of the imagery is reinforced by harsh rhythms and sounds in the stanza. The refrain allows Yeats to remember an ideal Ireland, which was personified by the altruistic figure of John O’ Leary: ‘Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,/It's with O'Leary in the grave.’ John O'Leary emerges as the antithesis of the men and world Yeats hates.

The poet spends the second stanza evoking a picture of the patriots and heroes of his ideal world; Ireland's past. The tone completely changes in this stanza as the rhythm slows down and the sounds get softer. This is in deference to the men that ‘stilled your childish play’. Unlike the merchants, they had ‘little time’ ‘to pray’ as they devoted themselves and, ultimately, their lives, to creating a better Ireland.

Yeats skilfully uses rhetorical questions in the third stanza as he recalls great figures in Irish history who sacrificed so much in pursuit of Irish freedom. The questions, along with the naming of names, gives the poem energy and authenticity. The ‘delirium of the brave’ is contrasted with the middle classes who could not even understand their motivation. The tension and anger in the poem move to mournful resignation in the final stanza as Yeats declares that the altruistic heroes are ‘dead and gone’, just as his idealised version of Ireland is also ‘dead and gone’. The poem's masterful use of aesthetically pleasing language provided a real insight into what things were like at that time and Yeats’ attitude towards it.

Another poem that reflected on history was 'Easter 1916'. In this poem Yeats continues to display his mastery of language. The structure of the poem allows the poet to commemorate the Rising. He divides the poem into four stanzas of sixteen, twenty-four, sixteen and twenty-four; these numbers perfectly match the date of the Rising. This emphasises the fact that the Rising was a significant event.

Yeats provides an insight into the instigators of the Rising and the nature of a person who will give up his life for an ideal. He communicates his ideas through powerful imagery. He creates a picture of meeting them ‘at close of day’ coming from mundane jobs in ‘grey...houses’. They exchange ‘polite meaningless words’ as he thought of a ‘gibe’ to tell at the club. Yeats is admitting his poor attitude towards them when he says that he was sure that they ‘lived where motley is worn’. The term ‘motley’ refers to a pageant or the clothes of a clown. Just as he publicly condemned the merchant classes in the previous poem, Yeats issues a kind of public apology to the patriots. The poem's theme revolves around the paradox: ‘All changed, changed utterly:/A terrible beauty is born.’ The passion and altruism of the martyrs was beautiful, but it also caused much pain and suffering for others. The imagery Yeats used to describe this mindset is deeply provocative: 'Hearts with one purpose alone/Through summer and winter seem/Enchanted to a stone'. This image has great depth. A stone is heavy and immoveable just like the patriots' views. But the stone can also refer to the ‘heart’. Those who devote themselves fanatically to a cause need to be hardened to all other issues. They can lose their humanity. It provides an insight into the fanatical mind that had to focus on their goals to the exclusion of everything else. Had they fully considered the damage it would cause, would they have been able to carry on? Like a stone in a stream, their views and subsequent actions caused much obstruction to daily life. Yeats reinforces this idea by providing images of movement and change as ‘The stone’s in the midst of it all’.

Yeats moves from previous public and political themes to distinctly personal concerns in ‘An Acre of Grass’. In this poem he addresses the myth and his personal fear of ageing. In the first two stanzas he employs simple, sensuous imagery to convey his ageing self. It is ‘Midnight’, symbolic of later life and ‘nothing stirs but a mouse’. He effectively portrays the effects of ageing where ‘temptation is quiet’ and the ‘mill of the mind’ is failing to ‘make the truth known’. The poet’s references to ‘rag and bone’ suggest the sense of worthlessness he feels.

Yeats uses characters from great stories and historical and literary greats to support his desire to beat the ageing process. These allusions are extremely rich. Timon ends up isolating himself from society whilst questioning existence. King Lear is a victim of ageism but in the midst of madness, he finds true wisdom. Yeats longs for ‘an old man’s frenzy’ so that he can ‘Shake the dead in their shrouds’. He draws inspiration from Blake who wrote right up to his death and also Michelangelo. The poem ends on an optimistic note that old age may bring even more wisdom, ‘an old man’s eagle mind’.

Another poem that dealt with the ageing process was 'Sailing to Byzantium'. Yeats makes masterful use of aesthetically pleasing language to create insights into art, ageing and immortality. The poem opens with an emphatic statement: ‘That is no country for old men.’ The poet’s choice of ‘That’' underlines his feelings of alienation — he no longer belongs to a country that is full of youth and vitality. Yeats is an old man feeling alienated in his own country and the imagery he uses reinforces this. The birds are singing, relationships are developing, and the seas are crowded. However, death is still apparent — ‘Those dying generations’. Yeats reminds us of the inevitable cycle of life in the line ‘Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.’ The youth are ‘Caught in that sensual music’ and ‘neglect’ the intellectual or inner world.

The poet contrasts images of youth with old age. In the young, sensuous world ‘an aged man’ is worthless. He is no more than a scarecrow or ‘A tattered coat upon a stick’. An old man, even though he is physically deteriorating, can call on his intellectual powers. The only way to compensate for the loss of youth is to ‘sing’ of the ‘soul’ rather than the flesh. This song is not the sensual music of the birds in stanza one but the immortal singing of artistic perfection. It is the song of the holy sages and the bird of the final stanza. The poet turns away from the world of the first stanza and goes to ‘the holy city of Byzantium’. Yeats employs the legend of Byzantium to present a world of great art and beauty.

In the third stanza the poet creates an image from a mosaic he had seen before. He sees the wise men burning as symbols of spiritual wisdom and perfection (remember they are from works of art too). The unpleasant imagery of ageing continues with Yeats describing himself as a ‘dying animal’. He asks the ‘sages’ to move through time (‘perne in a gyre’) in order to detach him from the previous world and to immerse him in ‘the artifice of eternity’.

In stanza four Yeats rejects the human form. He states that ‘Once out of nature’ or out of his present body he will not choose another ‘natural thing’. As an alternative, he will look to enduring works of art. They achieve perfection and immortality and are not subject to the ravages of time. He will become a golden bird perching on a ‘golden bough’ singing ‘Of what is past, or passing, or to come’. He can sing about these things because they no longer affect him directly. Yeats has provided a means of escaping mortality.

Yeats was a master of language, and his popularity is due to his ability to communicate insights that draw from many sources in a clever, captivating and innovative way. It is this talent that has assured him a piece of literary immortality.