William Butler Yeats 's poems

                         ' Thinking Activity ' :- 

' W. B.Yeats 's Poems ' :- 

Hello readers! Here , I am going to write down an another blog. This blog is inspired by Dr.Dilip sir barad as a part of our thinking activity. In this Particular blog of mine, I am going to discuss two major poems by W.B.Yeats on the basis of my understanding.

     William Butler Yeats :- 

 

  William Butler Yeats ( 1865 - 1939 ) is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He belonged to the Protestant, Anglo - Irish minority that had controlled the economic, Political , Social and Cultural life of Ireland since at least the end of the 17th century.

    Most members of this minority considered themselves English people who happened to have been born in Ireland, but W.B.Yeats staunchly affirmed his Irish nationality.

   His fellow poet - W.H.Auden noted in a 1948 ' Kenyon Review essay ' entitled ' Yeats as an example ' . William Butler Yeats has written ' Some of the most beautiful poetry of modern times." In the year 1885 an important year in Yeats 's early adult life , his poetry was published for the first time in the 'Dublin University Review.' He began his Important interest in ' Occultism.' 

Occultism means :- ' Belief in the existence of secret , mysterious or supernatural agencies.' 

 William Butler Yeats received the Nobel prize for literature in the year - 1923.

                 ' His major Poems ' :- 

William Butler Yeats has written so many Poems. But Following are some of his major Poems that includes; 

  (1) . ' A Prayer for my Daughter' 

  (2).  ' The Stolen Child ' 

  (3).  ' When You are old ' 

  (4). ' The Second Coming ' 

  (5). ' On being asked for a war Poem ' 

  (6). ' Death ' 

   (7). ' Easter , 1916 ' 

   (8).  ' A Cradle Song ' 

 All these Poems can be truly Considered as the major Poems by William Butler Yeats. Here, I will discuss two major Poems of W.B.Yeats. The First one is ' The Stolen Child.' which is given as below.

        ' The  Stolen  Child  :- ' 

Where dips the rocky highland 

Of sleuth wood in the lake,

There lies a leafy island 

Where flapping herons wake 

The drowsy water rats ; 

There we've hid our faery vats,

Full of berrys 

And if reddest stolen cherries.

Come away , O human child! 

 To the waters and the wild 

With a faery , hand in hand , 

For the world 's more full of 

 Weeping than you can understand.

 

   Where the wave of moonlight glosses 

   The dim gray sanda with light, 

   Far off by furthest rosses 

  We foot it all the night,

  Weaving olden dances 

   Mingling hands and mingling glances 

   Till the moon has taken flight; 

   To and Fro we leap 

   And chase the frothy bubbles, 

    While the world is full of troubles

    And anxious in its sleep.

   Come away , O human child! 

  To the waters and the wild 

  With a faery , hand in hand,

   For the world 's more full of 

   Weeping than you can understand

   Where the wandering water gushes 

   From the hills above Glen - car, 

   In pools among the rushes 

   That scarce could bathe a star, 

   We seek for Slumbering trout 

    And Whispering in their ears 

    Give them unquiet dreams ; 

     Leaning softly out 

  From ferns that drop their tears 

  Over the young streams.

   Come away, O human child! 

  To the waters and the wild

  With a faery , hand in hand , 

   For the world 's more full of 

   Weeping than you can understand.

    

    Away with us he 's going, 

   The solemn - eyed : 

    He' ll hear no more the lowing 

    Of the calves on the warm hillside 

     Or the kettle on the hob

      Sing Peace into his breast , 

      Or see the brown nice bob 

     Round and round the oatmeal chest.

For he comes, the human child,

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand ,

For the world 's more full of 

Weeping than he can understand.

                       Introduction :- 

' The Stolen Child ' poem written by William Butler Yeats. The poem was written in 1886 and is considered to be one of Yeats 's more notable early work of poems. This poem based on Irish legend and concerns faeries beguiling a child to come away with them. Yeats had a great interest in Irish mythology about faeries. This poem reflects the early influence of Romantic literature and Pre - Raphaelite verse.

                       Key - Facts of the Poem :-  

   Poem :- ' The Stolen Child' 

   Poet :- William Butler Yeats

   Written in :- 1886 

    Publishing Year :- 1889

    Published in :- ' The wandering of oisin and Other Poems.' 

   Total stanzas :- Four 

    Total lines :- 53 

     Tone :- Dark and melancholy tone.

                             Synopsis :- 

The poem starts with the landscape appreciation, describing the beauty of it, using the deployment of apt words. The places are filled with berries and cherries which the child could enjoy. Now she tries to persuade the child to come along with her saying that life together with the faeries in the forests and lakes will be much more fun than ever before because the world where the child is presently living is always full of grief and sorrow.

  Here, we can consider those words of faery as the words from the Poet describing how he has recognised the world as. A human child will be more comfortable in a place of fantasy fantasy than the world of reality which always is in misery.

    ' The Human and the non - human : The use of Contrast in W.B.yeats 's Poem - ' The Stolen Child :- ' 

W.B.Yeats 's Poem - ' The Stolen Child ' is inspired by the folk tradition and it represents two distinctive world - The human and non - human which is inhabited by fairies and other magical creatures. W.B.yeats uses these two worlds in contrast and some parts of the poem suggest that it is the magical world of fairies that is more appealing and Positive one. But when closely examined , this idea is not supported by the textual evidence and the positive character of the fairy land is atleast doubtful. 

   In this poem the Poet William Butler Yeats uses various constructive imagery that he connects with two distinctive worlds.

  

   1. The Human world

    2. The Magical world

At the beginning of the Poem, the human world seems to be a negative place and the contrast helps to promote the world of the fairies as it's more pleasant. But at the same time we also have to remember that there will always be some kinds of Imagery things and temptations which Persuade us. Because we feel more comfort and pleasant in fantasy or magical world rather than the real human world. At the end we all can not live in fantasy or imagination forever. As we all know that human world and real world will remain forever.

             Structure of  the  Poem :- 

' The Stolen Child ' structured into Four Stanzas and it Consists 53 lines with a basic ABAB rhyming scheme. Each of the first three stanzas ends with an invitation to the titular child to ' Come away ' to the scene described in the Poem. The last four lines of each of the first through third stanzas actually repeat the exact lines.

  " Come away, O human child! 

To the waters and and the wild

With a faery hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.' 

         Major Themes of the Poem :- 

Following are some important and major themes of the poem.

  • Childhood

• Freedom

• Escape

• Society

• Saving From child 's innocence 

                 

Conclusion :- To conclude we can understand that the World of sorrows always has a thirst for fantasy may be unreal as such. Through the poem W.B.Yeats is trying to express his regret towards the Sorrowful and troublesome life of this world. The lack of integrity and affinity along with the troublesome life makes even the common people wish for a world of fantasy and no place for stress and strain.

      " When  You  are  old :- " 

Now let's discuss another poem written by William Butler Yeats. Which is given as below.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep ,

And nodding by the fire , take down this book,

And slowly read , and dream of soft look 

Your eyes had once , and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace , 

And also loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face ; 

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur a little sadly how love fled,

And Paced upon the mountains overhead 

And his hid face amid a crowd of stars.

                            Introduction :- 

' When you are old ' Poem Written by William Butler Yeats. It is probably the earliest of Yeats 's truly great poems , written in the year - 1891 when he was still in his mind twenties and published the following year. The main and major theme of the poem is Unrequited love.The voice of the poet is intensely Personal, addressed to someone with whom he is closely familiar.

  William Butler Yeats dedicated this poem to Maud gonne Who considered as the love of his life and that is how he has written this Poem.

      An Interpretation of the Poem :- 

The speaker of the lyric addresses his beloved saying that when she is matured she should read a specific book which will help her to remember her childhood. She will all the people who had cherished her elegance and her excellence with either true or false love , and furthermore that exclusive who had adored her spirit unequivocally as she developed old and the manner in which she looked changed.

   The poem is full of a lover 's passion, intense feelings and spirituality. It conveys a message that true love is indestructible and constant.

 

    ' The Relationship between Maud gonne and W.B.Yeats :- ' 

 The great love of the life of the Irish poet William Butler Yeats was the Irish actress and revolutionary Maud gonne , equally famous for her intense nationalist politics and her beauty.

Maud was a strong influence on Yeats's poetry. He proposed to her on many occasions but always met with rejection. She maintained perhaps as an excuse that his unrequited love contributed to the effectiveness of his writing. The sentiments expressed in the Poem - ' When you are old ' suggest that it was written with her in mind.

    ' Structure of the Poem :- ' 

The Poem consists of three stanzas  and each stanza containing Four lines. The rhyme scheme of the poem is very distinctive and steady. The first stanza is abba, the second is cddc, and third is effe. Yeats used this closed rhyming pattern for emphasizing the idea of each stanza.

  Hence, Yeats wrote the poem in Iamabic pentameter.Apart from that , the rising rhythm is used for depicting the passion that the Speaker still has in his heart for his beloved.

               Major Themes  of  the  Poem :- 

• Unrequited love 

• Rejection

• Reality of passing time 

• Brevity of life 

• Human nature

 Conclusion:- To conclude I would like to say that Both the Poems written by William Butler Yeats. I have tried my best to analyse both  the poems  from the  Poet 's point of view. Thus one can understand that he was an important literary Figure of the 20th century era who marked the great influence upon  the  readers. 

 { Word Counts :- 1835 } 

{ Images :- 08 } 

{ Videos :- 02 } 

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