Themes in Yeats’ Poetry

Themes in Yeatspoetry You usher verboten find umteen themes in Yeats poetry. Pick what suits your own study from the themes, comments and quotes listed below. There are 86 quotes used to illustrate themes on this page (although or so of them are from poems outside the current OCR selection for AS Level). You will need sole(prenominal) a short selection of these. 1. The theme of expiration or old age and what it leaves behind. final stage of Patriotism, dep artistryure egotismishness as the norm Romantic Irelands dead and g angiotensin converting enzyme, Its with OLeary in the grave September 1913 Death as useless present, Home Rule might be granted Was it needless death after(prenominal)wards alone?For England may keep faith For all that is done and said Easter 1916 A man in old age alienated vibrant youthfulness The young in one anothers arms, birds in the trees Those dying generations at their song Sailing to Byzantium Death of innocence The ceremony of innocence is drowned Second plan of attack The self in old age, forsaken by beauty when I awake some day to find they be in possession of flown aside Wild Swans Death chosen out of a sense of despair A waste of breath the years behind, in balance with this life, this death Airman Death and destruction during civil war A man is killed, or a house burned the empty house Stares Nest Demise of the Aristocracy and despair at the vanity of human grandeur We the great gazebo built Memory Old age and the remnants of a limit life Picture and book remain Acre In old age, contempt for the present, defiant admiration for etymologizing pluck your instinct on other days That we in coming days may be unperturbed the indomitable Irishry Under Ben Bulben Facing death with contempt for overstated ceremony No marble, no naturalized phrase Under Ben Bulben Death provides a sanctuary from conflict and hatred Savage indignation there Cannot burst his breast Swifts Epitaph 2. The theme of disintegration, c haos, sudden change They have gone about the world care wind September 1913 scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings Wild Swans I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my nerve centre is sore. solelys changed Wild Swans this tumult in the veils Airman All changed, changed suddenly A horrifying beauty is natural Easter 1916 Enchanted to a stone To trouble the living burgeon forth Easter 1916 Things fall apart the centre cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world Second Coming Consume my heart off sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows not what it is Sailing to Byzantium A man is killed, or a house burned, Yet no clear fact to be discerned Stares Nest 3.Yeats poetry explored constitution under four headings Transience in natures beauty A shadow of cloud on the stream Changes minute by minute Easter 1916 By what lakes edge or share Delight mens eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away? Wild Swans The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies Sailing to Byzantium scarce a rave autumn shears Blossom from the summers wreath Memories Paradoxically, Yeats saw nature as interminable in par to humans Their hearts have not grown old Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still. Wild Swans The radiance of natures beauty I hear lake water lap with low sounds by the shore Inisfree The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October pin the water Mirrors a still sky Wild Swans The long-legged moor-hens dive, And hens to moor-cocks call Easter An acre of green grass For air and wield Acre The unattractive side of nature The bees build in the crevices Of loosening masonry, and there The mother birds bring grubs and fly Stare while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds Second Coming 4. Yeats explored the theme of immortality in assorted spheres.You can contrast the following quotes and issues with the many quotes and references to mortality highlighted in the quotes for themes one, two and three above. Politicsin a paradoxical way the Rising has changed politics and this force for change has become an immortal and steadfast bailiwick symbol Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly A terrible beauty is born Easter 1916 Natural beautythe swans as a species are ageless in comparison to Yeats Their hearts have not grown old Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still. Wild Swans The cycles of account perpetually repeating millennial patterns And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? Second Coming The psyche and art transcend time Once out of nature I shall never take My visible form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths reconcile to sing Of what is past, or passing, or to come Sailing to Byzantium 5. The quest for truth is fundamental, whether experienced through the emotional self, reason, inclination or at the expense of sanity. Intuitive truth I hear it in the deep hearts core Inisfree The pursuit of national ideals at the cost of public ridicule Some muliebritys yellow hair Has madden every mothers son They weighed so light what they gave September 1913 Pursuit of beauty and truth by a questioning spirit Among what rushes will they build, By what lakes edge or pool Delight mens eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away? Wild Swans the true believed in by political fanatics Hearts with one purpose alone Through summer and winter seem Enchanted to a stone Easter 1916 Truth that is fanatical and yet unemotional Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart Easter 1916 Truth that is emotional, imaginative and philosophical A lonely impulse of delight litter to this tumult in the clouds I balanced all, brought all to intellectual Irish Airman Truth that is prophetic and yet ground on historical cycles Surely some revelation is at hand Surely the Second Coming is at hand Second Coming Cold, rational analysis of falsehood leading to the truth We had fed the heart on fantasies, The hearts grown brutal from the fare More Substance in our enmities Than in our mania Stare Truth attained through educating the imagination with art Nor is there singing school but analyze Monuments of its own magnificence Sailing to Byzantium Truth that is philosophical, the wisdom of old age Dear shadows, now you know it all, All the folly of a fight With a common wrong or right. The innocent and the ravishing. Have no enemy but time Memories Truth that eludes reason and imagination Neither loose imagination, Nor the mill of the mind Consuming its rag and bone, Can make the truth known Acre Contrast between a fanatical confession and political truths And maybe what they say is true Of war and wars alarms, But O that I were youn g again And held her in my arms Politics Truth that is sentimental, defiant, emotional Cast your mind on other days That we in coming days may be assuage the indomitable Irishry Ben Bulben 6. Yeats had mingled visions of the model Irish society.Primitive, Celtic, peasant and rural I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made Inisfree Romantic, patriotic and heroic Yet they were of a different kind, The names that stilled your childish play, They have gone about the world like wind September 1913 Pastoral and aesthetical But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful Wild Swans Comely and simple My county is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartans paltry Irish Airman Aristocratic, classical and youthful and speak of that old Georgian mansion, recall That table and the talk of youth, Two girls in silk kimonos, both Beautiful, one a gazelle Memories Heroic, feudal and ancestral Sing the peasantry, and then H ard-riding country gentlemen, The holiness of monks, and after Porter-drinkers randy laughter Sing the lords and ladies gay That were beaten into the clay Through seven heroic centuries Cast your mind on other days That we in coming days may be Still the indomitable Irishry Under Ben Bulbens Head 7.Yeats explored conflicting dualities, often counterbalancing the ideal and the real The beauty of nature versus the sombre sameness of city existence I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore man I wheel on the roadway, or on the pavements grey Inisfree The meanness of municipal policy versus the liberality of patriots For men were born to beseech and save Romantic Irelands dead and gone September 1913 Mortality of the self versus immortality of the swan species And now my heart is sore Their hearts have not grown old Wild Swans study Robert Gregorys ambiguous approach to fighting for his country this involves inversion of emotion Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not make out Irish Airman The immortality of political heroes versus the hollowness of politics Yet they were of a different kind, The names that stilled your childish play September 1913 Yet I image him in the song He, too, has resigned his part In the casual comedy Easter 1916 The inversion of the relationship between dedication and morality The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate volume Second Coming Soul versus Body and Nature versus Art O sages be the singing-masters of my soul.Consume my heart away Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing Sailing to Byzantium shaft versus hatred, moral inversion More meaning in our enmities Than in our love Stare Time versus beauty But a raving autumn shears Blossom from the summers wreath The innocent and the beautiful Have no enemy but time Memories Love versus politics as a shaping machine of human destiny How can I, that girl standing there, My atten tion fix On Roman or on Russian Or on Spanish politics Politics The contemporary versus the historical, the plebs versus the aristocracy, the masses versus ancestors Base-born products of base beds Still the indomitable Irishry Under Ben Bulben Two contradictory positions on the duality of life and death, one neutral, the other favouring death as a refuge from the stresses of life Cast a cold eye On life, on death Under Ben Bulben SWIFT has sailed into his rest Savage indignation there Cannot lacerate his breast Swifts Epitaph 8. Yeats made various protests against reality during his life Alienation from city life in London While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey Inishfree Despondency at short sighted and self-serving civic attitudes regarding the 1913 lockout and hypocritical religious devotion You have dried the marrow from the bone?For men were born to pray and save Romantic Irelands dead and gone, Its with OLeary in the grave September 1913 Hurt at disrespect f or the memory of political martyrs Youd cry, Some womans yellow hair Has maddened every mothers son They weighed so lightly what they gave September 1913 Disillusionment at war Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love Airman Disgust at insincere nationalism, patriotic bluster Being certain that they and I But lived where particoloured is worn The casual comedy Easter 1916 Criticism of political fanaticism Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart. Easter 1916 Disillusion at war, lack of civic responsibility and an apocalyptical spiral Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The lood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity Second Coming Disenchantment at materialism, hedonism and neglect of art Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unageing intellect Sailing to Byzantium Anger at the inhumanity of political ideologies W e had fed the heart on fantasies, The hearts grown brutal from the fare More substance in our enmities Than in our love Stare Rage at the pettiness of national politics for men were born to pray and save September 1913 Conspiring among the ignorant Memories Fierce resistance in old age to the demise of the mind Grant me an old mans frenzy, Myself must I remake Acre Mockery of world personal matters How can I, that girl standing there, My attention fix On Roman or on Russian Or on Spanish politics? Politics Yeats Fascistic or class hatred against the Irish on the job(p) class Scorn the sort now growing up All out of shape from toe to top, Their unremembering hearts and heads Base-born products of base beds Ben Bulben Dislike of pompous burials No marble, no conventional phrase Ben Bulben Contempt for materialistic and unthinking people Imitate him if you dare, World-besotted traveller Swift