There are many different things that can have two meanings in life. Whether it is a certain look that someone gives you, that can mean something special. Or even in a literary way, for example, in the novel series, The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion, Aslan, symbolizes God! In the Chronicles of Narnia series, Aslan does many different acts that prove that he is symbolized as God. For example, in the most popular book of the series, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan breathes the breath of life onto many creatures that brings them back to life, and turns them back to normal after the witch turns them into stone. In relation, the works of William Butler Yeats also includes many different symbols. In William Butler Yeats’ poems, Sailing to Byzantium, The Second Coming, The Wild Swans at Coole, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, and When You are Old, there are symbols that have special meanings.
In Yeats’ Byzantium, there is the symbol of the boat, and or sailing. This poem talks about aging. The opening line, “That is no country for old men” (Pg. 1147 Line 1) even states that the speaker, an old man, is leaving the country because he is too old now. In lines 15-16, the speaker states, “And therefore I have sailed the seas and come to the holy city of Byzantium.” This basically means that the speaker has lived, and now he is old, and he is going to die, and go to a better place. Although we think that Yeats is talking about Heaven, but he believed in reincarnation, so the speaker would be reincarnated into something better.
In the poem, Coming, by Yeats, Yeats uses a falcon and a falconer as a symbol. This whole poem is all about how the world is changing. According to Yeats’ philosophy, the world goes through 2000 year periods w...
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...g by the fire, and thinks about him and their past together, and how she didn’t accept him.
In conclusion, Yeats obviously uses symbols in all of his texts! He is an absolute animal when it comes to using symbolism in his poems. First of all, Yeats uses the boat, or sailing to symbolize death in his poem Byzantium. Second, the falcon and falconer is used in Coming to represent the world losing touch with faith. Third of all, in Swans, the swans are a symbol for younger experiences, which will one day leave and you won’t be able to remember. Next, in Innisfree, the place Innisfree is a symbol for peace, because that is basically the speaker’s happy place, and it is perfect and peaceful. Lastly, Yeats uses the book in Old to represent the past, when the woman sits down with the book and dreams. In the end, Yeats is the winner of the greatest symbol using poet!
All forms of literature consist of patterns that can be discovered through critical and analytical reading, observing and comparing. Many patterns are discussed in the novel, How to Read Literature like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster. Among these patterns, he discusses the use of symbolism and the representation something can have for a different, underlying aspect of a piece of literature. These symbols tend to have multiple meanings and endless interpretations depending on who is reading and analyzing them. No matter
There are many archetypical symbols used in hundreds of works, new and old. Some of these symbols include: war, peace, love, nature, birds, mountains, and darkness. These symbols have deep meaning which help embellish a certain work. They also help the reader to better understand the theme or plot of a work. They are used freely and abundantly in most modern and pre-modern works.
For example, Hawthorne’s uses symbolism when he states, “The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mold, degrading them into kindred with the lowest,
William Yeats is deliberated to be among the best bards in the 20th era. He was an Anglo-Irish protestant, the group that had control over the every life aspect of Ireland for almost the whole of the seventeenth era. Associates of this group deliberated themselves to be the English menfolk but sired in Ireland. However, Yeats was a loyal affirmer of his Irish ethnicity, and in all his deeds, he had to respect it. Even after living in America for almost fourteen years, he still had a home back in Ireland, and most of his poems maintained an Irish culture, legends and heroes. Therefore, Yeats gained a significant praise for writing some of the most exemplary poetry in modern history
Many authors often use symbolism to express a deeper meaning. They use the symbols to connect an unrelated thought or feeling into their literary work they are writing. Edgar Allan Poe frequently uses this literary device in his works. Symbols are many times seen in his poems and in his short stories. Many symbols are evident in Poe’s works “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Black Cat.” Because Poe’s works are typically dark, his use of symbols is in a dark way. Although there are many types of symbols manifested in these stories, Poe’s works generally include a symbol that eludes death or the end of something and many include references of sight and vision.
A symbol is any “‘object, act, event, quality, or relation which serves as a vehicle for conception’” (230). Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff is a very intricate text which involves numerous aspects of symbolism. Myerhoff not only applies a much deeper meaning to deer, maize, and peyote, but she also uses these objects as a representation of divine beings and spirits. The deer, maize, and peyote are very powerful entities but together they form the deer-maize-peyote complex, which is central to the Huichol life. The unification of these disparate objects can be easily understood once they are analyzed on three different levels: exegetical, operational, and positional.
If we are, as Yeats postulates, merely symbols of something greater then how are we to uncover first what that symbol represents, and second, how that symbol represents our true self? It seems to me that as people become symbols they become abstract, something ideal rather than real. Thus, we are all living an illusory existence, an existence created by others. Dick says further, “At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe” (156). I agree with Dick’s assertion that every person who lives is handed a metaphor but I also believe that the majority of those persons do not even recognize or acknowledge that they are living as a metaphor.
The fact that he uses an image of Falcon escaping the falconer, as seen before, shows that the world is in the critical process of swinging out of control. It may probably be because of the deeds of its inhabitants. It also goes ahead to frame a period of 2000 years. It is a great historical evolution beginning from Christ's birth while war concludes it all. It, therefore, shows how the poem is inclined to religious matters, especially those that are documented in biblical contexts. (Yeats &Peter, p. 30)
Examples of symbolism are clear through out the epic poem Beowulf. It clear these events are not supposed to be taken literally, but its the symbolism behind these events that make up the story. From the formation of the mead halls, and the defeat of Grendel and his mother. Finally, Beowulf's last battle with the dragon are all symbols that are in the story. The mead hall is a symbol of power, Grendel's claw is a symbol of pride, and the dragon is a symbol of greed and sacrifice. And while there are many more in the story, these are three that are particularly noteworthy.
Imagery is a primary literary technique a poet uses to capture the readers or listeners senses. We gain comprehension of the world through the use of our sense. Therefore, how the reader perceives a poem is always the most important aspect every poet considers whilst writhing. The images of a poem have the ability to appeal of each of our senses, taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight can all be heightened by certain aspects of poetry. The imagery of a poem has the ability to transport us into a different place or time, allowing the reader to experience new observations. When used correctly, imagery has the ability to form an understanding of different emotions the poet tries to address through their poetry. The sounds and diction incorporated into a piece also plays a role of major importance. The use of similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification and countless other forms of literary techniques, all add a sensual feeling and experience to poetry in an assortment of ways. In the Odes of John Keats we are witness to an extensive use of literary techniques. Keats uses a variety of approaches in order to evoke the world of senses throughout his poetry. His Odes ‘on Indolence’ and ‘to Psyche’, ’a Nightingale’, ‘To Autumn’ and ‘Ode on Melancholy’ all demonstrate Keats amazing ability to arouse the senses of his readers with his diverse and vast use of literary and poetic techniques.
Though written only two years after the first version of "The Shadowy Waters", W.B. Yeats' poem "Adam's Curse" can be seen as an example of a dramatic transformation of Yeats' poetic works: a movement away from the rich mythology of Ireland's Celtic past and towards a more accessible poesy focused on the external world. Despite this turn in focus towards the world around him, Yeats retains his interest in symbolism, and one aspect of his change in style is internalization of the symbolic scheme that underlies his poetry. Whereas more mythological works like "The Shadowy Waters" betray a spiritual syncretism not unlike that of the Golden Dawn, "Adam's Curse" and its more realistic fellows offer a view of the world in which symbolic systems are submerged, creating an undercurrent of meaning which lends depth to the outward circumstances, but which is itself not immediately accessible to the lay or academic reader. In a metaphorical sense, then, Yeats seems in these later poems to achieve a doubling of audience, an equivocation which addresses the initiate and the lay reader simultaneously.
Analysis of William Butler Yeats' Poems; When You Are Old, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, The Wild Swans at Coole, The Second Coming and Sailing to Byzantium
William Butler Yeats: Modernism William Butler Yeats is an Irish poet from the nineteenth century. William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1865. He was educated in both Dublin and London, and he wrote his first verse in 1877 (nobelprize.org). He wrote many poems during his lifetime, and is thought to be the most influential poet of his era. He was very influential in the Modernism era.
In his elegy, “In Memory of W.B. Yeats,” written in 1939, English poet W.H. Auden
Yeats' poetry is very dramatic because he usually creates dramatic contrasts within his poems and because his tone changes regularly. When he wasn't in conflict with the world around him he was in conflict with himself. He was never satisfied with modern Ireland, even when he was younger. As he grew older, his dissatisfaction became even greater.