Throughout our lives, symbols and their meaning have had a great influence in our day to day living. Whether it is our country symbolizing itself with a flag or national seal, or our own faith, being symbolized as a cross, or as an angel; in fact religion has many sorts of symbols to tie it to together and for representation. Along with religion having many symbols, the great poet of William Butler Yeats had many symbols in his works and poetry. Throughout his countless poems, Yeats used different symbols to convey his message to his readers. Although from reading several of his works, many of Yeats’ poems revolve around death. In the texts by William Butler Yeats entitled, “When you are Old” “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” “The Wild Swans at Coole” “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium” all have their own sort of symbolism that Yeats uses to convey his message to his readers. The first text entitled, “When you are Old” by William Yeats has the main message of his lover leaving him, but uses the symbolism of a book. The main message of this poem is William Yeats had a lover who loved Yeats has much as he loved her; the only problem was the woman Yeats loved was a “rebellious” women’s rights activist. She thought that if she were to marry, it would look bad on her for being controlled by a man, and trying to push for women’s rights. Yeats publishes a book of poetry, giving her one of his first copies. In this Yeats hopes that one day when she is old she will, “by the fire, take down this book, and slowly read, and dream of the soft look” (Yeats, When you are Old, page 1140, lines 2-3) and then he hopes she regrets not marrying him. The book of poetry that he publishes is a representation, a symbol, of future regret for his ... ... middle of paper ... ... in all of Yeats poems of, “When you are Old” “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” “The Wild Swans at Coole” “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium” in which Yeats uses these symbols to convey his message to the reader or listener. Symbolism is a big part of the lives of all of us, and Yeats understood that concept and put it into all of his poetry. Whether it was Yeats using the symbol of a sailing ship to represent death coming, or his use of the swan bird to also represent pending death. Yeats also uses a book to describe his love life and a falcon and his falconer to represent the lost faith in the society we lived in. However, we may not know it, but we too use symbols throughout our lives. Whether it be a cross necklace we wear, or a certain brand of shoe or shirt or sock we wear, symbolism plays a large part in our lives, and Yeats captured that in his poems.
Keats’ poetry explores many issues and themes, accompanied by language and technique that clearly demonstrates the romantic era. His poems ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Bright Star’ examine themes such as mortality and idealism of love. Mortality were common themes that were presented in these poems as Keats’ has used his imagination in order to touch each of the five senses. He also explores the idea that the nightingale’s song allows Keats to travel in a world of beauty. Keats draws from mythology and christianity to further develop these ideas. Keats’ wrote ‘Ode To A Nightingale’ as an immortal bird’s song that enabled him to escape reality and live only to admire the beauty of nature around him. ‘Bright Star’ also discusses the immortal as Keats shows a sense of yearning to be like a star in it’s steadfast abilities. The visual representation reveal these ideas as each image reflects Keats’ obsession with nature and how through this mindset he was able
...agery artistically to creatively examine, whether death really is the end of all humanity or whether life was merely purgatorial, a period of time allocated on earth for the purpose of atoning for our sins just like the ‘purgatorial rails’ in this poem. Alternatively it can be argued that religion is not life affirming and only death reveals, the indoctrinatory nature of religious teachings. For example the ‘sculptured dead’ were ‘imprisoned in black’ connoting everlasting torment. It almost contradictorily argues that faith on one hand is a sufferance gladly taken by citizens so they may reap their rewards in the afterlife but on the other hand Keats is demonstrating how religion is restricted and there is really no life after death. This is interesting because it controversially subverts conventions of the time that he was writing in.
In many poems and other literary works, an animal or object is used to represent an emotion or foreshadow an omen. This use of symbolism gives the reader something to connect to and also make you think harder about the underlying message. For example, in the poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an Albatross bird is present in the story and makes a huge impact on the outcome. Also, in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, a black Raven bothers the main character the whole poem for various reasons and means different things too. These two instances of the use of a mysterious symbolic bird in Rime of the Ancient Mariner and The Raven can be compared based on appearance, actions, and influence.
The speaker then calls upon his aged father to join these men raging against death. Only in this final stanza do we discover that the entire poem is addressed to the speaker’s father and that, despite the generalized statements about old age and the focus upon types of men, the poem is a personal lyric. The edge of death becomes a “sad height,” the summit of wisdom and experience old age attains includes the sad knowledge of life’s failure to satisfy the vision we all pursue. The depth and complexity of the speaker’s sadness is startlingly given the second line when he calls upon his father to both curse nd bless him. These opposites richly suggest several related possibilities.
When You are Old, by William Butler Yeats, represents and elderly woman reminiscing of her younger days. A past lover whispers to her as she looks through a photo album. Basically, Yeats is showing that as the woman gets older, she is alone, but she does not have to be lonely. She will always have her memories for companionship.
In conclusion, Yeats clearly offers a commitment to Irish themes with an explanation of his own psyche and spiritual quest. This resonates extensively within Yeats’ poetry, in particular ‘Easter 1916’ and ‘Leda and the Swan’, whereby much of the themes explored in the poems are exemplified by Yeats’ ability to integrate his own personal philosophy to the timeless themes he explores.
Unrequited love is a common theme in poetry. Nature, death, wars, religions are all significant themes but love is the most important. It gives the reader an insight to the author’s inner feelings. “When You Are Old” by William Butler Yeats is no exception. Yeats reflects upon his unconditional love for a woman who was not ready for a serious relationship.
Time is endlessly flowing by and its unwanted yet pending arrival of death is noted in the two poems “When I Have Fears,” by John Keats and “Mezzo Cammin,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Keats speaks with no energy; only an elegiac tone of euphoric sounds wondering if his life ends early with his never attained fame. He mentions never finding a “fair creature” (9) of his own, only experiencing unrequited love and feeling a deep loss of youth’s passion. Though melancholy, “Mezzo Cammin,” takes a more conversational tone as Longfellow faces what is commonly known as a midlife crisis. The two poems progressions contrast as Keats blames his sorrow for his lack of expression while Longfellow looks at life’s failures as passions never pursued. In spite of this contrast, both finish with similar references to death. The comparable rhyme and rhythm of both poems shows how both men safely followed a practiced path, never straying for any spontaneous chances. The ending tones evoking death ultimately reveal their indications towards it quickly advancing before accomplish...
Imagery and symbolism merged to express his imagination, he became a unique poet in an evolving world where Romanticism was quickly expanding globally, not into a movement, but a way of thinking. Keats’ mother and brother, and eventually he too, passed away of tuberculosis. At the time of his brother 's passing, he developed ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’. ‘La Belle’ expressed Keats’ intellect and creativity, although at the same time he himself expressed his angst and depression for the loss of his brother. His poem ‘Bright Star’ was written in a part of his life in which a woman had influenced Keats’ greatly, so much in fact that he was driven to write ‘Bright Star’ in appreciation and celebration of the love of his life. These poems reflect Keats’ intellect, originality, creativity, and his ability to merge the contextual aspects of his life and his imagination with the ideals and concepts of Romanticism to create powerful
John Keats is an early nineteenth century Romantic poet. In his poem “When I have Fears that I May Cease to Be,” Keats makes excellent use of a majority of poetry elements. This sonnet concentrates merely on his fear of death and his reasons for fearing it. Though Keats’ emphasizes his greatest fear of death, he offers his own resolution by asserting that love and fame lacks any importance. Keats uses articulate wording to exemplify his tone, while using images, figures of speech, symbols, and allegory to illustrate his fear of death. His use of rhythm, sounds, and patters also contribute to his concentration of fear and the effects on his life. As one of the most famous Romantic poets, John Keats utilizes the elements of poetry in “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be” to convey his fears and allow the reader to realize how much these fears affect him.
In William Butler Yeats' poem, "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," he focuses on man's inner nature. He touches on the many jumbled thoughts that must race through one's mind at the point when they realize that their death is inevitable. In this poem, these thoughts include the airman's believed destination after leaving Earth, his feelings about his enemies and his supporters, his memories of home, his personal reasons for being in the war and, finally, his view of how he has spent his life. Through telling the airman's possible final thoughts, Yeats shows that there is a great deal more to war than the political disputes between two opposing forces and that it causes men to question everything they have ever known and believed.
Arguably one of John Keats’ most famous poems, “Ode to a nightingale” in and of itself is an allegory on the frail, conflicting aspects of life while also standing as a commentary on the want to escape life’s problems and the unavoidability of death. Keats’ poem utilizes a heavy amount of symbolism, simile and allusion to idealize nature as a perfect, almost mystical, world that holds no problems while using imagery taken from nature, combined with alliteration and assonance, to idealize the dream of escape from the problems life often presents; more specifically, aging and our inevitable deaths by allowing the reader to feel as if they are experiencing the speaker’s experience listening to the nightingale.
...at "more than their rhyming tell" ("To Ireland", 20). Yeats investment in the mystical Order of the Golden Dawn deepens his symbolic resources, extending his fascination with Celtic mythology into a syncretic spirituality which stresses the Jewish mystical doctrine known as the Kaballah. Through a combination of highly accessible rhyming and metrical poetry with such esoteric systems Yeats is able to construct a dual-level poetics in which readily traceable meanings are amplified by an acquaintance with the symbolic systems Yeats spent a great deal of his life mastering. His investment in these symbolic systems, and their ability to invoke unseen spiritual forces instantiates the poet's resistance to certain developments of modernity - such as the stress on reason, urbanity and individuality - and makes his poetic work a central aspect of his magico-religious Work.
The view of death from an aged individual can be one of acceptance of his life’s end or one of mystified wonder over the immortality of the soul. Both William Butler Yeats and David Herbert Lawrence take the latter view in their respective poems, "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Shadows." By viewing death as a continuation of their soul’s life in a different realm of being, they provide a comforting solution to the fear that death may be the end of their existence. In W.B. Yeats’ "Sailing to Byzantium" and D.H. Lawrence's "Shadows," death is addressed from the viewpoint of one preparing for its eminent arrival; Yeats, however, expresses the belief that he can live forever when his soul becomes a form of art whereas Lawrence states that death delivers him "to the hands of God to send [him] forth as a new man."
...defining words. The symbolism is to show the reader and the audience that life is only for so long. Once that old age is reached your youth is over. Try and accomplish all that you can when you have the time and the energy, because we are all going to be in the same place as all the characters in the churchyard before we know it. Gray uses imagery and symbols very well, and smoothly pulls the attention of his readers in to the poem.