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Short essay about william butler yeats
Short essay about william butler yeats
Irish nationalism of w b yeats
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The Life and Work of William Butler Yeats
Born in Dublin in the year 1865, William Butler Yeats would go on to become universally recognized by his peers as the greatest poet of this century writing in the English language. This recognition would come as early as 1828, a decade before his death with the publication of arguably his finest volume, The Tower (Fraser, 207). The son of one time attorney and later well known painter John Butler Yeats, W.B. Yeats was of partially Cornish and Gaelic decent, born near Dublin and raised between both England and Ireland.
Though born in Dublin and raised between England and Ireland, Yeats would develop, through his mother, a love for the west country of Ireland that would last all his life. Parts of his childhood and later vacations would be spent in County Sligo, the childhood home of both his parents. Yeats would later depict his beloved County Sligo in such works as "The Lake Isle of Innisfree". These works would serve as a symbol of his imaginative escape from the disappointments and unpleasant realities of life (Magill, 1957).
Yeats's childhood would be broad in education and personal experiences. Yeats would become a youth full of internal contradictions, often spawned by his desire to question all that he was taught. Spiritually, educationally, and personally, Yeats seemed to himself pulled in different directions, unable to decide on a clear path. These internal contradictions would come to shape the writer and man that he would one day become.
Much of childhood for Yeats was spent in London, where he attended the Godolphin School. At the age of fifteen, Yeats returned to Dublin and attended the Erasmus Smith School. In the tradition of his family, Yeats studied art...
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...thors: A Twentieth Century Gallery. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970.
Kunitz, Stanley J. and Howard Haycraft, eds. Twentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1942.
Magill, Frank N, ed. Cyclopedia of World Authors: Revised Edition, Volume III. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, 1974.
Rogers, Pat, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature. New York : Oxford University Press, 1987.
Scott-Kilvert, Ian, ed. British Writers. Volume VI. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1983.
Stock, A.G. W. B. Yeats: His Poetry and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
Unterecker, John. A Reader's Guide to William Butler Yeats. New York: Octagon Books, 1959.
Yeats, W.B. The Autobiography of William Butler Yeats. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916.
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Evory, Ann, ed. Contemporary Authors New Revision Series. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale Research Company. 1982. 451-57.
Washington Irving’s short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” was adapted into a movie titled “Sleepy Hollow” directed by Tim Burton nearly two centuries after the original publication. When the story was adapted as a film, several extensive changes were made. A short story easily read in one sitting was turned into a nearly two-hour thriller, mystery, and horror movie by incorporating new details and modifying the original version of the story. The short story relates the failed courtship of Katrina Van Tassel by Ichabod Crane. His courtship is cut short by the classic romance antagonist-the bigger, stronger, and better looking Broom Bones. Ichabod wishes to marry Katrina because of her beauty but also because of the wealthy inheritance she will receive when her father, Baltus Van Tassel and stepmother, Lady Van Tassel die. However, the film tells the story of Ichabod Crane as an investigator who is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the recent decapitations that are occurring. These modifications alter the original story entirely, thus failing to capture the Irving’s true interpretation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The film and the original story have similarities and differences in the plot, characters, and setting.
On June 13, 1865, William Butler Yeats was born in county Dublin located in Ireland. During his childhood years he was mainly with his grandparents in the county Sligo. William is a son of John Butler Yeats, a lawyer who then turned to become a portrait painter and Susan Mary Pollexfen, daughter of a wealthy family from county Sligo (1). At first his father wanted to be lawyer, John Butler was studying law at the time of his marriage but left the study and moved to England in 1876, where he earned fame as a great painter. His life ended in 1922. William Butler's siblings, his brother Jack maintain his father's artistic talents, becoming one of the most regarded painter and his two sisters Elizabeth and Susan became members of the Arts and Crafts Movement. (2)
In regard to the Nationalists, he incorporates traditional Irish characters, such as Fergus and the Druids, to create an Irish mythology and thereby foster a national Irish identity. After the division of the Cultural Nationalists, Yeats feels left behind by the movement and disillusioned with their violent, "foolish" methods. He is also repeatedly rejected by Gonne. These efforts to instigate change through poetry both fail, bringing the function of the poet and his poetry into question. If these unfruitful poems tempt him from his ?craft of verse,?
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907-21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000 http://www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html
country stricken with violence. This violence continues on even today in the form of genocide. The
William Faulkner utilizes Joe Christmas’ struggles to emphasize the biased and racial prejudices found within the South during the time period of writing Light in August. Joe Christmas becomes completely displaced from the South after the murder of Joanna Burden. This quote signifies the persecution he would face if he stayed behind: "He was sick after that. He did not know until then that there were white women who would take a man with a black skin. He stayed sick for two years (...) He was in the north now, in Chicago and then Detroit” (Faulkner 225). Joe had to run to escape the racism of the South, mainly because of the judgment coming from society that disagrees with the relationship of Joe and Miss Burden. An apparent, black man involved in a sexual relationship with a white woman is frowned upon within the South, which causes Joe to flee. This tires Joe, forces him to depression, and adds insult to injury in his harsh situation; mostly caused by the racial prejudices found within the South.
Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a magnificent short story, with action, superstition, and a little humor all rolled into one. The story of the headless horseman has scared little children of Sleepy Hollow for many years. Then along came Hollywood and decided that Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” needed something more. Hollywood needed a more exciting main character in Ichabod Crane and story line to appeal to the twentieth century. Washington Irving had to write in a way that the reader could visualize Ichabod Crane and how utterly terrified he was of everything, whereas, Hollywood could use its own Jonny Depp to deliver a wonderful performance. Hollywood’s image for Sleepy Hollow needed more action, blood, more superstition, and better looking characters. Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and the movie “Sleepy Hollow” differ on three main points: 1) the story line, 2) the appearance of Ichabod Crane, and 3) the occupation of Ichabod Crane.
... which in turn spilled over to the countries surround them. This violence was also encourage by Mobutu himself which no only perpetuated the conflicts but also set a terrible example. The entire world became involved in many different capacities and millions died.
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.
The poem September 1913 focuses on the time where the Irish Independence was at its highest. Yeats repeats the phrase “romantic Ireland” a lot in this poem as it refers to the sacrifice of the materialistic things for independence and freedom. To further emphasize the importance and greatness of the revolution, Yeats pointed out the names of heroic individuals who gave their lives to fight for the cause. Yeats did not give any detail about the Irish heroes but he does state that “they have gone about the world like wind” (11). The heroes were so famous; their names could be heard and talked about all over the world. In this poem, Yeats does not go directly in to detail about the historical events that happened but fo...
This refrain enforces his disgust at the type of money hungry people that the Irish have become. In the third and fourth stanza, however, Yeats completely changes the tone of his poetry. He praises the romantics of Irish history, such as Rob...
Author of poetry, William Butler Yeats, wrote during the twentieth century which was a time of change. It was marked by world wars, revolutions, technological innovations, and also a mass media explosion. Throughout Yeats poems he indirectly sends a message to his readers through the symbolism of certain objects. In the poems The Lake Isle of Innisfree, The wild Swans at Cole, and Sailing to Byzantium, all by William Yeats expresses his emotional impact of his word choices and symbolic images.
W. B. Yeats is one of the foremost poets in English literature even today. He was considered to be one of the most important symbolists of the 20th century. He was totally influenced by the French movement of the 19th century. He was a dreamer and visionary, who was fascinated by folk-lore, ballad and superstitions of the Irish peasantry. Yeats poems are fully conversant with the Irish background, the Irish mythologies etc. Yeats has tried to bring back the “simplicity” and “altogetherness” of the earlier ages and blend it with the modern ideas of good and evil. Almost all his poems deal with ancient Ireland ...