Wilde Swans Of Coole Essay

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Composers explore the local and universal to communicate their texts relevance in their world using past historical evidence and present day knowledge to inform of their struggles. W.B Yeats explores the ideas of annunciation’s, the past and spiritualism within his own society in order to communicate his strong views of Ireland and the vast world. Analysing these issues through heightened symbolism in the poems An Irish Airman Foresees His Death and The Wilde Swans of Coole, both exploring the ideas of the past and the present and the impact they have on Ireland and Yeats. Through both these relevant poems they reference the spiritual and historical issues existing within Yeats world, “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which …show more content…

Catholic Ireland has been under the control of Protestan England since the 1160s, during this period (insert year) the Normans invaded under the protection of King Henry the II. In the past Ireland had been a resource to the English being ‘expendable.’ Identified in “no likely end could bring them loss” this is referencing the suffering of the Irish and that the outcome of war will cause the citizens to lose everything. Yeats emphasising his opinions of the pointlessness of war in “Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public man, nor cheering crowds” the repetition enhances his views of war, and how he has no duty to this war or to join, as he will not gain anything. Yeats’s only motive to joining was “the years to come seemed waste of breath” meaning that his life had been a waste extenuated through the symbolism of ‘breath’ which extends this notion of the local and universal issues of the past and present that plagued both Yeats and his country. This is similar to The Second Coming where he delves into the decline moral society and the beliefs of himself, “ceremony of innocence is drowned” this highlights the anarchy that exists within Yeats country and the innocence that he once held, hence he changes which is sene is change of tone throughout the

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