W. B. Yeats poems

   Thinking Activity 

                            WB Yeats Poems

   

 This Blog-spot is in response to the part of Thinking activity on two poems of WB Yeats. This Task was assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Dept. of English, MK , Bhavnagar university.

       W.B. Yeats wrote many poems. Here, I include two poems of William Butler Yeats. 

                         

1.       When You Are Old

     

When you are old and grey and full of sleep, 

And nodding by the fire, take down this book, 

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look 

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; 

How many loved your moments of glad grace, 

And loved your beauty with love false or true, 

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, 

And loved the sorrows of your changing face; 

And bending down beside the glowing bars, 

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled 

And paced upon the mountains overhead 

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

  ‘When You Are Old’ is actually based on a Petrarchan sonnet by the French poet Pierre de Ronsard. ‘When You Are Old’ is a remarkable poem by Yeats and published in 1891. 

Key Fact:

 

• Poem: When You Are Old

• Poet: William Butler Yeats

• Published : 1891

• Written : 1891

• Stanzas : 3

• Lines : 12

• Tone : Melancholy and a bit Cautionary

Analyses of the poem

    In this Particular poem , the poet William Butler Yeats addresses his  Former lover. He is talking directly to his lover. The reader can derive that he is writing this while his lover is still relatively young, but she should read this again when she is an old woman. In the first stanza , second line “nodding by the fire” causes the readers to grasp the reality of the effects of ageing, and to realize that they too will be old one day and unable to stay awake. The book words refer in the sense of likely one of his writings to her.

        The poet addresses a beautiful woman, with soft eyes. He Said that her youthful beauty is no more. Hence, the poet ironically hints at the fact that beauty cannot keep the body’s gradual erosion safe. 

    In the second stanza the poet said to his lover that how many people once loved her “moments of glad grace”. And the poet refers to the fact  that some people did not truly love her, maybe only valuing her for her physical beauty. The poet wants her to imagine herself old but thinking back upon her earlier years. 

         

  A pilgrim is one who travels for religious reasons, but it can also mean a person who wanders. In the second stanza , third line, “loved the sorrows of your changing face,” means he loved her even when her beauty had started to fade and age, which means he always loved her to the very depths of her soul.  Here in this particular line, “But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you”. The poet also refers to himself.

       In the third stanza “bending down beside the glowing bars”, reminds  the readers that she is picturing herself as an old woman sitting by the fire. She is regretting how the love she once had from the speaker ran away.  In the last line, “And hid his face amid a crowd of stars,” contains very beautiful imagery, as the reader imagines “Love” hiding between the stars in the heavens.

Theme of the poem

• Reality of passing time: Here, in this poem,  the poet uses the fact that the lady who is wasting the lover’s time by not accepting his love will suffer badly for the absence of that person. 

• The brevity of life: The theme of the brevity of life is another important aspect of the poem.

• Importance of love:  In this poem, the poet also emphasizes the importance of love. 

• ‘When You Are Old’ -  The passing of time

Structure of the poem

   This poem includes three stanzas, each stanza has four lines. The rhyme scheme is different and stable. The first stanza rhyme scheme  is ABBA , the second is CDDC and last one the third is EFFE. In this particular poem , there are a total of ten syllables in each line. The poet wrote the poem in iambic pentameter .

2.  The LAKE ISLE OF INNISFree

               

 I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is a twelve-line poem comprising three quatrains, written by William Butler Yeats in 1888 and first published in the National Observer in 1890. It was reprinted in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics in 1892.

Key Facts

• Poem: The Lake Isle of Innisfree

• Poet: William Butler Yeats

• Published : 1890

• Written : 1888

• Stanzas: 3

• Lines: 12

• Tone: Dreamy and Wistful

Analyses of the poem

First Stanza :- Speaker describes physical location, on Innisfree, where he will live alone in a self-made cabin.

Second Stanza :- All the qualities of this new life are stated. Speaker needs peace. The pace of life will be slower, Nature will take over.

Third Stanza :- Reiterates need to fulfil the wish. Even as he stands in the traffic, amongst the crowds, he longs for that idyllic island on the lough.

   The starting of this particular poem, telling the reader of his intentions, poet will, “arise and go now,” to the isle of Innisfree. In the very  first line, the word “go” is repeated twice. W. B. Yeats emphasis on the importance of the speaker’s action. In the second line provides a details as to what he is going to do when he gets there. 

          In this poem , poet plans to create a “small” home for himself. The uses of the word “small” is this line gives the impression that he is going to be the only one living in the house, without any family or relations of any kind. 

         This stanza is contains the importance of metaphorical relationship that Yeats sets up between the notion of peace and nature. He describes peace as “dropping slow”. the poet describes three more times of the day and the magical qualities they possess on the lake isle of Innisfree. The poet emphasize on the importance of the daydream .          

             In this stanza poet said to himself, out of his daydream in which he has described the scenes on the lake isle of Innisfree and begins to address the real world. This dream has become a mantra, it is an obsession that has come to haunt him. The haunting images of the lake isle of Innisfree are heard not in his head but in his heart. 

Theme of the poem

Here, there are three major themes, All themes are interrelated.

• Nature

• Peace

• Spirituality  

Structure of the poem

             In this particular poem includes twelve lines and separated into three quatrains, and an ABAB CDCD EFEF rhyme scheme. The form of this poem is clear  quatrains and rhyme schemes. In this particular poem , poey use of various types of literary devices like, Alliteration , repetition , and Imagery. 

  

Thank You… .