Essay on Poem "Sailing to Byzantium"

Analysis of W.B. Yeats Sailing to Byzantium
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Sophia Brookshire, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jan 20, 2010 Sh be your phonation on Yahoo! websites. Start Here.
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[pic]William Butler Yeats poem Sailing to Byzantium is concerned with the passage of time, and how soul can become eternal. Yeats lived from 1865 to 1939; so this poem, which was written in 1926, reflects his fears near aging and becoming irrelevant. The narrator of this poem is concerned with the conception of the human/animal condition, which is that we are born, we live, and then we die. The narrator seeks out(p) a place where he will be sufficient to join the monuments of history, so that he will be adequate to live on forever. He chooses Byzantium, present day Istanbul, because of its gamy history and monuments dedicated to the past. He hopes that by becoming a monument himself, he will be able to subdue the human condition.
That is no country for old men.



The young

In wizard anothers arms, birds in the trees,

-Those dying generations-at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commended all summer long

whatever is begotten, born, and dies

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect (1.1-8).

The showtime line of this poem states that in the narrators country the young are the ones who are in power, and the old are becoming has-beens. It is pretty safe to say that the country Yeats is referring to, in this first line, is Ireland. In 1922, the Irish Free State was established in Ireland by the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Up until that point Ireland had been controlled by England; so with this new interval came a new generation of leaders. The old laws and government officials were replaced by younger revolutionaries. Yeats served as a Senator in Ireland for two call beginning in 1922. He also won the Nobel hold in Literature; he was the...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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