William Butler Yeats
A closer look
By: David Keeler
For: Brother Brugger
English 333
5 April 2012
Introduction
W.B. Yeats is one of the most renowned poets in all of British Literature. I don't personally
enjoy British Literature for the sake of enjoying British Literature. I do, on the other hand,
enjoy Keane. Keane plays a lot of music I like. Keane plays one song I particularly enjoy, "A
Bad Dream". This song (or the first few lines) is clearly inspired by Yeats' poem: "An Irish
Airman foresees his death". Yeats' poetry reflects the same emotion present in much of
Keane's music; at least for me it does, so I became interested in them.
In Yeats' poem Easter, 1916, he addresses the Easter Rising of 1916, where almost 1,800
Irish Nationalists attempted to overthrow the British regime of Ireland. Unfortunately for
the Irish the rebellion failed and many lives were lost in the process (Wikipedia.org). I am
23 years old and have never heard of this event in my entire life. This is a significant event
in European and arguably world history and it happened within the last 100 years. Yeats
brings light to history like the Easter Rising with his poems to not only inform others of its
happening but to relate the gravity of the rebellion. When he writes,
“I have met them at the close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter of desk among gray
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words”
(Easter, 1916)
I read that Yeats tries to explain to his audience the inability to express appropriate words
to the men and women fighting and dying for Irish independence. During his life, Yeats was
not afraid to write love poems, but he was also not afraid to write about bitterly real
events. Yeats’ countrymen died in an attempt to wrest liberation from England. He
describes the experience of meeting these men and women who have been through and are
willing to go through more hell for their cause. How does one talk to those people? Yeats
asserts we use ‘polite meaningless words’ likely because anything short of fighting and
dying along with them is polite and meaningless. This is why people should be interested in
Yeats’ poems. He writes about the human experience. I have heard Yeats labeled as a
romantic, but his writing breaches topics considered too painful to be romantic. His
literature is real and is an expression of the soul.
Chronology
1865 - Born in Dublin, Ireland.
1867 - Moved to London, England (Oxford Companion to twentieth century poetry in
English).
1880 - Moved back to Dublin.
1885 – First published poems appeared in the Dublin University Review.
1889 - Met actress Maud Gonne whom Yeats fell in love with and wrote poems about,
including No Second Troy, and The Green Helmet.
1890 –Joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a group that practiced spiritual
rituals, based loosely on the masonic lodge. (Wikipedia.org)
1892 – Founder-member of the Irish National Literary Society.
1902 - Yeats was exposed to Nietzsche's works, inspired to take a "more active stance" in
his writing.
1904 - Founded the Abbey Theater with the help of Lady Gregory.
1913-1916 - Spent time with Ezra Pound in a cottage in Sussex periodically to work on his
writing/writing style.
1917- After being refused by Maud Gonne, and her daughter, Yeats marries Georgie Hyde
Lees, whom he met in 1911 (Oxford Companion to twentieth century poetry in English).
1922- Appointed Senator of the recently established Irish Free State.
1923 – Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (Oxford Companion to twentieth century
poetry in English).
1936 – Edited the Oxford book of Modern Verse 1892-1935 (Oxford Companion to twentieth
century poetry in English).
1939 – Died in January, was later buried in Ireland, in Drumcliffe Churchyard (Oxford
Companion to twentieth century poetry in English).
Web Sites
1. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1558180 - Matter on Various Length Scales: Poetry.
Discusses the ‘math’ behind Yeats’ poetry. Including, rhyme, ‘breadth of line’, meter, and
number of stanzas.
2. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3509328 - From Inis Fraoigh to Innisfree ... and Back
Again? Sense of Place in Poetry in Irish since 1950 by Gearoid Denvir
Discusses Yeats’ poem Lake Isle of Innisfree and compares it to other elements with a
similar name in culture.
3. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3508943 .A Poem for all Seasons: Yeats, Meaning, and the
Publishing History of 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' in the 1890s Peter D. McDonald.
Discusses the ‘singular unity’ and other meanings behind Lake Isle of Innisfree.
Biographical Impressions
My understanding of Yeats’ poetry leads me to believe the most impactful events in Yeats’
life are his fascination with the women in his life, the unjust circumstances revolving
English rule of Ireland, and, normal life challenges that everyone faces like growing older. I
cannot believe the political dissent between Ireland and England did not shape much of
Yeats’ writing.
It is easy for me to talk about political conflict because I grew up in a politically stable
environment. The U.S. had no civil wars during my lifespan. The terms war meant little
more than seeing pictures and titles on the news and in newspapers. For Yeats, Irish
resistance against England was real and life-changing. Yeats’ fellow patriots died fighting to
win freedom for Ireland. The Easter Uprising may have been the most climactic expression
of Irish resistance against British rule. According to Wikipedia.org, over 400 people died
and over 2,000 were wounded as a result of the Easter, 1916 uprising. This is just one small
example of the strife Yeats saw in his life. He later wrote Second Coming about the
aftermath of World War I. Yeats’ attention to the political and consequently military
landscape influenced not only much of his writing but his behavior as well. His election to
the Irish Senate in the 1920’s shows his political savvy and passion. His interest in Ireland’s
rights and freedoms mold his character in history.
Yeats drew inspiration from his conflicts and his passions. He was concerned with the fate
of the world and the troubles of others as well as his own.
Influence on Yeats’ writing
Yeats’ poetry revolves around political conflict, his love life, his love for family, and his
longing to be at peace among other things. Easter, 1916 is entirely about the Easter uprising
in September of 1916. September 1913 is a poem about the Dublin Lock out. According to
Wikipedia.org a labor dispute between 20,000 workers and 300 employers went on
between August of 1913 and January 1914. The labor dispute centers on the workers’ right
to unionize.
In September 1913 Yeats mourns the loss of ‘Romantic Ireland’ as Irish taxpayers refused to
fund a gallery for Hugh Lane’s extensive art collection. The variety present in just one of
Yeats’ poems shows that he did not write with an agenda per se, but wrote with a cause in
mind, unafraid to touch multiple topics in a single piece of writing.
Yeats greatest influence on his writing from my perspective is found in his passion for
politics and Irish freedom. He may not have written the greatest number of poems about
the conflicts between Ireland and the rest of the world, but the greatest passion and
devotion can be found in his poetry about political strife.
Critical Interpretations
1. In Pickering’s article on Yeats’ portrayal of Major Robert Gregory, Pickering
discusses how Yeats emphasizes the shortness of life and the suddenness of death.
Pickering compares Gregory’s art as well as Brueghel’s Fall of Icarus and, W.H.
Auden’s Musee des Beaux Arts to Yeats’ writing. In An Irish Airman Foresees his death
the speaker of the poem voices his disillusionment with the cause of the war and the
very people he defends. The speaker appears to know he will die and is more
concerned with the purpose of his death than he is about actually living or dying.
Pickering states that Gregory’s art is “tragic” as it relates to Yeats’ writing and the
conflicts of the time.
The article also discusses the landscape in Gregory’s’ artwork. He compares the
mountains and hills to the backs of “giants” and “sentinels”. Pickering goes on to write
about how the seemingly lifeless objects in Gregory’s artwork like trees or cabins elicit
images of inaction; “The cottages that appear with
such regularity in his work are not all uninhabited, far from it; nevertheless, it is
virtually impossible to imagine their doors swinging open and welcoming shouts
issuing from within” (Pickering, 94).
It appears that Pickering finds value in still life artwork.
Pickering goes onto describe how Yeats praised Gregory’s art of Lady August. Doubtless
this relates to Yeats’ relationship with Lady Augusta and their teamwork in organizing the
Abbey Theatre. Pickering shows a passion for his interest in Yeats, Gregory and their work.
Pickering’s essay displays the relationship between Gregory’s art and Yeats’ writing.
2. In Peter McDonald’s critical essay on Lake Isle of Innisfree, he discusses the ‘singular
unity’ of Yeats’ work, and how Yeats’ crafted his writing to get a message across.
McDonald points out the intensive editing process as evidence for his argument. If
Yeats did have a heavy political agenda to push, it would make sense that would
articulately craft every word carefully for the desired effect. McDonald suggests that
Yeats would go back time and time again to reinvent his older writing, perhaps to fit
his current political agenda. If Yeats sees his portfolio of writing as a reflection of
himself and his ambitions and desires, then it would make sense that he wanted to
recreate his writing to be who he is, not who he was.
McDonald goes on to say that Yeats creates an alternate version of himself, perhaps
a portrait of the Yeats that he sees, or the person he wants to be known as, in his
writing. Specifically in Lake Isle of Innisfree, we see a Yeats that wants to get away
from the challenges of modern life to busy himself with bees and beans. This new
Yeats, McDonald suggests is polar opposite of the young Yeats who was ‘worldly’
and politically minded. This contributes to the idea that who Yeats wanted to be
perceived as is not the same Yeats who at very least McDonald perceived Yeats as.
Yeats’ ‘Innisfree’ no doubt bears many interpretations dependent on the reader. His
McDonald argues Yeats tries to project a more romantic version of himself than he
really is in his poem.
3. In Hunter’s literary analysis of Yeats’ Innisfree, Hunter explores the notion that
Innisfree, like la bonne vaux is not a physical place, but a state of mind. Hunter
suggests that Yeats longed for, not a physical lake and cabin but for mental and
emotional peace. Hunter specifically states that “Innisfree” is Innisfree because it
reaches beyond human created notions of space and time. The ordinary limits that
burden humanity would not and will not plague Yeats in la bonne vaux. Hunter goes
on to assert the importance of solitude in Yeats’ Innisfree. Much of Yeats’ troubles
came from political clashing. In a cabin lost in the woods or next to a paradisiacal
lake surrounded with nothing but pleasantness. It makes sense that Yeats desires a
place of solitude, free of mental anguish so commonly associated with the lives of
writers.
Hunter goes on to posit that The Lake Isle of Innisfree is as much a creation of the
mind as it is a physical place. Yeats’ whole life work is an invention of the mind.
Writing means nothing if we as human beings, as critical thinkers do not assign
meaning to it. Poetry, short stories, essays, epics are all just ink on paper without
humans to turn them into meaning. They are meaningless arrows without the bows
of the human mind to fire them across the field of life. Hunter sees the longing in
Yeats’ writing for comfort and stability. Hunter argues that Innisfree is a human
need for happiness.
4. In Thornton’s article about Yeats’ poems Lake Isle of Innisfree and Byzantium poems,
Thornton compares the two poems, and the two proverbial escapes from humanity.
Thornton’s article, titled: “How far is it from Innisfree to Byzantium?” starts by asking
the literal question of distance between the two places on earth. Thornton efficiently
answers with 1,900 miles on his next page, suggesting there is significance and meaning
in the actual distance between the two places. In doing so, Thornton suggests Yeats had
specific plans to actually plans to live in both of these places at different points in his
life, and backs up his argument with letters written by Yeats during his life. Thornton
goes on to point out that Yeats never lived in Byzantium, not even on a visit. Whether or
not Yeats actually wanted to visit Byzantium or whether her merely desired the ideals
and values associated with the Byzantium in his poetry is up for argument, but Thornton
argues Yeats had real desires to reside in Byzantium in reality.
Thornton continues to attempt to answer his own question by highlighting the change in
Yeats’ writing that took place between his writing of Innisfree and Byzantium. As he does
so, Thornton begins to establish a credible argument as poems are rarely literal. Yeats’
especially emphasized symbolism in poems like A Second Coming, and Adam’s Curse. There
exists little evidence to suggest Lake Isle of Innisfree or the Byzantium poems deviate from
this path. Innisfree and Byzantium represent polar opposite notions of Yeats’ mind and life.
Principal Critics
W.H. Auden and Ezra Pound both spend significant time with Yeats while he was alive and
are recognized for their literary prowess separate from Yeats. Pound specifically spent
several winters with Yeats in a log cabin working on his writing style. Pound wanted Yeats’
style to be more aggressive. Auden was so familiar with Yeats he wrote a poem titled: In
Memory of W.B. Yeats. Auden gave the eulogy at Yeats’ funeral. Pound contributed his
persuasive skills to push Yeats to become more of the writer he is viewed as today, more
aggressive and active in his writing. Auden mimicked Yeats’ writing style in his own poetry.
Auden and Pound both stand as literary figures who understood Yeats, his writing, and
possessed the literary prowess for people to care.
Creative Response
This is a haiku about W.B. Yeats. It doesn’t rhyme. Yeats’ wrote about love, family, loss, war,
and other things.
“Yeats’ words didn’t save
Lives, but they did add meaning
To all who want it.”
Works Cited
Denvir, Gearoid. "From Inis Fraoigh To Innisfree . . . And Back Again? Sense Of Place In Poetry
In Irish Since 1950." Yearbook Of English Studies 35.1 (2005): 107-130. OmniFile Full
Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
A third source I used to focus on Yeats’ Lake Isle of Innisfree.
Frenz, Horst. Wikipedia.org. 23 May 2007. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
A source I used to get basic info on Yeats.
Hunter, Stuart C. ‘Return to "la bonne vaux": The Symbolic Significance of Innisfree’
Modern Language Studies, 14.3 (1984): 70-81. JSTOR. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
A source I used to focus on Yeat’s Lake Isle of Innisfree.
Pickering, Edward D. "The Artist's Tragic Flight: Yeats's Portrayal Of Major Rob
Gregory." Journal Of Modern Literature 32.2 (2009): 80-99. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
A critical source of Yeats and his writing.
Thornton, R. K. R. "How Far Is It From Innisfree To Byzantium?." Irish Studies Review 11.3
(2003): 285-291.World History Collection. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
Another source I used to focus on Yeat’s Lake Isle of Innisfree.
“W.B. Yeats and Modernism”. Apieceofmonologue.com 10 Oct. 2009. Web.
The pencil drawing on the title page
“W.B. Yeats: Ireland’s Poet”. Swedishirish.com. Swedish Irish Society. 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 5 Apr.
2012.
The big picture on the second page
"William Butler Yeats - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 6 Apr 2012
A source I used to get biographical info on Yeats.
Vendler, Helen. “Matter on various length scales: Poetry”. Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society. 145.4 (2001): 389-401. JSTOR. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.
Source used to look at Yeats as an author.
“Yeats”. Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry in English. 1994. Print.
A source I used to get biographical information for Yeats.