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May 5, 2017 · W. B. Yeats wrote ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ in 1927, when he was in his early sixties, and published a year later in The Tower. The poem is about renouncing the hold of the world upon us, and attaining something higher than the physical or sensual. 8. ‘ Easter 1916 ’. Too long a sacrifice.
- Easter 1916
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) W. B. Yeats...
- An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
A few notes towards an analysis of the poem’s form: ‘An...
- Among School Children
A summary of a classic Yeats poem by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘Among...
- Leda and The Swan
A summary of a classic Yeats poem by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘Leda...
- Long-Legged Fly
A summary of a classic Yeats poem by Dr Oliver Tearle...
- Sailing to Byzantium
W. B. Yeats wrote ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ in 1927, when he...
- Classic Seamus Heaney Poems
Now, as an adult, writing poems is a comparable act –...
- Selection of Louis MacNeice Poems
Like ‘Meeting Point’, this poem uses physical imagery to...
- Easter 1916
- He Wishes For The Cloths of Heaven – A Short Poem
- The Second Coming – One of Yeats’ Most Famous Poems
- Easter 1916 – Historical and Political Commentary
- Leda and The Swan – Based on Irish Mythology
- These Are The Clouds – The Fear of Modern Life
- Among School Children – Inspired by A Visit to A Waterford School
- An Irish Airman Foresees His Death– A Poignant War Poem
- Lake Isle of Innisfree – Inspired by Ireland’s Landscape
- Sailing to Byzantium – The Spiritual Symbolism of Byzantium
- The Stolen Child – The Loss of Innocence
Starting our list of the best W.B. Yeats poems is one of his shortest, ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’. This eight-line poem, thought to be an expression of love from Yeats to Maud Gonne, was initially titled ‘Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’. Aedh is an Irish God of Death who appeared in several Yeats poems.
One of Yeats’ most famous poems, ‘The Second Coming’ was published in 1920 following the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Irish War of Independence. In this poem, Yeats uses an array of Christian and apocalyptic imagery to give the reader a sense of the atmosphere of post-war Europe.
‘Easter 1916’ is based on the 1916 Easter Rising in Irelandprotesting against British Rule. Many of the Rising’s leaders were later arrested and executed for treason. Written as a conflicted epitaph, Yeats remembers the Easter Rising leaders as martyrs while also rejecting the violence of the uprising. The poem ends with one of Yeats’ most powerful...
As we mentioned before, many of Yeats’ poems were inspired by mythology and ‘Leda and the Swan’ is exactly that. This sonnet takes inspiration from the Greek myth of Leda, a princess from Aetolia, as she is seduced by Zeus disguised as a swan.
In ‘These are the Clouds’, Yeats explores the relationship between the archaic and modern, highlighting some of the problems of modernity. Published in 1910, Yeats writes about the “discord” of the time and the fear for the future as he writes, “Although it be for children that you sigh”. Yeats also features on our list of the most famous quotes by...
Published in 1928, ‘Among School Children’ is definitely one of the most famous and best W.B. Yeats poems. Inspired by his visit to a convent school in Waterford in 1926, the speaker begins by talking about the children and the school before turning to his inward thoughts. Major themes of this poem are old age, mortality, and the value of human lif...
One of the most outstanding parts from ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’ is the lines, “I know that I shall meet my fate / Somewhere among the clouds above; / Those that I fight I do not hate, / Those that I guard I do not love.” In this poem, Yeats ruminates on the feelings of an Irish pilot fighting for Britain during the First World War.
Taking place in County Sligo, ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ is one of Yeats’ most beautiful poems. Published in 1890, this three four line stanza poem is one of the most prominent in the Celtic Revival style Throughout, he reflects on the beauty of the Irish landscape, not far from where Yeats spent many childhood summers.
Published in 1928, ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ symbolises a spiritual journey to Byzantium, which Yeats saw as “centre of European civilization and the source of its spiritual philosophy”. Themes in this poem include growing older, mortality, and conflicts between a younger and older generation.
Perhaps one of his most famous poems, ‘The Stolen Child’, tops our list of the best W.B. Yeats poems of all time. Its major theme is the loss of innocence as a child grows up. Written in 1886 when Yeats was just 21, ‘The Stolen Child’ is one of his works that is strongly rooted in Irish mythology. The poem tells the story of a human child who is en...
William Butler Yeats, a monumental figure in 20th-century literature, was appointed to the Irish Senate in 1922 and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for his dramatic works. His groundbreaking contributions to poetry, including iconic volumes like ‘The Wild Swans,’ ‘The Tower,’ and ‘Last Poems and Plays,’ have cemented ...
A lonely impulse of delight. Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind. In balance with this life, this death. The Irish airman in this poem is Major Robert Gregory (1881-1918), only child of Yeats’s friend Lady Augusta Gregory.
William Butler Yeats. 1865–1939. DN-0071801, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. William Butler Yeats is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He belonged to the Protestant, Anglo-Irish minority that had controlled the economic, political, social, and cultural life of Ireland since ...
Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out. When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi. Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert. A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it.
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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,
