Reading Notes W13: Yeats, Part A

"When You Are Old"

Yeats advises us on some things we should do when we are old and weak. We should take a trip down memory lane by looking at pictures of ourselves or things that we've written and reflect on what we were like when we were younger. We can enjoy the memories we shared with people we loved in the past. Half way through the poem, Yeats makes it clear that he's bringing some of his own personal experiences into the poem. He speaks about who I believe to be God in his poem. He wrote "One man loved the pilgrim soul in you" and he "hid his face amid a crowd of stars" (Yeats 522).

"Easter 1916"

On Easter Sunday of 1916, Irish nationalists began a failed rebellion against British rule that ended in the surrender and execution (522). This poem reflects on that event and Yeats asks "was it needless death after all?" (524). He questions if their passion is what drove them to their death by writing "what if excess of love / bewildered them till they died" (524).

"The Second Coming"

As the title would imply, this poem is referring to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Christians believe the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will "herald the end of the world" (524). Spiritus Mundi is Latin for "world-soul" or a "great memory" (524). When Yeats wrote "A shape with lion body and the head of a man," I'm certain he was describing a sphinx.

"Leda and the Swan"

The title refers to Greek mythology. Zeus took the form of a swan to rape a mortal named Leda (525). Leda gave birth to Helen of Troy, whose beauty led to the Trojan War (525). Reading this poem, I didn't really feel like there was anything to look into or learn. It seemed to be a simple retelling of that occurrence in the form of a poem.

Most of these poems seem to be Yeats retelling old stories he's heard but in the form of a poem with his own artistic touch. "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Byzantium" are both poems of his that speak about the ancient name for Modern Istanbul (526). "Among School Children" references Plato, Leda, and Quattrocentro (526). "Lapis Lazuli" references Hamlet, Lear, Ophelia, and Cordelia.


Yeats, William Butler. The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. F, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 518-532