Exploring WB Yeats' 'Sailing to Byzantium' Poem

WB Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium" is a profound poetic journey through contrasts of youth and age, nature and artifice, sensuality and intellect. The poem explores the idea of transcending the limitations of the physical world to embrace the timeless beauty of art and culture. Through vivid imagery and symbolism, Yeats invites readers to ponder the essence of existence and the pursuit of immortality through artistic expression.

• WB Yeats
• Sailing to Byzantium
• Poetry
• Art vs Nature
• Aging

omari Follow

Uploaded on Aug 25, 2024 | 0 Views

Download Presentation

Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.

The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.

Presentation Transcript

1. Sailing to Byzantium W.B.Yeats The poem is comprised of 4 stanzas of 8 lines each .Both rhyme and meter are regular , following abababcc.

2. Stanza 1 That (Ireland) is not the right place for old people because all are caught in a sensual music which makes them neglect the ageless artistic achievements of the intellect . In that country , the dying generations of birds, young lovers celebrate things which are slave to the natural cycle of birth and death . The young lovers who are in each other s arms, birds in the trees , salmon falls, a mackerel crowded seas, fish , flesh , and fowl all sing only one song the song of senses. All these , at the same time , are creatures who are very much subject to death.

3. Stanza 2 That country ( Ireland ) is not the right place for an old man who is a petty thing with his physical powers decaying continuously . The only alternative available for the old man is to have his soul educated in such a way that it starts to clap its hands and sing . In other words , he has to keep his soul young by teaching it singing and clapping in monuments. In this state of joy , the soul has to sing louder with every tatter in its mortal dress. The newly learnt song of the soul has to become louder and louder as the physical power of the old man goes from bad to worse. Yet , it is difficult to find such school in that country ( Ireland ) because every singing school , instead of caring for monuments of ageless intellect , is busy studying the monuments of its own magnificence . As a result of the difficulty in finding the right school in Ireland , the poet decides to sail across the seas and goes to the holy city of Byzantium.

4. Stanza 3 Byzantium is the old name of Constantinople or Istanbul which was once the capital of the Roman Empire. According to Yeats , the Christian Byzantium which influences the scene after the fall of Rome , was an ideal place of culture and art . The poet addresses sages ,standing in God s holy fire as a figure stands in the gold mosaic work of a wall , to climb down from their position in spiral movement and be the teachers of his soul .His soul then can learn the right kind of song . This song will become louder as the body decays the more. The first thing to do is to purify the heart because it is tied to the animal instincts of the body and is sick with physical desire. The poet s desire is to be part of the artifice of eternity , things which are beyond the cycle of birth and death.

5. Stanza 4 Once the narrator (poet) is out of the cycle of nature (being begotten , born and die ) , he will break all contact with the natural things or physical world . Instead of taking his bodily form from any natural thing , he will take a form like that hammered, by a Grecian goldsmith, into a golden shape or golden enameling. He would rather be a golden bird , done by a goldsmith. The bird would sing to sleepy Emperor to keep him awake . He also wants to be a golden bird gathered into the artifice of eternity , so that he sits upon a golden bough in the court of Byzantium . That alone would enable him to sing of all times past ,present and future ( of what is past ,or passing or to come ) to lords and ladies of Byzantium .This song of the narrator will be different from the sensual music of dying generations and will sing of monuments of ageless intellect.