W.B. Yeats

WB YEATS

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet born in 1865 . Yeats was a poet dramatist and a mystic and also considered as the driving force behind Irish Literary Revival . Yeats has been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1923 . By 1885 he started his literary career one of his earliest essays The Poetry of Sir Samuel Ferguson ' was published in Dublin University Review . Yeats early work follows Romantic style mainly influenced from Irish folklore which can be best described in his title of 1893 The Celtic Twilight . His major

influence in the early poetry was Shelly . The Isle of Statues ' can be considered his first significant poem which appeared in Dublin University Review . In 1886 one of his pamphlet Mosada :A Dramatic Poem ' appeared , followed by Wandering of Oisin and Other Poems

The Wandering of Oisin ' was based on Irish mythology with contrasting themes of life of contemplation versus life of action . In the early 20th century all over Europe and America educated men were falling prey to the semi mystical thoughts . These young men including Yeats refused to accept that the universe is really scientific and rational but it was based on occult and mysticism . It is this mysticism and mythology that Yeats followed all his life

In 1889 Yeats met Maud Gonne who devoted herself to Irish national movement . He developed an obsession with Gonne and she remained visible in his poetry for long long time . After being rejectd by Gonne , the story can be observed in his poem Down by the Salley Gardens . The poem is a story of in- experienced youth in love where the narrator (man ) is failure and unable to cop with his love . The following two lines point out the crux of the poem

She bid me take life easy , as the grass grows on the weirs

But I was young and foolish , and now am full of tears

Moving from romanticism Yeats moves to reclusion that can be observed in the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree . The main theme of the poem is exile where narrator desires to live on an island closer to nature Perhaps Yeats wants to move away from life the (reference to city life of Dublin ) of action to life of contemplation

And a small cabin build there , of clay and wattles made

Nine bean-rows will I have there , a hive for the honeybee

And live alone in the bee-loud glade

In 1917 Yeats published The Wild Swans at Coole ' which proved to be his first break through for fame . As usual Yeats style is narration the narrator (swan ) is in meditative mood is shown near the end of life , who looks back on happy movements of life . The readers feel , the narrator is going to die but suddenly he seems to rise form death like state an idea of immortality or rising again has been a consistent theme of Yeats poetry

Yeats has been always preoccupied with mythology and symbolism due to which...