Wb yeats
WB YEATS
A PERSONAL RESPONSE
I thoroughly enjoyed studying the work of WB Yeats. He presents key themes and messages in the form of artistic and beautiful imagery. He deals with many important issues facing Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century, the search for oneself and death. A key theme in his work is the need to escape, to create a sanctuary where one can think clearly minus the materialism and grayness of the modern world, looking back and reflecting on the past.
‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ is one of my favourite of Yeats’ poems. It deals with the search for inner peace and the importance of escaping the modern world to reflect on what is truly important. Innisfree is a place of unparalleled beauty for Yeats. Each of us has our own Innisfree and the desire to escape meaning that everybody can identify with the poet.
Yeats adopts a deliberately quaint and old fashion style lending the occasion a ceremony and seriousness ‘I will arise and go now to the Isle of Innisfree’. There is a timeless quality to the poem even though it was written in 1888. The ‘pavements gray’ could describe any dark, boring and dull place today. It may not even be a place, it could be a mindset that needs to end and a reflection on the need for refreshing the mind.
The long lines give the poem a stately leisured tone. We see that the poet will be at one with nature as he describes his beautiful hideaway ‘a small cabin I will build there of clay and wattle made, and a hive for the honeybee’. Colour, sounds and textures combine to make the world of the poem. The poet allows the reader to conjure up images of escaping the quick pace of modern day life and old romantic Ireland. He is confident that one day he will achieve this state of bliss in his world ‘I shall have some peace there’.
‘September 1913’ is another interesting and thought-provoking poem. Prompted by his anger at the country for refusing to house beautiful pieces of art, the Hugh Lane pictures, it
A PERSONAL RESPONSE
I thoroughly enjoyed studying the work of WB Yeats. He presents key themes and messages in the form of artistic and beautiful imagery. He deals with many important issues facing Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century, the search for oneself and death. A key theme in his work is the need to escape, to create a sanctuary where one can think clearly minus the materialism and grayness of the modern world, looking back and reflecting on the past.
‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ is one of my favourite of Yeats’ poems. It deals with the search for inner peace and the importance of escaping the modern world to reflect on what is truly important. Innisfree is a place of unparalleled beauty for Yeats. Each of us has our own Innisfree and the desire to escape meaning that everybody can identify with the poet.
Yeats adopts a deliberately quaint and old fashion style lending the occasion a ceremony and seriousness ‘I will arise and go now to the Isle of Innisfree’. There is a timeless quality to the poem even though it was written in 1888. The ‘pavements gray’ could describe any dark, boring and dull place today. It may not even be a place, it could be a mindset that needs to end and a reflection on the need for refreshing the mind.
The long lines give the poem a stately leisured tone. We see that the poet will be at one with nature as he describes his beautiful hideaway ‘a small cabin I will build there of clay and wattle made, and a hive for the honeybee’. Colour, sounds and textures combine to make the world of the poem. The poet allows the reader to conjure up images of escaping the quick pace of modern day life and old romantic Ireland. He is confident that one day he will achieve this state of bliss in his world ‘I shall have some peace there’.
‘September 1913’ is another interesting and thought-provoking poem. Prompted by his anger at the country for refusing to house beautiful pieces of art, the Hugh Lane pictures, it