William Butler Yeats Was Born in Dublin Surub on June 13

7/24/2019 William Butler Yeats Was Born in Dublin Surub on June 13

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William Butler Yeats was born in a Dublin suburb on June

13, 1865. His father J.B Yeats was a painter of some distinction.

oon after his birth, Yeast!s "arents mo#ed to $ondon and he

went to school in Hammersmith. %or a short time he studied

paintin&, and retained throu&hout his life a passionate lo#e and

understandin& of that art. Because of that attitude his father

introduced him with two prominent literar' fi&ures (((( )dward

Dowden * John +odhunter. t was throu&h Dowden!sencoura&ement that some of his earliest poert' was published.

+he %irst uccess came with +he -andrin&s of isin in 188/.

Yeats has been re&arded as a &reat s'mbolic poet.

nnumerable are the s'mbols that Yeats emplo's, in man' cases

the same s'mbol bein& used for different meanin&s and different

purposes and conte0ts. an' of his s'mbols are #er' obscure

and almost unintelli&ible to the uninitiated reader. n his earl'

'ears, he had been a de#oted student of theosoph' and ma&ic,

and a member a societ' of 2hristian abalists. His stud' of

occulticism embraced the lo#e of fairies, banshees, the idhe,

astrolo&', automatic writin&, second si&ht, and prophetic dreams.

%rom adama Bla#ats4' he had learned that the &reat memor'

of ature preser#es the le&ends of all nations. +hat made him

feel that he could &et in touch with nima undi throu&h

s'mbols drawn from rish le&ends (((( +he s'mbolic 2haracters



of isin or en&us, for e0ample, or the hound with one read ear,

or the white deer no horns. He also made use up other arbitrar'

occult s'mbols of 7rose , 7cross , 7lil', 7bird, 7water 7tree,

7moon, 7sun and 7tower which he found in the abalistic,

theosophical and other wor4s.

+he rose is a protean s'mbol in Yeats poem. ost of his

rose(poems are to be found in the #olume called 7+he 9ose

which appeared in 18/3. n +he 9ose of "eace, the s'mbol of therose has been used to mean earthl' lo#e. But in +he 9ose of

-orld, the s'mbol of rose means on one le#el transient earthl'

lo#e and beaut' and on another le#el eternal lo#e and beaut'.

+he poem 7ailin& to B':antium reflects his interest in

B':antine art and culture B':antium here becomes a s'mbol of a

perfect world. 9e;ectin& this world of birth, &eneration and

death, the poet determines to sail to B':antium where, he thin4s,

he can defeat time because he will &o to the world of art and art

is timeless. He discards the sensual music made b' the birds in

fa#our of the ethereal music made b' the B':antine birds of

hammered &old and enamellin&s. He turns from the countr' of

the flesh' life to B':antium which is the s'mbol of the ideal,

aesthetic, e0istence he lon&s for the B':antium su&&ests a far(off

unfamiliar ci#ili:ation whose art is non(representational and

whose reli&ion has ta4en and e0otic form because mer&in& of

western and eastern 2hurches and reli&ious tradition.



7+he econd 2omin& is another famous poem illustratin&

Yeat!s use of s'mbols. ts words and phrases flow partl' from

pri#ate doctrine, partl' from Yeats directs sense of the world

about him, and partl' from both these sources. %or instance the

72eremon' of innocence represents for Yeats one of the <ualities

that made life #aluable under the d'in& aristocratic social

tradition. +he e0pression 7%alcon and the %alconer, ha#e both a

s'mbolic and doctrinal reference. =falcon is a haw4!, and a

haw4 is s'mbolic of a acti#e or intellectual mind> the falconer is

perhaps the soul itself 2hristian in the be&innin&, but de#elop an

ima&e. -hose source is not the scripture but spiritus undi and

which concerns somethin& li4e an )&'ptian phin0, and passin&

of 2hrist in his fa#our. +he idea is that forces of 2hristian faith

are almost spent and that a new brutal force is about to ta4e o#er.

n 1/?8 came the #olume 7+he +ower. n the poems of

this #olume, s'mbolism and realism, metaph'sical speculation

and 2ontemporar' social comment, ;ostle each other. n the

poem called 7+he +ower Yeats attac4!s "lato "lotinus. +he

tower sometimes represents the celestial aspirations of the

solitar' intellect, but these tend to mer&e with the different

hea#en(bound aspiration of the souls. +he intellect articulates,

dealin& in abstract thin&s@ cancels speech and thou&ht itself.

n 7$eda and the wan Yeats has put e#er' appearance of

unit' and althou&h such ima&es as the dome are readil'



intelli&ible, other ima&e and their connection and references are

#er' abscure. t is a s'mbolist in the sense that the manifest le#el

is there to su&&est unstated themes@ the union of matter and spirit

of &od and man of Do#e and Air&in, and all the c'cles of histor'

which be&in with these unnatural con;uctions.

+o conclude that Yeats had an e0cellent understandin& of

how to use how not to abuse his s'mbols, that his reli&iousness

was wholl' intelli&ent. But he has man' passa&es commentin&his practice. Yeats poems are rarel' transcendental as the' seem.

-hate#er their occult bearin&, the' are personal and worldl'.

-hate#er Yeats romantic contempt of world, it was as throu&h

as the allarme, who saw the world merel' as a store of

s'mbols for somethin& else. )#en in his 9osicrucian da's. Yeats

wanted to reconcile world and sprit, and to inte&rate himself

with world and sprit. His s'mbols, li4e his mas4, &i#e him a wa'

to do this. B' their triple reference to self, world and spirit, the'

achie#e on the aesthetic plane and unit' of bein& which is

impossible in life.

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William Butler Yeats Was Born in Dublin Surub on June 13