Study Questions
One of the important themes in Yeats's writing is his exploration of
the relationship between the natural and the artificial, and particularly
the relationship between nature and art. With particular reference to the
two Byzantium poems, describe how Yeats characterizes this relationship.
Does he prefer the natural to art, or art to nature?
Some of Yeats's least accessible poems are his works of visionary history,
which often incorporate themes from A Vision and seem, on the
surface, thematically irrelevant to contemporary readers. How can these
poems best be understood--in other words, should they be read today
strictly for their magnificent language, or is there a way in which they
embrace more universal elements of human experience than their occult,
mythological frame of reference might imply? (Think especially about "Leda
and the Swan" and "The Second Coming.")
If you have read John Keats's great "Ode to a Nightingale," compare it to
Yeats's equally great "Sailing to Byzantium." In what ways does the Yeats
poem seem designed to refute the Keats poem? How does the singing golden
bird differ from Keats's singing nightingale?
"Adam's Curse" is one of Yeats's finest early poems, and one of his
simplest and most moving love poems. How does the style of the poem mirror
its explicit statement about beauty? How does it connect the labor of
living with weariness in life and in love?
Compare and contrast "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," a very early poem by
Yeats, with "The Circus Animals' Desertion," written not long before he
died. What, if anything, do these poems have in common? How are they
different? What does each poem say about the human heart, and how does the
difference between those statements indicate Yeats's development as a
poet?
"The Irish Airman foresees his Death" is a good example of the way in
which Yeats combines the political with the personal and the mystical. How
does the airman's involvement in World War I relate to his "lonely impulse
of delight," and what does the "lonely impulse of delight" say about his
understanding of the war? What does the poem itself seem to say about the
war?
Yeats's style is quite unique among both nineteenth- and twentieth-century
poets. What characterizes his poetic style? What kind of consciousness
seems to be indicated by his rough meters, half-rhymes, and frequent
violations of formal constraints? How do these traits affect, enhance, or
interfere with his aesthetic articulation of his themes?
