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In one sense, the setting of “Sailing to Byzantium” is quite simple. As the account of a metaphorical journey of spiritual transformation, the poem could be said to take place in the speaker’s own mind. From another vantage, however, the question of setting is made deceptively complex by the speaker’s seemingly concrete reference to a real place. But what, exactly, does the speaker mean when he refers to “Byzantium”? Historically, Byzantium was an ancient Greek city that was founded sometime in the seventh century BCE. Curiously, though, it isn’t the ancient Byzantium that the speaker seems to be referencing. Rather, he’s speaking of Constantinople, which is what the city was renamed in 330 CE, when Constantine, a recently converted Christian, made it the new seat of the Roman Empire. That the speaker is referencing the city’s Christian era is suggested by his prayer to the “sages standing in God's holy fire” (line 17) in stanza 3, and by his reference to the “Emperor” (29) in stanza 4. Even so, he also mentions “Grecian goldsmiths” (line 27), as if to reference to the city’s ancient inheritance. Thus, the speaker’s discussion of Byzantium conflates different time periods in a way that suggestively transcends historical chronology.

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