The Early Poetry of Yeats

My feelings on W. B. Yeats were mixed. Though I didn’t love all of his poetry, I can certainly appreciate his skill as a poet and writer and can also recognize his ingenious creativity. Because I was only somewhat familiar with Ireland’s situation during the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, I felt it somewhat necessary to get a little background information on Ireland during that time period (though I must say that the footnotes in our book were extremely helpful). One website that gave some interesting info was http://www.yourirish.com/history/20th-century/.

One of the aspects of his writing that I particularly enjoyed was the use of mythology. One of my favorite poems was “The Song of Wandering Aengus.” I enjoyed it because it was kind of silly, easy to read and it had a kind of ethereal quality to it. Another helpful website, http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/aengus.html, gives a brief overview of the Irish myth of Aengus. I was curious as to whether the aspect of the trout turning into the girl was part of the traditional myth or if it was made up by Yeats. Though I was unsuccessful in obtaining the answer to this question, in my search I found a video on YouTube that I thought was interesting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn6FwUtXhuc).

Another poem that I really liked was “Adam’s Curse.” I loved the way it read more like a story than an actual poem (I thought this about quite a bit of his poetry). It was interesting to see his recognition of the labor involved in writing and the lack of appreciation by the general public for this labor. I also appreciated knowing that Yeats struggled for hours over a single line. I guess I assumed that the words just flowed out of him without any immense effort. Silly me. Also, I absolutely loved lines 18-20, “There is one thing that all we women know/Although we never heard of it at school/That we must labour to be beautiful.” That is so true, isn’t it?

I don’t have much to say about “The Symbolism of Poetry” other than the fact that it was a very difficult read. The one section that I actually enjoyed and felt I totally understood without re-reading was section III. “The purpose of rhythm, it has always seemed to me, is to prolong the moment of contemplation” (881). This statement made me think about rhythm differently than I had previously. I think his ideas regarding rhythm putting us in a trancelike state will definitely have an effect on the way I read poetry in the future.