Yeats ideal vs. his reality

I, admittedly, found myself disappointed as I read Yeats’ poetry. Having read his article, “The Symbolism of Poetry,” before beginning to read any of his poetry, I found that the article made me expect something different than what I got. At one point in the article he says the ideal type of poetry is that which has “those wavering, meditative, organic rhythms, which are the embodiment of the imagination” (883). From this I somehow expected his poetry to be on a higher plain and to be very resonant with human nature. However, rather than reaching this higher level, I found Yeats poetry to be very connected to and driven by the mundane, crudeness of regular life.

Take, for example, his obsession with Maud Gonne. Not above lovelorn yearning, Yeats often penned his lines in honor of this woman he could obviously never have. His claim in “The Sorrow of Love” that she brought with her “the whole of the world’s tears” shows that he does not write in some higher emotional and imaginative plain; rather, he, just as susceptible to heart-ache as regular people, is motivated by the more mundane and regular parts of human existence.

Now, this is not to say that there is no art in Yeats’ poetry. Quite on the contrary, his imagery even in such lines as “the whole of the world’s tears” is very effective in describing the emotions behind his unrequited love. Readers can tell that his poetry is the result of much suffering. However, in regards to the lofty ideals he sets forth in “The Symbolism of Poetry,” even these artistic lines are a bit of a let down.