There are many different things that can have two meanings in life. Whether it is a certain look that someone gives you, that can mean something special. Or even in a literary way, for example, in the novel series, The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion, Aslan, symbolizes God! In the Chronicles of Narnia series, Aslan does many different acts that prove that he is symbolized as God. For example, in the most popular book of the series, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan breathes the breath of life onto many creatures that brings them back to life, and turns them back to normal after the witch turns them into stone. In relation, the works of William Butler Yeats also includes many different symbols. In William Butler Yeats’ poems, Sailing to Byzantium, The Second Coming, The Wild Swans at Coole, The Lake Isle of Innisfree, and When You are Old, there are symbols that have special meanings.
In Yeats’ Byzantium, there is the symbol of the boat, and or sailing. This poem talks about aging. The opening line, “That is no country for old men” (Pg. 1147 Line 1) even states that the speaker, an old man, is leaving the country because he is too old now. In lines 15-16, the speaker states, “And therefore I have sailed the seas and come to the holy city of Byzantium.” This basically means that the speaker has lived, and now he is old, and he is going to die, and go to a better place. Although we think that Yeats is talking about Heaven, but he believed in reincarnation, so the speaker would be reincarnated into something better.
In the poem, Coming, by Yeats, Yeats uses a falcon and a falconer as a symbol. This whole poem is all about how the world is changing. According to Yeats’ philosophy, the world goes through 2000 year periods w...
... middle of paper ...
...g by the fire, and thinks about him and their past together, and how she didn’t accept him.
In conclusion, Yeats obviously uses symbols in all of his texts! He is an absolute animal when it comes to using symbolism in his poems. First of all, Yeats uses the boat, or sailing to symbolize death in his poem Byzantium. Second, the falcon and falconer is used in Coming to represent the world losing touch with faith. Third of all, in Swans, the swans are a symbol for younger experiences, which will one day leave and you won’t be able to remember. Next, in Innisfree, the place Innisfree is a symbol for peace, because that is basically the speaker’s happy place, and it is perfect and peaceful. Lastly, Yeats uses the book in Old to represent the past, when the woman sits down with the book and dreams. In the end, Yeats is the winner of the greatest symbol using poet!
Symbols in poetry can be a person , place , thing or idea . In the poem titled “ Love Poem to Los Angeles by Luis J. Rodriguez the poet uses the Hollywood Sign as a symbol to represent famous people . In another poem titled “Santa Ana of Grocery Carts “ by Aracelis Gimary the poet uses schoolyard boys as a symbol to represent young men who have died . The meaning of these symbols is similar because they both can represent people and how they’re special . However, the difference of these symbol is that the hollywood sign represents something only positive in the poem and on the other hand the schoolyard boys represent only something negative because it is related to death .
Poets have often used symbols to convey deeper messages that they were either too afraid or felt that normal language lacked the power to express. Often when a symbol is used, the reader digs deeper into the issue more than if the message was simply shot out in the open. These symbols and metaphors can be used to portray beautiful things, or could be used to create a more compelling argument in a more subtle way.
In English literature symbolism has been used to offer readers an extensive and open minded meaning for simple words. “A symbol is a word, phrase or, other expression having the complex of associated meaning; in this sense, a symbol is viewed different from those as whatever being symbolized” (Fadaee 19). Tony Morrison in Song of Solomon uses symbols such as peacock, geography book, cave, eggs, ginger smell, darkness, and flying to add more depth and sense to the story. Using these symbols does not only extend the meanings of some words, but coverts them into a important tool for thoughtful interpretation.
There are many archetypical symbols used in hundreds of works, new and old. Some of these symbols include: war, peace, love, nature, birds, mountains, and darkness. These symbols have deep meaning which help embellish a certain work. They also help the reader to better understand the theme or plot of a work. They are used freely and abundantly in most modern and pre-modern works.
...arly, these poems all have a statement to make about the opposition of stasis and change. Old says that false love is always changing, but true love is constant. Lake states that nature is much more desirable than city life, become it is unchanging, whereas people change things constantly. Wild gives us the realization that things that have always been one way may at any time become different. In Second, we see how people change the world too fast, and sorrow ensues. Finally, the great poem Sailing to Byzantium makes clear the faults of humanity in our pursuit for the physical, ever-changing aspects of life, when what really matters are the ever-constant aspects of the metaphysical world. From this week of reading Yeats, and some deep thought into the matter, I have come to this very simple conclusion about the world we live in. Nature doesn’t change, until it does.
If we are, as Yeats postulates, merely symbols of something greater then how are we to uncover first what that symbol represents, and second, how that symbol represents our true self? It seems to me that as people become symbols they become abstract, something ideal rather than real. Thus, we are all living an illusory existence, an existence created by others. Dick says further, “At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe” (156). I agree with Dick’s assertion that every person who lives is handed a metaphor but I also believe that the majority of those persons do not even recognize or acknowledge that they are living as a metaphor.
Examples of symbolism are clear through out the epic poem Beowulf. It clear these events are not supposed to be taken literally, but its the symbolism behind these events that make up the story. From the formation of the mead halls, and the defeat of Grendel and his mother. Finally, Beowulf's last battle with the dragon are all symbols that are in the story. The mead hall is a symbol of power, Grendel's claw is a symbol of pride, and the dragon is a symbol of greed and sacrifice. And while there are many more in the story, these are three that are particularly noteworthy.
The use of symbols in today’s culture has become so widespread that they often go unrecognized as symbols. Things like the American flag are a great example of a symbol, but they are seen so often that they become overlooked. Symbols are also incredibly common in literature, and authors love to use them to add a second meaning to many things in their stories. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a huge fan of symbols, and made that apparent in his short story Young Goodman Brown. The story is flush with symbols, and they can be easily grouped into three categories. Hawthorne uses some of his symbols to give a negative vibe to things such as characters or settings, as well as using the names of his characters to add an additional layer to the story. Lastly,
A symbol is any “‘object, act, event, quality, or relation which serves as a vehicle for conception’” (230). Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians by Barbara Myerhoff is a very intricate text which involves numerous aspects of symbolism. Myerhoff not only applies a much deeper meaning to deer, maize, and peyote, but she also uses these objects as a representation of divine beings and spirits. The deer, maize, and peyote are very powerful entities but together they form the deer-maize-peyote complex, which is central to the Huichol life. The unification of these disparate objects can be easily understood once they are analyzed on three different levels: exegetical, operational, and positional.
In these lines from "All Things can Tempt Me" (40, 1-5), Yeats defines the limitations of the poet concerning his role in present time. These "temptations" (his love for the woman, Maude Gonne, and his desire to advance the Irish Cultural Nationalist movement) provide Yeats with the foundation upon which he identifies his own limitations. In his love poetry, he not only expresses his love for Gonne, he uses his verse to influence her feelings, attempting to gain her love and understanding. In regard to the Nationalists, he incorporates traditional Irish characters, such as Fergus and the Druids, to create an Irish mythology and thereby foster a national Irish identity. After the division of the Cultural Nationalists, Yeats feels left behind by the movement and disillusioned with their violent, "foolish" methods. He is also repeatedly rejected by Gonne. These efforts to instigate change through poetry both fail, bringing the function of the poet and his poetry into question. If these unfruitful poems tempt him from his ?craft of verse,? then what is the true nature verse and why is it a ?toil? for the poet? Also, if Yeats cannot use poetry to influence the world around him, then what is his role as a poet?
Symbolism had a large impact on the writers of the nineteen century similar to the effect it places in literature today. Symbolism is explained in these terms, “Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning much deeper and more significant.”(Batova) The more significant meaning is often overlooked upon first inspection but when read again a new understanding can be developed. One symbol often used in poetry during this gothic time period of the nineteenth was the use of a bird as a type of omen. The Albatross in Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is shot from the sky and many terrible things ensue after it’s death and it is seen as an omen to the sailors aboard the ship. Yet another poem contains an omen presented in the form of a bird, namely a raven from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven which contains a foreboding air and creates an ominous feeling as to the impending death or doom of the narrator. The two birds can be compared by their appearance, the actions, and the influence they have upon the narrator of their respective poems, creating an image of a bird representing much more than another living creature.
The various levels of interpretation that a poet, such as W.B.Yeats, welcomes to his poems is difficult to grasp upon first reading his poetry. What appears to be a straight forward poem, such as, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, is actually an intellectual cultural criticism of Yeats’ modern day society. The poem, written as a testament to Lady Gregory’s son, captures the innermost concerns and perceptions of an Irish airman in World War I. However, through Yeats’ sentimental and poetic style, the poem incorporates a double meaning, and hence, focuses on Irish nationalism and its lack of an international consciencesness. The airman is Ireland personified, and his outlook on war and society is a window into the desolate situation that Ireland faces.
The fact that he uses an image of Falcon escaping the falconer, as seen before, shows that the world is in the critical process of swinging out of control. It may probably be because of the deeds of its inhabitants. It also goes ahead to frame a period of 2000 years. It is a great historical evolution beginning from Christ's birth while war concludes it all. It, therefore, shows how the poem is inclined to religious matters, especially those that are documented in biblical contexts. (Yeats &Peter, p. 30)
One of Yeats' major symbols, the "widening gyre", is used systemically to show the destruction of the current civilization and the emergence of a new one. The continuing "turning and turning" of the gyre (line 1) illustrates the last breath of a period of history and its plunge into a new repressive world. Additionally, the widening of the tornado-like gyre parallels the intensity of the old world's present chaos. As the spiral of the gyre grows, the falcon (line 2) flies higher and higher where it can no longer hear its master, thus signaling the crumbling of the natural order of the world. The "center [of the gyre] can no longer hold." The symbolic occurrence of the gyre's ongoing function further shows to replenish itself by the arrival of the "rough beast" which marks the beginning of the new era. Furthermore, the hovering of the "indignant desert birds" symbolizes the formation of the new gyre, which begins as a small compact spiral, just as the previous one once was. Consequently, the desert birds are present ...
Yeats' poetry is very dramatic because he usually creates dramatic contrasts within his poems and because his tone changes regularly. When he wasn't in conflict with the world around him he was in conflict with himself. He was never satisfied with modern Ireland, even when he was younger. As he grew older, his dissatisfaction became even greater.