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Journey of the magi simple summary
Short essay about william butler yeats
Short essay about william butler yeats
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Renewal in Yeats' Second Coming and Eliot's Journey of the Magi
Both William Butler Yeats' "Second Coming" and T.S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi" present a renewal process, but each one focuses on different goals and subjects; Eliot on a particular person's transformation, whereas Yeats predicts a renovation of the entire world as a result of an escalation of chaos. And while Yeats attempts to present a definite picture of what he believes will happen at the time of this renovation, as a human being, lack of foresight leaves him to conclude with nothing more than an unanswerable question. Eliot, on the other hand, uses ambiguity to support and develop his theme: death is the way to rebirth. But for Eliot this rebirth, which must be necessarily obscure, is full of doubt, accompanied by pain, and extremely perplexing to the newly-born (www.fgcu* 6). Eliot utilizes a vague diction and imagery, and his narrative tone progresses to philosophical and doubtful discourse. In contrast, Yeats maintains a pessimistic tone created by his futility on the bleak situation toward which the world proceeds. As opposed to projecting an inevitable and pessimistic demise of the Christian era and a renewal of the world as Yeats does in his poem, "Second Coming," Eliot presents the renewal of a Magus, his way of life and beliefs as a result of the birth of the Christian era.
Yeats views the world and civilization as a cycle: the world revolves on a two thousand year period, and restarts every two thousand years ("Twenty centuries . . . come round at last"). Yeats' view may lead to an initial response of the inescapableness of the world's end, and therefore no need for concern, but his pessimistic outlook results from society's...
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...Eliot's message, death results in rebirth.
Works Cited
http://www.en.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kf...studentprojects/kiplingyeats/falcon.html
http://orchard.cortland.edu/intropoetry/essaytwo/bethka(cc).html
http://www.fgcu.edu/~wohlpart/eliot.html#poem
Keane, Patrick J. Yeats's Interactions with Tradition. Columbia: University of Missouri Press,
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Peterson, Richard F. William Butler Yeats. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982.
Pinion, F.B. A T.S. Eliot Companion. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes and Noble Books,1986.
Raffel, Burton. T.S Eliot. New York: Frederick Publishing Co., 1982.
Unterecker, John. A Reader's Guide to William Butler Yeats. New York: Octagon Publishers,
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Octagon Books, 1966.
Mary Pipher, author of the book Reviving Ophelia, has made many observations concerning young adolescent girls in our society. She wrote this book in 1994, roughly eleven years ago. Although some of her observations made in the past are not still accurate in today’s world, there are many that are still present in 2005. The primary focus of Pipher’s comments is to explain how young girls are no longer being protected within our society.
Time is endlessly flowing by and its unwanted yet pending arrival of death is noted in the two poems “When I Have Fears,” by John Keats and “Mezzo Cammin,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Keats speaks with no energy; only an elegiac tone of euphoric sounds wondering if his life ends early with his never attained fame. He mentions never finding a “fair creature” (9) of his own, only experiencing unrequited love and feeling a deep loss of youth’s passion. Though melancholy, “Mezzo Cammin,” takes a more conversational tone as Longfellow faces what is commonly known as a midlife crisis. The two poems progressions contrast as Keats blames his sorrow for his lack of expression while Longfellow looks at life’s failures as passions never pursued. In spite of this contrast, both finish with similar references to death. The comparable rhyme and rhythm of both poems shows how both men safely followed a practiced path, never straying for any spontaneous chances. The ending tones evoking death ultimately reveal their indications towards it quickly advancing before accomplish...
"The blood-dimmed tied is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned". As many currently see our society today, Yeats was in fear of what the future had in store, and felt it necessary to warn society of their abominable behavior. All of the good in the society has been taken over and overwhelmed by the horrible actions. No longer do ceremonies, or acts of kindness, take place, which Yeats believes is a direct effect of the loss of youth and innocence. "That twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle". This quote from "The Second Coming" informs the society that if they do not begin to correct their transgressions against one another as a whole they will awake the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ will come to claim his Jesus and correct the predicament that they have gotten themselves in to.
T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. ed. M. H. Abrams New York, London: Norton, 1993.
9) The effect of the “storming of the Bastille” on the revolutionary moment was it caused the king to pull back his troops and it saved the National Assembly. This caused a rebellious spirit to move across the county.
The allusion to the biblical story of Adam and Eve in William Butler Yeats' poem, "Adam's Curse," reflects the poem's pessimistic theme: the tragic nature of fate. In the story, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, had defied God, and consequently, were thrown out of paradise. Their punishment (and as their descendents, everyone's punishment and "fate") was to feel the joys and the pains of being human, including love and happiness but work and disappointment as well. Yeats parallels this tragedy of Adam and Eve's newly-found mortality with a narrative which is composed mostly of a conversation about the hardships of writing poetry, being beautiful, and staying in love. By linking the two stories, he implies that such endeavors are not only laborious aspects of life, but can be "destined" to end or fail also. Yeats further establishes the inevitability of something ending by setting the conversation "at one summer's end" (1) and later having the speakers see "the last embers of daylight die" (29) when the conversation itself dies.
Author of poetry, William Butler Yeats, wrote during the twentieth century which was a time of change. It was marked by world wars, revolutions, technological innovations, and also a mass media explosion. Throughout Yeats poems he indirectly sends a message to his readers through the symbolism of certain objects. In the poems The Lake Isle of Innisfree, The wild Swans at Cole, and Sailing to Byzantium, all by William Yeats expresses his emotional impact of his word choices and symbolic images.
Drenched in a dark pessimism, and nightmarish imagery, Yeat’s intent with “The Second Coming” from a text-based perspective, is a prophetic warning to post-WWI Europe. As the narrator is personal - despite his minimal use of first person - and orates alike a prophet who’s illustrating a desolate vision he’s witnessing in real-time. The first stanza is the portrayal of his vision. A collapsing post-WWI society, sitting on and than exceeding the threshold of crisis, represented by symbolic lines such as: “the blood-dimmed tide is loosed.” Which refers to society exceeding the aforesaid threshold of crisis, and the resulting violence. The poem also highlights mans creeping separation from Christian ideologies, though with ambiguity. As the line
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...
In his poem, “The Second Coming”, William Yeats demonstrates the idea adversity plays a heavy role in influencing an individual’s identity. “The Second Coming” develops the idea that an individual’s identity will be affected negatively when faced with adversity. In other words, when the speaker realizes that the world around him is in ruins, he beings believe that it cannot be saved. Firstly, due to the first world war, many tragic scenes are witnessed such as the lives of innocent people being lost which causes the speaker to believe that the same event will happen in the future. Secondly, although the speaker possesses a small hope that things will change for the better, he cannot help but envision more terrible images such as vultures waiting
Throughout our lives, symbols and their meaning have had a great influence in our day to day living. Whether it is our country symbolizing itself with a flag or national seal, or our own faith, being symbolized as a cross, or as an angel; in fact religion has many sorts of symbols to tie it to together and for representation. Along with religion having many symbols, the great poet of William Butler Yeats had many symbols in his works and poetry. Throughout his countless poems, Yeats used different symbols to convey his message to his readers. Although from reading several of his works, many of Yeats’ poems revolve around death. In the texts by William Butler Yeats entitled, “When you are Old” “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” “The Wild Swans at Coole” “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium” all have their own sort of symbolism that Yeats uses to convey his message to his readers.
Yeats and Eliot are two chief modernist poet of the English Language. Both were Nobel Laureates. Both were critics of Literature and Culture expressing similar disquietude with Western civilization. Both, prompted by the Russian revolution perhaps, or the violence and horror of the First World War, pictured a Europe that was ailing, that was literally falling apart, devoid of the ontological sense of rational purpose that fuelled post-Enlightenment Europe and America(1). All these similar experience makes their poetry more valuable to compare and to contrast since their thoughts were similar yet one called himself Classicist(Eliot) who wrote objectively and the other considered himself "the last Romantic" because of his subjective writing and his interest in mysticism and the spiritual. For better understanding of these two poets it is necessary to mention some facts and backgrounds on them which influenced them to incorporate similar (to some extent) historical motif in their poetry.
The history of the English Revolution from 1649 to 1660 can be briefly told. Cromwell's shooting of the Levellers at Burford made a restoration of monarchy and lords ultimately inevitable, for the breach of big bourgeoisie and gentry with the popular forces meant that their government could only be maintained either by an army (which in the long ran proved crushingly expensive as well as difficult to control) or by a compromise with the surviving representatives of the old order. But first there were still tasks to be done.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. -Psalm 91: 1-6 ” (Jesus) The Second Coming, written by William Butler Yeats, addresses the concept of the gyre and portrays an approach to a new world order. Yeats expresses his belief of the soon coming end of the
T.S Eliot, widely considered to be one of the fathers of modern poetry, has written many great poems. Among the most well known of these are “The Waste Land, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which share similar messages, but are also quite different. In both poems, Eliot uses various poetic techniques to convey themes of repression, alienation, and a general breakdown in western society. Some of the best techniques to examine are ones such as theme, structure, imagery and language, which all figure prominently in his poetry. These techniques in particular are used by Eliot to both enhance and support the purpose of his poems.