Yeats and Youth

Many of Yeats’s poems in In the Seven Woods concern themselves with transition - from either day to night or from young beauty to age. Images of the moon are frequent and lend themselves to a dreamlike quality. This makes sense in light of Ellmann’s chapter on Yeats’s early life, which speaks of his constant desire to daydream. There is both a sense of decline and cyclical nature embodied in these poems.

‘The Old Men admiring Themselves in the Water’ relates to the way Ellmann describes Yeats’s insecurity with his youth. Probably due to his father’s insistence on education and Yeats feeling that he was just not quite smart enough (failing to have high enough marks for admission into Trinity) may have lead him to equate wisdom with age. In my opinion, the theme and sentiment of this poem is a little tired, however I do find its sound quite beautiful. The way Yeats maintains a subtle rhyme throughout the poem and the repeating sound of ‘waters’ mimics the sound of the drifting water itself.

Ellmann says that Yeats believed that “words are not merely signs of things, but things themselves.” In ‘Old Memory,’ however Yeats seems to speak of the inadequacy of words when he says, “Through the long years of youth, and who would have though it all, and more than it all, would come to naught, and that dear words meant nothing?”
Perhaps Yeats is speaking about the emptiness of words uttered or written in the past because one has become so far removed from them that they do not exist in the same way – only in “old memory.” Or (maybe grasping for straws here) the “her” who is spoken of in the beginning of the poem is Ireland and she is stuck focusing on the past that it leaves her incapacitated in the present.

QUESTIONS:

- Does the content of this collection of Yeats’s poems match up with his ambition? Or do some fall short?
- Is there anything about these poems that is undeniably Yeats? If not, does that matter?

Yeats, Ireland, Identity.

Writing out of a geographic location, race or gender that is defined by its afflictions requires a certain alliance and reference to that suffering identity. It becomes an unavoidable and necessary task for a writer to honor the histories that remain in present minds. Emerging from an Irish tradition Yeats embodies this very idea - “he planned first to soak himself in Irish literature, lore, folkways and history. Next he would write Irish literature.” Brown’s article explains how Yeats had to negotiate his poetry with his sense and his country’s sense of nationalism. Nationalism being intrinsically linked to Irish identity because of a history that is characterized not only by turmoil inflicted by other nations/people but also within itself. In this context Yeats grew to find out what a dangerous responsibility it is to balance one’s poetry and nationalism without stepping on any toes. This is evidenced by Yeats’ waning support from both the Fenians and O’Leary. As Brown states, “a poet who was rather aggressive in asserting his private historical insights, any failure of discernment would have been noted, if only to highlight his areas of clear-sightedness.”

In terms of his early poetry seems to super-impose poetic tradition onto an Irish subject. In the cases of ‘The Ballad of Moll Magee’ and ‘Who goes with Fergus?’ Irish characters are brought to life through the use of regular rhyme and traditional forms – it is not the form that makes these poems Irish, it is the content. One picks up on allusions to Irish history with lines like, “she moves in the firelight pensively apart.” (from ‘To an Isle in the Water) and “or stormy silver fret the gold of day, and midnight there enfold them like a fleece and lover there by lover be at peace. The tale drove his fine angry mood away.” (‘The man who dreamed of Faeryland) What I find compelling about these early poems is the way Yeats deftly intertwines the people he writes about and the landscape. It speaks to the way that the Irish have been uniquely linked to their landscape.


QUESTIONS

- Yeats references folklore in many of these poems – how do they serve as a platform for establishing his own style?
- To what extent is it Yeats’ skill with words or his treatment of Irish history that have brought these poems such recognition?