Sailing To Byzantium


I

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
--- Those dying generations--- at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect

II

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificance;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.*

IV

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling*
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.**



William Butler Yeats


I

The first stanza deals with nature and instinct. Ireland is a country in which all are given to sensual pleasure and art and philosophy, "Monument of unageing intellect" are neglected.
That : Ireland, or the ordinary sensual world.
Dying generations : Signifies the reproductive process and sexual gratifications.
Begotten : Whatever is sexually concieved and given birth to.
Monuments of unageing intellect:They do not pay attention to works of art and literature.
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II

The second stanza deals with art and soul. An old man is contemptable, unless his soul can enjoy works of art and literature, which are the imortal products of the human spirit the weaker a man grows in body, the greater should be his joy in the works of art, This joy, this sing and dance, this artistic pleasure, can be learnt only by studying imortal works of art.
An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless : An old man is contemptable and helpless as a scarecrow.
For every tatter in its immortal dress: The more the tatters, the louder song.
Magnificance : Great works of art.
Byzantium : Ancient eastern capital of the Holy Roman Empire; here symbolically a holy city of the imagination.
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III

The third stanza presents that poet wishes to be a part of the imortal products of art.
The poet visualizes the great artist in history standing like mosaic figures in holy fire in heaven, he praised them to come down from that holy fire moving rapidly with a circular spining motion and to teach his soul with artistic pleasure ( to teach him how to write poetry)
Perne in a gyre : Spin in spiralling or cone-shaped flight.
Artifice : that which art product.
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IV

The forth stanza deals with the idea of transmigration(The migration of the soul into a different body.)
Once out of nature : Once the poet is dead; that is, his soul is out of his physical self.
Natural thing : Living creature
*But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make, Of hammered gold and gold enamelling : Rather, he would like to be a golden bird, a perfect work of art such as was made by a goldsmiths of anicent Greek out of hammered gold or gold enamelling.
**To keep a drowsy Emperor awake; Or set upon a golden bough to sing, To lords and ladies of Byzantium ,Of what is past, or passing, or to come : He would like to be a golden nigntangle sitting on a golden bough and to sing to Lords and Ladies of Byzantium of what is past, or passing , or to come.



Theme

Yeats wrote sailing to Byzantium in order to emphasis beauties of art.



Allegory

Allegory of this poem sailing to Byzantium is an allegory for the turning away from the body and nature to the soul and art. And, just as the first stanza conveys a rich sense of the fecundity if nature, so the second stanza communicates on enormous intellectual excitment, as in the vivid images of the old man as a scarecrow and the soul clapping each hands and singing.



Paradox

The poet wishes to be out of nature(dead), imaging himself as an artifical bird, yet paradoxically the subject of the golden bird's song is time and the natural process.



Apostrophe

O sages standing in God's holy fire



Personification

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.



Metaphors

That is no country(Geographic metaphor) for old men. The young
An aged man is but paltry thing : A poet compare himself to the scarecrow.
An fastened to a dying animal : A poet compare himself to a dead animal.



Simile

As in the gold mosaic of a wall, : Sages ===> gold mosaic ===> as in the gold mosaic of a wall.



Symbols

  1. The title of the poem symbolises :
    1. The mental orientation
    2. Psychological change from mentality which valuse the pleasure of sexuality.
    3. Utopia
  2. Country is the symbol of youth.
  3. The young in one another's arms is the symbol of the crowded, but, intense world of sexuality and sensuality.
  4. Birds in the trees is the symbol of the kind of mindless celebration of nature process.
  5. "Five" is the symbol of purification.


Imagery

  1. Bird (in 4th stanza) : the recurrent bird image emphasis the contarst between the various "world" presented in the poem: The world of youung full of sensual music, the plight of the old men(The poet) on the internal realm of Byzantium.
  2. Birds in the trees use to epitomize the sensuality and mutability of the natural world.
  3. A tattered coat up on a stick is visual image.
  4. Sensual music: The bird's song celebrates sensuality in which they participant.


Commentary

The poet is growing old, and he finds that the country, Ireland, where he lives at present, is not suited to an old man. It is a country in which all living creatures, young and in the fullness of their power are given to sensual and sexual pleasures. Reproductive activity goes on every where birds, fish, all alike indulge in it. It is a sensual world and engrossed in sensuality nobody cares for "monument of unageing intellect" that is works of art and literature which are the products of mind and the spirit, and hence, immortal.
Old age is a time of the physical decay and decline when a man no longer in capacity for physical enjoyment he becomes as worthless and helpless as a scarecrow. He is the comtemptible figure, a mere "tattered coat upon a stick", unless he devotes himself to the study and enjoyment of art. The older he grows, the greater should be his devotion to art. Appreciation and understanding of art can be achieved only by studying magnificant and immortal works of art. Since Byzantium is the traditional home of art the poet has decided to go there to devote himself to the study of its rich treasure. The poet has called Byzantium 'holy' for it is devoted to spiritual and intellectual activity, and not to the 'unholy' (the physical and the sensuous).
Therefore the poet sails for Byzantium and as soon as he reaches there, he praised, not to God, but to God's saints to come down from heaven and teach him the appreciation of art. The 'Sages' are great artists of Byzantium how created in the past. The poet invokes them to come down with a rapid moment and to teach him how to enjoy the beauty of art. They(saints) should purify his heart of all physical passion and desires, for his old like a dying animal, in capable of any physical enjoyment. The poet does not understand his own longing, his own self. He is sick of life, meaningless and devoid of all useful activity. Physical death means life of spirit and it is for this eternity that the poet longs. Once the poet is "out of nature" that is dead physically, he will not enter the body of any other living creature instead, he will like to become a golden bird a perfect work of art. Such as was shaped by the great artists of Byzantium. Such birds were set on golden boughs and they sang of the past, the present and the future to keep awake the drowsy emperor of the lords and ladies of his court. In short, the poet praised to the saints to grant him and eternity, such as is enjoyed by the art of Byzantium.

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