Literary Analysis: 'Sailing to Byzantium' Poem

Poem Structure and Style

• The poem "Sailing to Byzantium" by W.B. Yeats consists of four eight-line stanzas, metered in iambic pentameter, and rhymed ABABABCC.
• The poem's style is reminiscent of a very old verse form.

Themes and Imagery

• The poem explores the theme of old age and the speaker's desire to transcend the natural world and its decay.
• The speaker sees the natural world as youthful and vibrant, but also primal and neglectful of the old.
• The poem features imagery of nature (birds singing in trees, fish swimming in waters) to contrast with the speaker's feelings of aging and decay.

Byzantium and the Sages

• The speaker wants to leave the natural world and travel to Byzantium, where the sages in the city's famous gold mosaics can become his soul's "singing-masters".
• The speaker hopes the sages will take him away from his bodily form and into an existence outside time, where he can exist in "the artifice of eternity".

The Artificial vs. the Natural

• Yeats's poem expresses a fascination with the artificial as superior to the natural.
• The artificial (the golden bird, the beautiful doll) is seen as perfect and unchanging, while the natural (the world, the human baby, the speaker's body) is prone to ugliness and decay.
• The speaker wants to transform into a golden bird, symbolizing his desire to transcend the natural world and become an artificial, unchanging entity.

Historical Context and Symbolism

• Byzantium, an ancient city, represents a place of spiritual and artistic greatness.
• The poem's use of Byzantium and the sages is symbolic of the speaker's desire for spiritual and artistic transcendence.
• The golden bird and the golden tree are symbols of the artificial and eternal, contrasting with the natural and decaying world.

Comparison to Other Poems

• "Sailing to Byzantium" can be compared to other poems about travel, age, nature, and birds as symbols.
• The poem is often seen as a rebuttal to Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale", which celebrates the beauty of nature and the transience of life.

Yeats's Philosophy and Spirituality

• Yeats was deeply interested in mysticism, mythology, Theosophy, spiritualism, philosophy, and the occult.
• He developed a complex spiritual and philosophical system that emphasized the role of fate and historical determinism.
• Yeats believed that history was determined by fate and that fate revealed its plan in moments of human and divine interaction.

Dive into the world of poetry and analyze the themes and imagery in W.B. Yeats' 'Sailing to Byzantium'. Explore the contrast between youth and age, and the speaker's longing for a world of eternal beauty. Identify the poetic devices and symbolism used to convey the speaker's emotions.