The Circle Animal Desertion : Key info
The Circle Animal Desertion is a notable literary work by William Butler Yeats. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of The Circle Animal Desertion.
Key info
Key Facts
- Poet: William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
- Original Title: The Circus Animals’ Desertion
- Written Time: 1937–1938 (in the final years of Yeats’s life)
- First Published: 1939, posthumously in Last Poems and Two Plays
- Form: Autobiographical Lyric Poem (divided into three sections)
- Genre: Philosophical, Symbolic, and Self-reflective Poetry
- Tone: Confessional, Reflective, Regretful, and Meditative
- Rhyme Scheme: Irregular, with occasional alternate rhyme patterns
- Meter: Mostly Iambic Pentameter (but flexible and conversational in rhythm)
- Point of View: First Person (Yeats himself reflects as an old poet)
- Summary in a Line: An aging Yeats laments his lost inspiration. He reviews his past works and realizes that true art begins and ends in the humble emotions of the human heart.
- Total Lines: 40
- Total Sections: 3 (Part I – The loss of inspiration, Part II – Revisiting old themes, Part III – Return to the heart)
- Setting:
- Time Setting: Late 1930s – the twilight of Yeats’s life and creativity.
- Place Setting: Symbolic and inner landscape. The poet’s mind and heart; the “circus” represents his imagination, and the “rag and bone shop of the heart” represents the raw origin of art.