Comment on Yeats’ Use of Symbols
The Lake Isle of Innisfree 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 Lake Isle of Innisfree.
Answer
Write a note on the symbols used by Yeats with references to the poem you have read.”
Or Critically Comment on Yeats’ Use of Symbols.
W. B. Yeats has been described as a symbolist.
One of the most significant poets of 20th-century literature is W. B. Yeats (1835-1939). The idea of the symbol is prominent in understanding his poems. The French Symbolists influenced him, and he is also considered the most significant symbolist poet of the twentieth century.
Symbolism: A word has two meanings: “original and targeted”. Symbolism is the study of the targeted meaning of the words. For example, white is a colour that symbolically indicates purity; likewise, the dove is a bird but symbolizes peace.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “symbol is a sign, shape or object that is used to represent something else which means to represent a quality or idea”. The wheel in the Indian flag is a symbol of peace.
Purpose of Yeats’ Symbols in his Poetry: W. B. Yeats wrote an essay, “The Symbolism of Poetry,” published in 1900, in which he recounted the function of symbols in his poetry: “evocation and suggestion”. In the poem “Upon a Dying Lady,” Yeats himself says that he does not speak but only uses symbols that make the poem unique.
Prospects of Symbols in Yeats’ Poetry: Yeats’ poetry is full of symbols, and he is a symbolist from the artistic sense of the words, that’s why his symbols have multiple aspects or prospects.
The Aspect of the Total Mood: The symbol in Yeats’ poems serves as an aspect of total mood that conveys his symbols’ intellectual and emotional qualities. Because of the symbols’ total mood, he has repeatedly returned to specific images and symbols such as the stone, bird, tree, wind, sea, colours, etc. Besides, the title of Yeats’s poems is symbolic and allusive, too. “Easter 1916” and “The Second Coming” of the collection of poetry “Michael Robartes and the Dancer” are such poems.
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
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