Category Archives: yeats

Yeats, “The Cold Heaven”

The Cold Heaven (from poetryfoundation.org – h/t Ario) William Butler Yeats Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice, And thereupon imagination and heart were driven So wild that every casual thought of that and this Vanished, and left but memories, that should …

September 11, 2010 – 1:14 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Comments (0)

On Yeats’ “Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors”

Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors William Butler Yeats What they undertook to do They brought to pass; All things hang like a drop of dew Upon a blade of grass. Comment: The difference between “bring” and “take” that too many teachers have mentioned too many times opens the first half of the poem. The undertaking …

April 24, 2009 – 11:46 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Comments (6)

Reasonable Violence: A Reading of Yeats’ “The Second Coming”

The Second Coming William Butler Yeats Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are …

January 31, 2009 – 6:42 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Comments (8)

Birth of a Nation: On Yeats’ Easter 1916

For my students. In my arrogance, I will assert them to be the makers of the coming peace: nothing more, and certainly nothing less. Easter, 1916 William Butler Yeats I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. I have passed with a nod …

January 15, 2008 – 7:40 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, yeats | Tagged | Comments (2)

In Exile: On Yeats’ "Sailing To Byzantium"

I owe two people whose names I don’t know fully for their comments and thoughts on this poem – without them, this commentary might have been even more cryptic and misleading. Sailing to Byzantium W.B. Yeats I That is no country for old men. The young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees – …

September 8, 2007 – 8:47 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

Humanity Caught Up: On Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan”

Leda and the Swan William Butler Yeats A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By his dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? How …

August 22, 2007 – 8:01 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Tagged , | Comments (1)

War and Peace: On Yeats’ "When Helen Lived"

Originally posted on WritingUp over a year ago. I don’t know if that site will ever be back up again, so I’m going to start transferring the entries I have saved here for good now: When Helen Lived W.B. Yeats We have cried in our despair That men desert, For some trivial affair Or noisy, …

May 29, 2007 – 9:53 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

The Spirit of A Nation: A Brief Comment on Yeats’ "Easter 1916"

for Rachael, with thanks. Too long a sacrificeCan make a stone of the heart.O when may it suffice?That is Heaven’s part, our partTo murmur name upon name,As a mother names her childWhen sleep at last has comeOn limbs that had run wild.What is it but nightfall?No, no, not night but death;Was it needless death after …

April 24, 2007 – 10:52 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, politics, yeats | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Imaginary Life: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," W.B. Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree W.B. Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, …

January 2, 2007 – 12:38 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

On Yeats’ "The Choice:" Is there a purely intellectual life?

The Choice W.B. Yeats The intellect of man is forced to choose Perfection of the life, or of the work, And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark. When all that story’s finished, what’s the news? In luck or out the toil has left its mark: That old …

August 5, 2006 – 12:42 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry, yeats | Tagged , , | Comments (6)