William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats’ verse has been described as “…an exacting instrument and national inquiry” (1113). In fact, it was his critical eye that separated him from other Irish poets of his era; their poetry was “sentimental, self-indulgent luxury” (1113). Yeats’ insights might have come from the fact that he did not gloss over painful subjects; he wrote about them. He had a miserable childhood, and many years of unrequited love, but these experiences only seem to have made him stronger and more perceptive. He was wise beyond his years. For instance, although William Butler Yeats did not pass away until 1939, he started thinking about it well before then. Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium”, written in 1926, is a meditation on aging, dying, and the afterlife.

The poem begins by lamenting the place of an old man in society and the human life cycle. The old man, it seems, is destined to be a wanderer. He has no home, as “There is no country for old men…” (line 1, 1124). He is homeless because he has already procreated and therefore cannot fit in with the young lovers and their children. The younger people are “In one another’s arms, birds in the trees/-Those dying generations-at their song” (lines 2-3, 1124). They are masses of biological clocks going off, consumed with the urgency of their desire. They are blind to the fact that death awaits them at the end of their lives; they are instinctive and animalistic. As such, Yeats’ compares the young lovers with animals during mating season, “The salmon falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, /Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long” (lines 4-5). The old man, however, is no longer driven by a desire to reproduce. He cannot join the throngs of young lovers. He is no longer “caught in that sensual music…” (line 7, 1124). Yet he has a clarity of perception that these rash lovers lack. He knows that life is short and nothing lasts forever, “Whatever is begotten, born, and dies” (line 6, 1125). In other words, after they make babies the young lovers, like the salmon, will dwindle away.

The second stanza highlights the occupation and worth of an old man. Yeats seems to feel that an old man who has not learned from his mistakes is worthless, a “…paltry thing, /A tattered coat upon a stick…” (lines 9-10, 1125). He is not even human, just a stick. An old man’s purpose is to “Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing/For every tatter in its mortal dress” (lines 11-12, 1125). The old man is supposed to give advice so others do not repeat his same mistakes. He should be a repository of wisdom. However, there is no one who can teach the old man this wisdom if he has not already gained it. This self-reflection can only by done by the old man himself, “Nor is there singing school but studying/Monuments of its own magnificence” (lines 13-14, 1125). This magnificence, it seems, can be both personal and historical. The old man could be reflecting upon his own history or ancient history or both. Still, his homeless condition makes him a traveler, so he has many opportunities both for reflection and to visit historical sites. The old man notes, “And therefore I have sailed the seas and come/to the holy city of Byzantium” (lines 15-16, 1125).

The third stanza is about the struggle of dying. In the holy city of Byzantium, the old man becomes aware of a conflict between his body and his soul. His soul is “…fastened to a dying animal” (line 22, 1125). He is intensely aware of the decay of both his body and his mind. This dying animal “...knows not what it is…” (line 23, 1125). He has lost a sense of self; he does not know what he is, yet alone who he is. Perhaps the old man is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, losing a grip on reality. In advanced stages, Alzheimer’s patients may not know their own names or ages. They even lose the ability to manage their bodily functions or speak clearly. Alzheimer’s disease is ultimately terminal, so it might be an appropriate diagnosis for this old man given his age, failing mental and bodily capabilities, and that this stanza is about death. In any case, the old man prays to the gods to hasten his death, “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” (lines 17-20, 1125). The fact that he wants the sages to be “singing-masters” of his soul indicates that the old man wants his confusion to end. He wants to be sure of himself again. More than that, he realizes that a part of him, his soul, is immortal, and wishes to separate that part of himself from his feeble mortal body. He asks the sages to “…gather me/Into the artifice of eternity” (lines 23-24, 1125).

The final stanza centers upon the old man’s wishes in the afterlife. Having been freed from his human body, the old man’s soul comments that it “…shall never take/My bodily form from any natural thing” (lines 25-26, 1125). No bodily form is sufficient for this immortal soul. Instead, he seeks a form that rivals the grandeur of Byzantium. The soul describes its ideal form, “But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make/of hammered gold and gold enameling/To keep a drowsy Emperor awake-” (lines 27-29,1125). In line with his Christian upbringing, Yeats seems to view the spirit as immortal, and a clean soul as a beautiful thing. Only once it is clean is it equal to all the hammered gold and gold enameling. The soul then presumably just glorifies God, the Emperor. The soul could also have another occupation, however. This other option is described, “Or set upon a golden bough to sing/To lords and ladies of Byzantium/Of what is past, or passing, or to come” (lines 30-32, 1125). The soul evidently is sent back to earth to fulfill some mission, almost like an angel of some kind. I tried to make sense of these last few lines in terms of Christian theology, since Yeats was brought up a Protestant, but to no real coherency. Though Christian theology does contain a belief in angels, angels are considered pure spirits, and distinct from human souls. Anyhow, Yeats was not strictly a theologian, and he is certainly entitled to his own ideas about the afterlife.

The fact that Yeats was able to write so clearly about aging, dying, and the afterlife, well before his own demise shows the perceptivity that made his poetry so famous. He does not make getting older seem any easier than it really is; his descriptions of the sense of isolation and the difficulty of wisdom are really quite astute. Not all the elderly get to be surrounded by their families, nor are all of them wise. Neither is Yeats sentimental about death; there is no rapture, only a longing for body and soul to be separated. As to the afterlife, well, we all can dream.