WORD NOTES AND ANNOTATIONS
Stanza I: That is no country for old men-That country is Ireland.The line implies that Ireland is not suitable for the old man.The speaker, an old man, says
he does not feel welcome in the land of the young. This is a reference both to ancient Byzantium and post
1922 Free State Ireland. The mention of old men provides our first example of
Yeats' preoccupation with old age. Yeats
himself was in his 60's when he wrote the poem, so the concerns of old age
weren't far removed from him.In the broad sense that country symbolises any
country which is full of sensual pleasure. The young In one another’s arms-The
young men and women indulge themselves in amorous play and pleasure.It's a land
of youth where all the attention is placed on young lovers and on the animals,
birds, and fish that live exuberantly and then die without any sort of
advancement.Dying generations-generations
suceptible to the ravages of time.'generations' conveys the idea of the
reproductive process and sexual gratification both among men and birds.'Dying
generations' applies to men indulging in love and love making.It also applies
to the birds.The salmon-falls-waterfalls;waterfalls replete with shoals
of Salmon(a variety of fish). The mackerel-crowded seas- mackerel is a
kind of fish.The sea is full of these fishes. Fish, flesh, or fowl-a
fish stands for anything that lives in water,acquatic world.flesh alludes to
human beings and fowl means bird.Commend- recommend .Whatever is
begotten-begotten means to give birth.Caught in that sensual music-sensual
pleasure;that which pertains to the bodily gratification.The
speaker thinks the living are caught in the sensual world.The country that the speaker is in does not suit the old. It is full of
bounty, with fish in the water and birds in the trees. The young and
reproductive are caught in the earthly cycle of life and death. Monuments of
unaging intellect-immortal product of the intellect and spirit as
contrasted with dying generations.It also means works of art having towering
dimention.Actually the dying generations
are so much involved in sensual world that they do not heed ageless
intelligence. The young neglect the monuments simply because they are blinded
by their hormones, life, and the pursuit of being young. Yeats is saying that
just because they are old doesn't mean that they have lost their minds; they
still have worth.
Stanza II: An aged man is but a paltry thing-An aged man is insignificant to others.A tattered
coat upon a stick-the expression presents the image of a scarce Actually
"tattered coat" refers to the poet's own physical existence and his
aging body.His body hangs upon his soul is like a tattered coat hanging upon a
stick.It reveals Yeats's frustration with old age. Unless Soul clap its
hands and sing-the soul is thrilled with joy;Yeats thinks that unless the soul is capable of singing more
joyously,an aged man is very insignificant.Without the soul being able to sing in this way, an aged man
is like a tattered coat upon a stick.louder sing/ For every tatter in its
mortal dress-in this state of robust joy the soul has to sing louder with
every tatter in its mortal dress.In other words,the newly learnt song of the
soul has to become louder and louder as the physical powers of the old man go
from bad to worse.Nor is there singing school but studying/ Monuments of its
own magnificence-The best music for the soul of an aged man is the study
and appreciation of the most precious moment of
"imaging intellect".The soul of an aged man must seek that
which is neglected by youths.And therefore I have sailed the seas and
come/To the holy city of Byzantium-That is why the poet has crossed the
oceans and arrived in the holy city of Byzantium.All passion must be left behind and in Byzantium,soul is free to study
the emblems of unchanging or eternal works of art.Yeats idealizes Byzantium as
the only place where art and man are one. It is the only place that has been
able to impartially represent history. In Byzantium, art and monuments are not
influenced by anything other than their subject.
Stanza III: sages-great artist in history. God’s holy
fire-the fire is holy as it has the power of purification.The fire of the
Eternal artificer(artist) which purifies as well as moulds into artistic
shapes.This view is very similar to Rabindranath Tagore:
Aguner Parashmoni Choyao prane
E jibon Punnyo karo....
mosaic of a wall- represents the artistic pattern of the wall. The poet appeals to the
sages who stand in God's holy fire and who have been purged of the last last
remnant of sensuality.These sages look like the figures as in the gold mosaic
of a wall. As early as 1907 Yeats had visited the Romanesque church
of S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy, and seen the "sages", the
saints and apostles on the mosaic-clad walls of the basilica. Yeats had revisited Ravenna in November
1924. He was clearly inspired by the Byzantine
mosaics at Monreale and the Capella Palatina at
Palermo (Jeffares A New 211). The art of this period continues to
inspire him and provide him with material for his poetry. perne in a gyre-rotating in a rapid whirling movement.The expression suggests that the
poet's prayer that the sages descend upon him by a cyclic swoping motion
as that of hawk descending upon an
object of desire. be the singing-masters of my soul- the saints should
teach him the art of singing by entering his heart and filling it with the
pleasure of the music of the sphere.Consume my heart away-the poet prays
to the saints to purify his heart of sensual craving since the poet's body has
grown weak and is unable to indulge physically in sensual enjoyment.sick with
desire-fraught with longing or full with longing. dying animal-the
poet who is now weak and is not capable of indulging in sensual gratification.It-the
poet's heart. artifice of eternity- immortal products of art.The word
'artifice' implies art or anything made after prolonged meditation with great
craftsmanship.Here the poet believed that art is eternal where life and
sensuality are temporal.
Stanza IV : Out of nature- dead; Bodily
form- earthly body. Natural thing- any living creature(the theory of
transmigration of soul is hinted at).Once out of nature I shall never
take/My bodily form from any natural thing- Once he has renounced his
earthly body,he would not like to be re-born in the same or any earthly
form.All living beings are subjected to death and decay,so he will reject all
physical incantation.Gold enamelling-gold coating. Bough- branch.
In the final stanza
he begins by declaring that in this world of art, he would not take on the form
of any natural thing, which like the images of the opening stanza, would be
susceptible to the ravages of time, decay and death. Instead he would take the
form of a golden bird - an image based on golden birds that adorned trees in
the palace of the Byzantine emperor. Yeats has finally broken with the sensual
mortal world, he has rejected life as we know it, in favour of an intellectual
permanence produced by a work of art.But such a
form as Grecian goldsmiths .........passing, or to come-He would take the shape of a golden bird,the kind of bird
which Grecian goldsmiths are believed to have designed for the sake of an
Emperor's pleasure.As a golden bird,a piece of art,he would be beyond the reach
of mortality.As a golden bird,he will be placed on a golden bough and he will
appear to be singing songs of all time-past,present and future.His songs will
delight the lords and ladies of Byzantium. To become a mechanical bird, alludes to the
Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. Theophilus, according to legend, had just such
mechanical birds. It is thus the poet’s wish to be granted a body immune to
death and to sing forever.
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