Written Assignment: 20 Cen Lit - 2

  1. Critically appreciate the poem ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ ?

Ans :-

William Butler Yeats  (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) :-

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms.Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Irishman so honoured for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929). Yeats was a very good friend of Indian Bengali poet Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Yeats was born and educated in Dublin, but spent his childhood in County Sligo.He studied poetry in his youth and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which asted roughly until the turn of the 20th century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889 and those slow-paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.

In December 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was determined to make the most of the occasion. He was aware of the symbolic value of an Irish winner so soon after Ireland had gained independence, and sought to highlight the fact at each available opportunity. His reply to many of the letters of congratulations sent to him contained the words: "I consider that this honour has come to me less as an individual than as a representative of Irish literature, it is part of Europe's welcome to the Free State." Yeats used the occasion of his acceptance lecture at the Royal Academy of Sweden to present himself as a standard-bearer of Irish nationalism and Irish cultural independence. As he remarked, "The theatres of Dublin were empty buildings hired by the English travelling companies, and we wanted Irish plays and Irish players. When we thought of these plays we thought of everything that was romantic and poetical, because the nationalism we had called up—the nationalism every generation had called up in moments of discouragement—was romantic andpoetical." The prize led to a significant increase in the sales of his books, as his publishers Macmillan sought to capitalise on the publicity. For the first time he had money, and he was able to repay not only his own debts, but those of his father.

By early 1925, Yeats' health had stabilised, and he had completed most of the writing for "A Vision" (dated 1925, it actually appeared in January 1926, when he almost immediately started rewriting it for a second version). He had been appointed to the first Irish Senate in 1922, and was re-appointed for a second term in 1925. Early in his tenure, a debate on divorce arose, and Yeats viewed the issue as primarily a confrontation between the emerging Roman Catholic ethos and the Protestant minority. When the Roman Catholic Church weighed in with a blanket refusal to consider their anti position, the Irish Times countered that a measure to outlaw divorce would alienate Protestants and "crystallise" the partition of Northern Ireland.

His language became more forceful; the Jesuit Father Peter Finlay was described by Yeats as a man of "monstrous discourtesy", and he lamented that, "It is one of the glories of the Church in which I was born that we have put our Bishops in their place in discussions requiring legislation". During his time in the Senate, Yeats further warned his colleagues: "If you show that this country, southern Ireland, is going to be governed by Roman Catholic ideas and by Catholic ideas alone, you will never get the North ... You will put a wedge in the midst of this nation". He memorably said of his fellow Irish Protestants, "we are no petty people".

He died at the Hôtel Idéal Séjour, in Menton, France, on 28 January 1939. He was buried after a discreet and private funeral at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Yeats and George had often discussed his death, and his express wish was that he be buried quickly in France with a minimum of fuss. According to George, "His actual words were 'If I die bury me up there [at Roquebrune] and then in a year's time when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and plant me in Sligo'." In September 1948, Yeats' body was moved to Drumcliffe, County Sligo, on the Irish Naval Service corvette LÉ Macha. Interestingly, the person in charge of this operation for the Irish Government was Sean MacBride, son of Maud Gonne MacBride, and then Minister of External Affairs. His epitaph is taken from the last lines of "Under Ben Bulben", one of his final poems:

Cast a cold Eye

On Life, on Death.

Horseman, pass by!

Attempts had been made at Roquebrune to dissuade the family from proceeding with the removal of the remains to Ireland due to the uncertainty of their identity. His body had earlier been exhumed and transferred to the ossuary.

In memory of W.B. Yeats:-

Friends often share stories or poems of loved one at their funeral. This helps to ease their pain and can also express accomplishments of the deceased. When W.B. Yeats passed away, one of his contemporaries, W.H. Auden, wrote a poem in memory of him. Auden?s poem entitled In Memory of W.B. Yeats, presents the life of Yeats from Auden?s perspective in three different sections. Using literary techniques such as diction, varied meter and rhyme, alliteration, and personification, Auden comments on poetry and its ability to outlive its author.
Each of the three sections of this poem is different. The first section is composed of five stanzas each containing six lines. This mainly touches on the death of Yeats and contains neither meter nor rhyme. The second section is one stanza composed of ten lines and is a transitional section showing the human aspect of Yeats. It is written in iambic hexameter with a rhyme scheme of abbaccdeed. The last section is made up of nine stanzas each only four lines long. It is written mostly in iambic meter, although each line contains seven syllables due the amphimacers at the beginning of the line. This section touches on the nature of poetry and its impact and its rhyme scheme is aabbcc etc.
In the first stanza Auden immediately begins throwing words at his readers which imply decay and death such as, ?disappeared? and ?dead of winter?. The natural surroundings reflect Yeats death as the ?brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,/And snow disfigured the public statues?. Auden uses personification and alliteration in his description stating that ?The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day?. The last two lines contain alliteration and are repeated again at the end of this section: ?What instruments we have agree/ The day of his death was a dark cold day?. Auden again describes nature in his second stanza, except this time he is portraying how nature pays no attention to Yeats? death. ?The wolves ran on?? despite his death and ?The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays.? Auden utilizes pathetic fallacy in that last line giving emotions to the river. The final line, ?The death of the poet was kept from his poems?, also illustrates how life keeps going on after Yeats dies.
During the third stanza Auden focuses more on the actual passing of Yeats. He uses geographical diction to describe his Yeats? death: ?The provinces of his body..?, ?The squares of his mind??, and ?Silence invaded the suburbs?. Auden also personified silence in that last line. Auden employs alliteration as well, ?The current of his feeling failed?. Yeats ?became his admirers?, living on in their memory. The fourth section discusses what will become of Yeats. His works are ?scattered among a hundred cities?. He finds ?his happiness in another kind of wood?, a bookcase as opposed to the forest. Yeats survives ?in the guts of the living?. The last stanza pays attention to the future making an allusion to the ?Bourse?, the French stock exchange, and juxtaposing that with ?the poor?. However they will all go about their daily lives ?each in the cell of himself?. The significance of his poetry will become mitigated because only ?a few thousand will think of this day?The day of his death?? Auden repeats the last two lines from the first stanza, which alters the number of lines from six to eight.
second section comments on what Yeats had to deal with during his lifetime, and how his ?gift survived it all?. Auden gives us examples of what he overcame, ?The parish of rich women, physical decay,/Yourself?. Auden suggests that the conflict between Ireland and England ?hurt [Yeats] into poetry?. Employing inverted syntax Auden states that ?Ireland has her madness and her weather still? because Yeats? poetry did not affect it. Poetry ?survives? because it is an art form and it can stand alone with its integrity. It ?flows?From ranches of isolation? , a clich? that we are all isolated from each other, and from ?busy griefs? which are our everyday burdens. The rhyme has shifted from nonexistent in the first section, to near rhyme in this section, and perfects itself to end rhyme in the last section.
 
final section comments on the nature of poetry and begins with the death of Yeats. Using personification and apostrophe Auden makes a request, ?Earth, receive an honoured guest?, which refers to the physical body of Yeats. Auden also personifies time mentioning that it is ?intolerant of the brave and innocent,/ And indifferent?To a beautiful physique?. This is the universal truth that the average person is forgotten in time. However on the other hand time will ?worship language? because words can never die. It ?forgives/Everyone by whom it lives?. Auden is stating that time will ?forgive? an author if they write words that are great.
In the fifth stanza of this section Auden shifts his focus to the present time and the events taking place around him. He is writing this poem during the dawn of World War II and illustrating how ?All the dogs of Europe bark,/ And the living nations wait,/ Each sequestered in its hate?. Auden comments on the stupidity of war claiming that ?Intellectual disgrace,/ Stares from every human face?. Next Auden instructs the poet in an apostrophe to ?follow right? and ?with your unconstraining voice,/Still persuade us to rejoice?. Alluding to the biblical story of creation Auden entreats poets to, ?Make a vineyard of the curse [and]?let the healing fountains start?. In Auden?s last two lines he juxtaposes ?prison? and ?free? petitioning the poet to ?Teach the free man how to praise?. That last line sums up the poem to make an excellent epitaph for William Butler Yeats.
Auden breaks down his poem into three sections, each addressing different topics, but all conecting back to Yeats. These sections can also be look upon as stages in Yeats life. The first section represents his early years as a poet emphasized by the lack of meter and rhyme. Both of which also contribute to the sobering mood of Yeats? death. The second section acts as a transition in the poem and can also stand for a transition in Yeats? life which perhaps he accomplished by overcoming the obstacles described. The last section of Auden?s poem is written with flowing rhyme scheme and meter and suggests a time in Yeats life where he reached the pinnacle of his art. This is also the section where Auden described the benefit of words not only to the author, but to society as well and shows the triumphant end to Yeats? life.

Critical Analysis :-

The poem In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden is divided into three sections of varying lengths which form separate poetic units within the poem. The relationship among these units is not very close and organic, as each section is based on somewhat independent strains of thought.

The poem, as its title indicates, is an elegy written to mourn the death of W.B. Yeats, but it is different from the conventional elegy. Traditionally, in an elegy all nature is represented as mourning the death, here nature is represented as going on its course indifferent and unaffected. The great poet’s death goes unnoticed both by man and nature: human life goes on as usual, and so does nature. Secondly, in the traditional elegy the dead is glorified and his death is said to be a great loss for mankind at large. But Auden does not glorify Yeats. He goes to the extent of calling him ‘silly’ and further that his poetry could make nothing happen. “Ireland has her madness and her weather still.” Thus, Auden reverses the traditional elegiac values and treats them ironically. Although, apparently the poem is an elegy, Auden reverses and departs from the known traditions of elegy. He does not idealize Yeats as a poet or sentimentalize his fate. He proceeds to embody certain general reflections on the art of a poet and the place of poetry in the flux of events, which constitute human history. So the death of Yeats remains at the focus of the poem only to support the peripheral reflections in the poem. Section I of the poem describes, in the dramatic setting, the death of Yeats. Yeats died on a day when it was bitter cold, brooks were frozen and airports were deserted. Auden looks upon the death of Yeats as an ordinary occurrence. His death did not affect the order of things. And here Auden introduces an idea which is central to the theme of the poem; a poet’s work ultimately becomes independent of him because he had no control over the interpretation which posterity will give it. He becomes what his readers make him. Section II introduces another strand of thought. Here, Auden’s expression becomes changed with psychological overtones. From the description of the mere physical death of Yeats, Auden proceeds to examine the psychological implications of the work of a poet and assesses the worth of poetry in terms of modern psychology. Despite the great poetry of Yeats, Ireland had remained the same. Poetry fails to produce any revolutions or to make changes in society. What lives after a poet in his style; his manner of saying rather than the subject or the content of his poetry. And this style, manner and language of the poet come to dwell in the subliminal depth of the human psyche, ‘where executives would never want to temper’ it. The uniqueness of poetry lies in the manner in which it objectifies the human condition. In section-III, the poet universalizes the tragedy of Yeats by relating it to the wider theme of the artist in society. Time, which is indifferent to the faults of character or physical charm ‘worships language’. Time does not care for what the poet said but for something about the way he said it. The language of a poet redeems his views and oddity of character. The second half of section- III deals with the imminence of world war-II. The time of Yeats’ death was a terrible one. “It was a time of ‘intellectual disgrace’ sans pity and compassion. Auden begins this ode with an archetypal image cluster that links winter and death. The setting is desolate and filled with winter, death and negative words, which often are linked by alliteration of d sounds. Alliterating negative words and phrase include: ‘disappeared’ and ‘dad’ (line1), ‘deserted’ (line 2), ‘disfigured’ (line3), ‘dying day’ (line 4), and ‘day’, ‘death’ (line 6). This repetition creates a powerful scene of desolation in which the world’s deadliest time seems to mirror the poet Yeats’ death. In an extended form of personification, the wintering earth itself seems to mourn the loss of the poet. In addition, Auden makes good use of other extended metaphors by establishing a different central metaphor for almost each stanza in part 1. He compares death to an invading army that takes over Yeats’ whole being in stanza 4. The ‘invasion’ is preceded by ‘rumors then ‘revolt’ in the provinces of his body; then the ‘squares of his mind’ are emptied, silence pervades the ‘suburbs’ of his existence, and the lights go out when the ‘current of his feeling failed.’ Auden uses a cluster of geographic terms (provinces, squares and suburbs) to illustrate the personal world of Yeats being shut down. These linked geographical comparisons metaphorically make Yeats a whole country into himself, which magnifies the gravity of the loss. Auden also uses individual metaphors with great cleverness. One example is his use of ‘mouth’ at the end of part 2 to talk about poetry and the poet simultaneously. Poetry is a ‘mouth’ in that it metaphorically speaks to the reader. Since the ‘mouth’ is also the organ of speech, the word is used as a form of metonymy to refer to the poet himself. Like a mouth, poetry is an open potential from which words can issue. Mouths, like poems, are eternal features of humankind – one, the mouth, is a permanent physical feature, while the other, the poem, is an imaginative creation that endures beyond the poet’s death. Auden shows considerable ingenuity in employing blank verse, iambic lines of unequal length, half rhymes and feminine endings. The seven syllable lines of the last section seem by contrast to move formally, like a funeral march, with a balance in each line between two major and two minor stresses the rise and fall of the slow-marching soldiers (feat): and with formal movement, the grand last section makes a formal statement. The form of odd is traditionally reserved for important and serious subjects and is written in an elevated style, so Auden gave Yeats great value and dignity by using the genre.

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                               Works Cited

1.              Baldwin, Emma. "In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W. H. Auden". <em>Poem Analysis</em>, <a id="site_link" href="https://poemanalysis.com/w-h-auden/in-memory-of-wb-yeats/"> https://poemanalysis.com/w-h-auden/in-memory-of-wb-yeats/</a>. Accessed 5 June 2021.

2.              Osborne, Kristen. Kissel, Adam ed. "W. H. Auden: Poems “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” Summary and Analysis". GradeSaver, 9 March 2014 Web. 13 June 2021.

3.              Sharma, Kedar N. "In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden: Critical Analysis." BachelorandMaster, 19 Nov. 2013, bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/in-memory-of-yeats.html.