W.B. Yeats Poetry Notes
1. This poem suggests that politics are not important. Does the poet convince you? Write a paragraph in response, with reference to the text.
2. Yeats uses symbols to express some of his most profound ideas. What symbols in this poem appeal to you? Use reference to the text in your response.
3. ‘Yeats is yearning for order, and fearing anarchy.’ Discuss two ways in which the poem illustrates this statement. Support your answer with reference to the text.
1. This is a political poem. What kind of political vision does it convey? Illustrate your answer with reference to the text.
1. The poets view is very interesting, but I think it can be criticized in some aspects, and that’s why I don’t have the totally same opinion as he does.
Of course no one can have more influence on our live, and decide about our future more than mother earth, but politics play a very important role in our daily life too. And I believe that politics can change many different aspects in our world, but of course it can’t change it alone, it needs our help and support to execute the ideas that have been made.
2. Probably there are two main symbols in this poem that impress the reader most.
The first one is the falcon and his falconer. This can be interpreted in many different ways as well. In my opinion, in Yeats sight we are the falcon that keeps flying more, and more away from his falconer. And if the bird flies too far away, soon it cannot be directed anymore. Maybe that is what he meant with his idea of Christianity as well. Jesus is our falconer, but we are constantly flying more and more away from his control, in this case ideals.
The second image afterwards would be the sphinx, the mystical beast that has its roots in Giza. As he says in the text: “A shape with lion body and the head of a man.” For Yeats this creature is the one who will bring us the second coming, the apocalypse, where the world gets sucked in a black whole and will start from its beginning afterwards
2. Yeats uses symbols to express some of his most profound ideas. What symbols in this poem appeal to you? Use reference to the text in your response.
3. ‘Yeats is yearning for order, and fearing anarchy.’ Discuss two ways in which the poem illustrates this statement. Support your answer with reference to the text.
1. This is a political poem. What kind of political vision does it convey? Illustrate your answer with reference to the text.
1. The poets view is very interesting, but I think it can be criticized in some aspects, and that’s why I don’t have the totally same opinion as he does.
Of course no one can have more influence on our live, and decide about our future more than mother earth, but politics play a very important role in our daily life too. And I believe that politics can change many different aspects in our world, but of course it can’t change it alone, it needs our help and support to execute the ideas that have been made.
2. Probably there are two main symbols in this poem that impress the reader most.
The first one is the falcon and his falconer. This can be interpreted in many different ways as well. In my opinion, in Yeats sight we are the falcon that keeps flying more, and more away from his falconer. And if the bird flies too far away, soon it cannot be directed anymore. Maybe that is what he meant with his idea of Christianity as well. Jesus is our falconer, but we are constantly flying more and more away from his control, in this case ideals.
The second image afterwards would be the sphinx, the mystical beast that has its roots in Giza. As he says in the text: “A shape with lion body and the head of a man.” For Yeats this creature is the one who will bring us the second coming, the apocalypse, where the world gets sucked in a black whole and will start from its beginning afterwards