William Butler Yeats Essay -- essays research papers

On June 13 1865 William pantryman Yeats was born in capital of Ireland Ireland. From the start Yeats had artistic influences, due to the fact that his father Jack Butler Yeats was a noted Irish painter. He had no formal facts of life until he was eleven, at that time he started at the Godolphin Grammar School in Hammer*censored*h England and later he enrolled in Erasmus smith High School in Dublin. Throughout his schooling he was considered baffle student, his studies were inconsistent, he was prone to day dreaming, and poor at sports. In 1884 Yeats make his way to the Metropolitan School for the Arts, here he met a poet by the name of George Russell. Yeats and Russell sheared the same dreams, visions, and the enthusiasm for them. Russell and Yeats soon founded the Dublin hermetic Society for the purpose of conducting magical experiments. They promoted their idea that "whatever great poets had affirm in there finest moments was the nearest we could come to an authoritative religion and that their mythology and their hard drink of wind and water were but literal truth." This sparked Yeatss interest in the study of the occult. After his experience in the hermetic society he joined the Rosicrucians, Madam H.P. Blavavtskys Theosophical Society, and MacGregors Mathers Order of the Dawn. Yeats consulted spiritualists a great deal and engaged in the ritual of conjuring the Irish Gods. The occult interrogation Yeats made was apparent in his poetry. The occult was a source of images to workout in his poetrys, and evedence of this is in all of his works. In1885 Yeats met John OLeary an Irish flag-waving(a) and Fenian leader. OLeary played a large role on acquiring Yeatss his work first published in The Dublin University followup and directing Yeatss attention to native Irish sources for inspiration. The influence of OLeary caused Yeats to take up the Irish writers cause. England was trying to drop all Irish literature in an attempt to anglicize Ire land finished a ban on the Gaelic language. OLearys nationalism and opposition to violence impressed many people including Yeats. These views helped shape policy-making views that Yeats would h grizzly for the rest of his life. In 1889Yeats met Maude Gonne, a woman he love unrequitedly for the rest of his life. Yeats asked Gonne to marry him many times but she always dour him down. Gonne was an Irish patriot and an inspiration to... ...thorn- maneuvers By the waters. I herd the old, old men say, All thats beautiful drifts away Like the waters. This poem was written some time between 1904 and 1910, at this time Yeats would develop been between 39 and 45 years old. When Yeats wrote this he probably started to affect changes in himself, and when he saw old men he effected how close he was to becoming one of them himself. Because of the subject, I find it unnamed that e used a lyrical style of writing. To a Squirrel at Kyle-na-no Come play with me Why should you run Through th e shaking tree As though Id a gun To score you dead? When all I would do Is scratch your head And allow you go. Yeats wrote this poem between 1919 and 1928. I think that this poem has more implication than just wanting to play with a squirrel. At the time it was written there was some major industrialization going on, so that leads me to intend that the squirrel represents all of spirit, and he is trying to enjoy nature. The fact that the squirrel runs away shows that nature knows of mans destructiveness and it doesnt trust man. What I think Yeats is trying to say is that he really doesnt agree with industrialization, but again he uses a lyrical style.