W.B. Yeats as a symbolic poet

                       Introduction

"Symbol gives voice to the dumb things; it gives body to the bodiless things."
                                                - W.B. Yeats
The Symbolist movement in France, from which Yeats took much of his inspiration, was largely formed in reaction to the dominant naturalism of the age. Symbolist writers railed against what they saw as naturalism's obsession with mere exteriority, with precise, unerringly detailed description of the material world and everything in it. In response, Symbolism laid great emphasis on the treatment of fleeting sensations and experiences, those all - to - brief movements of qasi - mystical epiphany which often come to us at certain points in our lives. In place of the objectivity of naturalism symbolist stressed the importance of the subjective for art in general and poetry in particular.

           Symbolism a major way of                  conveying his ideas


Symbols were vital in that they give shape of the constant, ever changing flow of subjective experience. Symbols, of their very nature, suggest and hint, rather than provide the kind of literal meaning that naturalism seeks to give us. They point toward a higher reality than the senses can provide. To a larger extent, symbolism is a rebellion against the world of matter, the spatio temporal world in which we live our daily lives.

  Symbolism in 'Leda and the Swan'


Tyranny is forceful dominance over innocence. Poetry and other forms of literature of a new symbolism as a means to provide a message. The reasons for the usage of symbolism are as varied as the symbols used. Images are not always as they appear, and when one thinks about poetry more abstractly many interpretations can result. In W. B. Yeats poem 'Leda and the Swan', Yeats uses the retelling of a classical myth and its connotations to symbolise English dominance over the Irish people. A Swan, Zeus transformed, raping a woman provides an image of sneakiness, dishonesty and ttranny. Another far more nebulous symbolic level, however, Lade is also a metaphor for Ireland under the yoke of British oppression. In this sense, the swan's standing takes Zeus out of mythology and applies him more specifically as a corrupt God using his power to invade a dominion not his own- mortals - and physical rape of a woman is elevated to the sphere of political rape of one culture by a more powerful culture. Swans are favourite animal for Yeats to work into his verse as a symbol of inscrutable passion and desire.

      Symbolism in "Second Coming"


"The Second Coming" is another famous symbolic poem of Yeats. In this poem, the 'ceremony of Innocence' represent for Yeats for one of the qualities that made life valuable under the dying aristocratic social tradition. The expression 'falcon and the falconer' have a symbolic meaning. Falcon is a hawk and a half is the symbol of the active or intellectual mind and 'the falconer' symbolises the soul of it. Yeats employs the figure of a great beast - a horrific, violent animal - to embody difficult abstract concepts. The great beast as a symbol comes from Christian iconography, in which it represents evil and darkness. In 'The Second Coming', the great beast emerges from the Spiritous Mundi, or soul of the universe, to function as the primary image of destruction in the poem. Yeats describe the concept of apocalyptic events in which the "blood dimmed tide is loose". And the "ceremony of Innocence is drowned" as the world enters a new age and falls apart as a result of the widening of the historical gyres. The speaker predict the arrival of the second coming and this prediction summons a "vast image" of a frightening monster pulled from the collective consciousness of the world. Yeats modifies the well-known image of the sphinx to embody the poems vision  of the climatic coming. By rendering the terrifying prospect of description and change into an easily imagined horrifying monster. Yeats makes an abstract fear become tangible and real. The great beast slouches towards Bethelem to be born, where it will evolve into a second Christ figure for the dark new age. In this way, Yeats uses distinct, concrete imagery to symbolise complex ideas about the state of the modern world.

     Symbolism in " Dialogues between Self and the Soul"


In this poem W.B. Yeats explores the soul and the self as a space of irresolvable tension between the destitution of bodily life, imaged forth by the soul and the capacity of the poetry to compensate for that destitution which is projected by the self. There have been many ideas and ways of thinking about the soul and the self in our history. In this poem the 'soul' symbolises the spiritual essence of a person whereas the 'self' symbolises the materialistic objects of the earth. Through this poem Yeats explores the tension between the real world and the ideal world. Through this poem, he contrast the heroic idealism of the patriots who died for Ireland with the drab merchant class who 'add the halfpence to the pence'. Elsewhere his poetry is alive with the tension between the feverish mortal life of 'fish, flash and foul' and the desire for immortality.
               Yeat's symbols are are all pervasive. There are number of poem that are organised around certain key symbols in the volume of poems and entitled "The Rose", rose is the key symbol. It symbolises intellectual beauty, austerity, the beauty of women specially that of Mand Gonne and Ireland as well. Yeats make frequent use of bird imagery in his poems. The 'swan' in "The Wild Swans Coole" is an ever recurring symbol. The swan stood for beauty and love, reminding the reader of Spencer's "Prothalamion". The bird cry in Yeats poem stands for desire physical or spiritual.

                    Conclusion


Yeats was a master of symbols. His use of symbols is complex and rich. His symbols like, the rose, the swan, the tower, the soul, the self, the Falcon - all assume alive to their own and speak to the reader often two different things. Symbolism was help in giving concreteness to his vision. Symbolism made it possible for Yeats to express "the richness of man's deeper reality" which is something essentially mystical. Perhaps one of the effects of his knowledge of symbols is that the moon maybe more than just the moon, and a flower more than a flower. 




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