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William Butler YeatsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Sailing to Byzantium” was written by Yeats at 60 or 61 and is his definitive critique of ageing, describing the agony of embodied existence as one inches toward death. His later works—from the 1920s on—are known for their occult orientations. In A Vision (1925), Yeats elucidates the intersection of his symbolism with various esoteric traditions, as well as his own philosophy, at the center of which is the “Great Wheel” or “gyre.” Hermetic traditions and societies were a cornerstone of the early 20th century, with many people conducting seances and attempting to connect with metaphysical beings. Yeats became well-known for his automatic writings in which spirits not only acted as muses for poetry, but were said to be channeled through the poet. In his essay "Magic" (1901), Yeats admitted he believes
[…] in the practice and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in the visions of truth in the depths of the mind when the eyes are closed (128).
“Sailing to Byzantium” also anticipates Yeats's foray into the world of eugenics, which he celebrated publicly in 1936 when he joined the Eugenics Society.
By William Butler Yeats
Among School Children
Among School Children
William Butler Yeats
A Prayer for My Daughter
A Prayer for My Daughter
William Butler Yeats
A Vision
A Vision: An Explanation of Life Founded upon the Writings of Giraldus and upon Certain Doctrines Attributed to Kusta Ben Luka
William Butler Yeats
Cathleen Ni Houlihan
Cathleen Ni Houlihan
William Butler Yeats
Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop
Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop
William Butler Yeats
Death
Death
William Butler Yeats
Easter, 1916
Easter, 1916
William Butler Yeats
Leda and the Swan
Leda and the Swan
William Butler Yeats
No Second Troy
No Second Troy
William Butler Yeats
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
William Butler Yeats
The Second Coming
The Second Coming
William Butler Yeats
The Wild Swans at Coole
The Wild Swans at Coole
William Butler Yeats
When You Are Old
When You Are Old
William Butler Yeats