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WB Yeats William_Butler_Yeats_by_George_Charles_Beresford - Coggle Diagram
WB Yeats
The Wild Swans at Coole
The swans suddenly remind him how young he used to be - it shocks him
They come to symbolise youth, while the autumn is where Yeats is at with his own life.
Yeats is 52 now - old and lonely
"Are nine and twenty swans" - it shows one is isolated, just like him. He has no partner
Second Coming
Easter 1916
He thought the rebels were clowns who would never actually fight Britain
"That we but lived where motley was worn"
Here he uses the metaphor of a jester's costume to define everyone in Ireland. He thinks they are weak and will achieve nothing. Yeats is willing to show just how wrong he was here, to contrast with later in the poem where he will instead praise the rebels.
Yeats is fearful for what the fitire holds now
Yeats is remorseful for his arrogance
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
It stands in contrast to his busy life in Dublin and London
His mind often wanders there almost without him realising
"I hear lake water lapping"
The Lake is a place of peace and belonging for Yeats
September 1913
Yeats thinks the Irish today are weak and afraid.
"And prayer to shivering prayer until you have dried the marrow from the bone."
He felt the church had everyone afraid to rebel or do anyhthing they said not to. It's important to note he was a Protestant and judges the majority Catholic Irish very harshly here. The metahpor of marrow from the bone shows what he thinks this led to - a weakened people and state.
He glorifies the heroes of the past.
Yeats hates the new rich businessmen who run Ireland
