Yeats was an accomplished Irish poet and was known for the religious ideas he emphasized in his poetry. The political chaos propelled by the onset of the First World War created a chain of events that affected the general perception and cultural identity of the facets that were embroiled in it. Ireland presents an ideal setting for the representation of multiple ripples created by war and the literary arts that emerged to portray the occurrence. Dubbed as the Easter Rising, the Irish region took the chance of the diverted attention and focused on the world war to stage their revolution and gain their liberty (McCarthy 158).
The societal involvement in the quest for liberation were denoted subtly and accurately using poetic techniques to give a personalized perspective of the instances and feeling. In this piece, I dwell on the life relevance and importance of World War One on the works and art of William Butler Yeats. As an Irish poet, William Butler Yeats was able to alter the functions and style of his works to suit the ideal representation of the geopolitical changes and state using a personalized and meditative perspective.
Mainly displayed through his identity and emotional stance, the poet embodies his interactions with the public quest for liberation with the symbolic dimensions of the war. The unique showcase of personal and overall elements makes his works successful.
Yeats infuses the experiences of Easter Rising with his emotions to create an accurate portrayal of the occurrence from a dimension that is pure and easily perceptible.
The First World war marks a period of significant social changes and societal notions (Cullingford, 740). The atrocities and pain of the conflict present numerous emotions that are experienced by mass and its representation by Yeats resonate with humanity. Yeats studied philosophy and was significantly involved in the study of mysticism.
With his Irish nativity and a knowledge background on the interaction dynamics, Yeats presented himself at the forefront of the forces of rebellion through his portrayal of the Easter Rising. In the wake of James McBride’s murder, a close person and the husband to Maude Gonne who was the woman that Yeats had first proposed to, there was emotional devastation that set the pace for the functions of his arts within that period. The introduction of suffering that manifests to the degree of grief is a platform of interaction with the experiences within the rebellion that was embodied within the continuity of the First World War.
Concatenating the experiences drawn from the rebellion with the poet’s meditative notions of the societal state and structure introduced an element in his works. Deemed as his invention, Yeats mixed the personal dimension with the political occurrences to explicate not only his most profound grief but that of others around him (Perloff 326). Loss and death present a common theme in any rebellious quest that can be scaled to Easter Rising and its ideal portrayal by Yeats is accepted and related to by the people around him. Focusing on the functions of Yeats works creates a pattern on the overall influence of the First World War that curated the emotional aspect within them.
The depiction of the insolent and stupid nature of the war by Yeats critiques the role and relevance of the war given the bigger picture. In a letter written to John Quinn, there is an outright banishment of the presence of war and his decision to think of it minimally. Yeats is directly affected by the notions of war and its effect on the daily lives of the people around him. Additionally, in a request made to him by Henry James to produce a war poem that could be included in an anthology to raise money for refugees, he refuted with an artistic gesture. Fusing the facets of meditative perceptions with war experiences introduces a practical dimension that showcases the level of influence that war has on his works.
Identity is a facet that is described mostly through the robust political change that was promoted by the First World War. Easter Rising typically defines the rebellious activities inscribed in the events on the war, and it polarized the political perception of the world. Irish experience presents a unique twist in the commencement of the war that separated the political incentives of Ireland from that of the remaining United Kingdom. The poet uses identity to pose a conflicting, clear, and a distinct notion of the war and the role of the people in the liberation of Ireland from the United Kingdom (Allison 463).
In his true nature, Yeats does not blend freely with the personality and presence of the people whom he meets daily. He exhibits interaction aspects of the average person and tries to socialize with them to bring constant harmony between people. The longing for a community rather than a crowd pushes Yeats to be involved in the Irish affairs of rebellion against the unified rule under the United Kingdom. In the poem, Easter, 1916, Yeats expounds on his desire to have an impact on society versus the displeasure that he experiences around people. He notes that he interacts with people to please a companion who speaks to his superior personal perception that mismatches that of regular people.
A public character is a rebellion is a crucial figure that can sway the opinions of the masses through their clinical representation of their atrocities and the leadership embodiment. The presence of war and rebellion presents Yeats with the most optimal circumstances to assume the role mentioned above (Foster 21). The liberation of Ireland necessitated the involvement of multiple prominent figures to propagate their objectives by working together through various huddles of acquiring liberty.
The First World War put in motion a sequence of events that elevate his public role to push for the liberation of Ireland actively. In his refusal to present a war poem to Henry James, he subtly suggests that there should be no haste for poets to give their opinions concerning the war but should be patient to realize a wholesome truth. He encompasses the intimate nature of everyone around him and represents their emotional distress through his works. The change in his role and public perception was significantly altered by the effects of war that pushed his prominence with the accurate portrayal of the war through an intimate and emotional perspective.
Raising awareness concerning the detrimental effects of the war were directly responsible for a public fathoming on the irrelevance of the war. In his works, Yeats uses imagery to encourage the showcase the effects of war on the lives of the people exposed to the consequences (Lyons 212). The First World War presents an ideal subject that Yeats pushes forward to relay the ineffective and loss left behind in the experience of war. Awareness and campaign through specific actions are directly witnessed in his decisions.
Declining to submit a war poem gives away the campaign to showcase how even the slightest misinformation in his works could distort the general perspective. Furthermore, functions engraved within his works in the First World War era encourages the mass education of the effects of war on the lives of people who are experienced to it. In the third stanza of the poem, Easter, 1916, the poet focuses on the war and compares it to the effect of a stone on a disturbed living stream that represents life. Most of the stanzas in the poem have refraining statements of “a terrible beauty is born.” He describes war as a measure of convenience that is absurd to the core.
In a nutshell, the presence of the First World War presented Yeats with multiple aspects that influenced his works by altering his personality and pushing him out of his comfort zone. The damaging presence of war on the nature of people is promoted mostly through the works of the poet. From character and personality to the role of a person, the influence of war on the personal incentives of William Butler Yeats is showcased widely through the functions and the aggressive nature of his actions. The onset of the First World War encouraged the beginning of Irish liberation from the United Kingdom, and Yeats works were monumental towards coining a positive and personalized public outlook. Through the prism of cost implication, Yeats manages to convince the reader through reasonable perspectives that the rebellion was warranted even at the loss of human life.
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