In this Presentation I describe about Yeats and his connection with Religion and Politics and with that I also discuss a poem named 'Politics' which also written by him in 1938.

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Yeats’ Religious Quest
and ‘Politics’
Presented at - Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi,
Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar
Paper 106: The Twentieth Century
Literature: 1900 to World War II

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Personal Information
➔ Presenter: Pooja Bhuva A.
➔ Enrollment Number: 4069206420220005
➔ Batch: 2022 - 2024 (M.A. Sem - 2)
➔ E-mail: poojabhuva2002@gmail.com
➔ Date: 11 March, 2023
➔ Subject Code: 22399
➔ Roll No.: 15

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W.B. YEATS and his LIFE
➔ William Butler Yeats known by his short name W.B. Yeats was
born on June 13, 1865 in Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland and died
on January 28, 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.

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➔ Soon after William's birth, the family relocated to the Pollexfen home at Merville, Sligo, to
stay with her extended family, and the young poet came to think of the area as his childhood
and spiritual home. (Yeats)
➔ He Proposed Maud Gonne more than three times in his life but she never accepted, then he
ended up marrying Georgie Hyde-Lees on 20 October, 1917 when he was around 52 and she
was only 26.
➔ Even though the age gap their marriage was successful and had two children Anne and
Michael.
➔ Although in later years he had romantic relationships with other women, Georgie herself wrote
to her husband "When you are dead, people will talk about your love affairs, but I shall say
nothing, for I will remember how proud you were." (Brown)
➔ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923 was awarded to William Butler Yeats "for his always
inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation".
(The Noble)

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Writing
Style of
Yeats
➔ Yeats was a famous poet who lived in the 20th century. He used a
writing style called Symbolism, which means he used words and
images to suggest deeper, abstract ideas beyond their literal
meanings. He often used physical objects to represent larger, more
important concepts. (Ulanov)
➔ Yeats was indeed a Modernist Poet but his style of writing was
mostly in traditional form.
➔ In his poems there are many things which draw our interest like
Metaphors, Symboles, Political point of view, Religion, sense of
History and Humanity, etc.
➔ In his lifetime mostly in his last days he wrote about his personal
life, about his childrens, about his wife and about a woman whom
he loved but she never accepted his proposal.
➔ We can see that in this poem by him named ‘The Tower’:
Does the imagination dwell the most
Upon a woman won or woman lost?

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➔ Indeed he is considered as a modern Poet but he also shows
interest in areas like Love, Religion, Mysticism, Politics,
Aristocracy, History, Historical myth, etc. which make him a
remarkable Poet of the twentieth century.
➔ Here are some of his works which give idea how he wrote:
◆ ‘Leda and the Swan’
◆ ‘Death’
◆ ‘Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’
◆ ‘Long-Legged Fly’
◆ ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’
◆ ‘Easter - 1916’
◆ ‘Among School Children’
◆ ‘Sailing to Byzantium’

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Religion
and Yeats
➔ Yeats connection with Religion is simply noticeable by his
writing style.
➔ Yeats grew up during a time when power was shifting away from
the Protestant minority in Ireland. In the 1880s, a man named
Charles Stewart Parnell and his home rule movement became
more influential. In the 1890s, there was a lot of support for
nationalism, and Irish Catholics became more prominent. These
changes had a big impact on Yeats's poetry, and his exploration of
Irish identity played a major role in shaping how people
understand the history of Ireland. (Foster)
➔ Sprinkles of Christian Religion about apocalypse is visible in the
Poem ‘The Second Coming’ by him which also gives the glimpse
of terror about flu pandemic at that time.
➔ Of course, he wrote Religious poems but they aren't Devotional
(Poetry which are for prayer and worship) one.

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‘Politics’
by Yeats
➔ When we talk about the connection between Yeast and Politics,
we firstly think about his very famous poem, which includes a
political note named ‘On Being Asked for a War Poem’.
➔ Yeats was an Irish Nationalist and appointed to the Irish Senate in
1922 which somehow is a cause of his political writing.
➔ There is also an interesting poem called ‘Politics’ by Yeats which
has lines like:
How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics,
Yet here's a traveled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there's a politician
That has both read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war's alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms. (Yeats)

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➔ This poem has hints of politics in it but considered it secondary and
said how can I focus on politics of Rome, Russia and Spain while a
charming girl standing besides me.
➔ There are travelers and Politicians who have knowledge about their
own field and what they are saying about War is also true but who can
focus on that when my young age calling Love.
➔ This Poem like his other poems has a contradictory title.
➔ He was talking about politics and war as if it is not necessary than Love
and women.
➔ This poem was written in 1938 during the Spanish civil war
and composed posthumously.
➔ This Poem is most likely talking about his private feelings
which is important than politics and society.
➔ By referring to the above point, we can see that how he tries
to distract the situation and tension which was happening at
that time.

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Works Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "William Butler Yeats". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Jan. 2023,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Butler-Yeats.
Brown, Terence. The Life of W. B. Yeats. Wiley, 1999.
Foster, Robert Fitzroy. W.B. Yeats: A Life, Book 1. Oxford University Press, 1998.
Jeffares, Norman A. W.B. Yeats, Man and Poet. 1st ed., Palgrave Macmillan New York, 1996.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923. NobelPrize.org, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1923/summary/
Ulanov, Barry. Makers of the Modern Theater. McGraw-Hill, 1961.
Yeats, William Butler. “Politics by William Butler Yeats.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry
Foundation,www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57588/politics-56d23b40c4ed6.
Yeats, William Butler. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Wordsworth Editions, 1906.

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