Topic > Yeats: Contemplating the Pain of Existence Through Poetry

Module B- Critical Study of Texts (Yeats: Wild Swans at Coole & Among School Children)Q: Great texts take the pain of existence and try to give it a senseSay no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Yeats's poetry effectively communicates powerful and universal ideas, which continue to make his poetry relevant today. His excellence in artistic expression allows him to weave together his ideas, philosophies and contextual issues, allowing us as responders to broaden our understanding and perspective on life. It's affirming that great lyrics like “Wild Swans at Coole” and “Among School Children” take the pain of existence and try to make sense of it. Both texts thoroughly examine the transcendental tensions between the purpose of life and the eventual decline of physical and spiritual aging through self-reflection and retrospection. Yate's intense concern with aging is clearly evident in “Wild Swans at Coole.” In the period in which it was written, Yeats was a middle-aged man, with a genuinely "painful" heart, genuinely capable of reflecting maturely, seriously and without melodrama, on the passage of time. The poem presents its audience with a feeling of mourning regarding loss and change and focuses on Yeats's favorite image, the swan. It is metaphorically evident throughout the film that Yeats transforms the swans into permanent embodiments of feeling and inspiration. In other words, the transience of life, the human life destined to be born and die. He refuses to be a prisoner of time and reluctantly “rejects” the cycle of life. A sense of vulnerability emerges as Yeats realizes the natural, uncontrolled state of the swans and nature itself and is unable to take control of it. Relatedly, swans appear eternally young, making it incapable of differentiating them while, in stark contrast, aging is evident in humans. “Everything has changed since, first hearing on this shore at dusk,” when I “walked with a lighter step” I refer to Yeats's childhood state with the desperate desire to experience it again. The poet's constant temporal references in Stanza 1, with reference to the words “autumn,” “October,” and “twilight,” suggest the arrival of death and decay, the time of life passing and diminishing. These words, in common, refer to the approach and awareness of the end, accentuating the idea of ​​the passage of time. Furthermore, the lack of love in Yeat's life makes the harshness of aging more apparent as the paired swans, "lover for lover," are paired, increasing the challenges of aging associated with the pain of existence.Alike wild swans, Among School Children embodies Yeats's ongoing struggle between age and transcendence Being among school children, Yeats confronts human frailty, reflecting on the impact and value of his life. Frightened by the inevitability of death, he initially chooses to wear a mask of acceptance and reconciliation, while struggling internally, anguished by the value of life itself. Comparing Maud Gonne's current appearance to her youthful appearance “And I wonder if she was like that at that age,” she realizes the toll of time on physical being. Having finally understood the mortal implications of humanity, Yeats desperately searches for any way possible to subvert his certain death. He recalls the immense love and relationship he shared with Maud Gonne and metaphorically describes their relationship with an egg "In the yolk and white of the one shell" because they felt as if they were one, indicating a sense of belonging the one to the other. The.