A Thematic Analysis Of W. B. Yeats 'One Flesh'

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From the context of this poem it can be inferred that there is an influence of Yeats and the theory she is besetting is similar to the obscure philosophy of history which Yeats proposed. “She says in her critical book Ever Changing Shape that: “While he eschewed all accepted orthodoxy,” she explains, “Yeats created by means of his verse, a philosophy which, for him, explained the meaning of human existence” (Jennings, ECS 116). The subjects of Jennings’s delicate criticism could also extend to include the “closed symbolic systems” which Eagleton says Yeats, Eliot, Pound , Lawrence, and Joyce were developing to provide “exhaustive models for the control and explanation of historical reality. “Song for a Birth or Death” in an orderly way fills …show more content…

She is interested in the conflict between mind and feelings. This unfulfilled love causes pain and therefore it is not pleasant experience. By trying to get rid of it, something is lost and leaves the person in a dumb state. The poem also explores the issue of the difference between love and friendship and the often recurring difficulties in defining the exact borderlines. Love grown old with the passage of time in “One Flesh” (1966) In “One Flesh” Jennings describes the relationship of an ageing couple. This poem is from her poetic Anthology The Mind Has Mountains. Jennings explores the nature of marriage relationship in old age and we come to know towards the end of the poem that she is talking about the personal relationship of her parents. The title of the poem comes from the description in the Bible. When a couple is combined in marriage they become one flesh. The word “one” suggests their physical unity and Jennings’ relationship to her parents as she thinks about them. She contemplates over how traditional marriage of her parents has ended up in physical separation an silence as she says: “Silence between them” (Jennings, TCP