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Sailing To Byzantium Symbolism Analysis

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Question: Symbolism in William Butler Yeats Poem [Sailing to Byzantium].

Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeast is about old people who are being replaced by the young people and those who are being rejected by the younger generations sailing towards the holy place of Constantinople at Byzantium which is located at Istanbul (Turkey). Yeast thinks that to understand his poem the Sound, Colour and Forms are enough without having certain knowledge about the historical background. However for the students without knowing the proper knowledge on historical background and studying the poem is not an easy task to understand the poem as whole even though the poem gains power only through preordain and long association. The poem Byzantium gains its power through long association of the nature and man- made things and the journey symbolizes the live cycle of the human life.

The Symbolism in the poem gains its power through long association between the nature and man- made things. Yeast in his poem says “An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon the stick.” …show more content…

Yeast had used long association between aged man and a coat. The age of man comes naturally as the man grows old and the coat is a man made thing. The old aged man and the tattered coat are naturally likely to be dead or thrown away or had become old that it cannot become new again. These two images provide emotion of pity towards the reader as both the things are going to be neglected. The sound that the poem produce doesn’t make readers feel pity upon the two things and the tone is rough like a conversation taking place between the two people which does not contain the power of

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