Evaluate " On Being Asked For A War Poem " by W.B.Yeats :
Hello friends, we are gonna evaluate the poem named " On Being Asked For A War Poem" by W.B.Yeats. So, let's begin…
⚫ Introduction
W.B.YEATS:
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, prose writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of the Irish literary establishment, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, and in his later years served two terms as a Senator of the Irish Free State. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and others.more
"On Being Asked For A War Poem" by Yeats :
I think it better that in times like these
A poet's mouth be silent, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
He has had enough of meddling who can please
A young girl in the indolence of her youth,
Or an old man upon a winter’s night.
"On being asked for a War Poem" by William Butler Yeats is that the poem is so short. it is a poem that refuses to speak about war. The poem says that it is not the place of a poet to write about politics, but that the poet instead should limit his interference in the world to pleasing his companions.
This poem is a sextet, with a rhyme scheme ABC, ABC. The first three lines refer to the poet’s attitude to writing about war; the next three lines write on the self-imposed limits of the poet’s interventions in the world.
As we know that W.B Yeats is one of the giants of twentieth century poetry , He was a modernist poet and proud Irish Republican at a time when Irish Nationalism was at its height in Ireland. A Protestant Christian, he was also a mystic and spiritualist. Like many of the modernists he was artistically radical but politically conservative, believing that politics, art and war did not easily mix.
‘On Being Asked For a War Poem’:
This poem was written after Yeats was asked to write a war poem. It is a meditation on whether poets can write war poetry. It also considers an old question: what is the role of the poet in society, and what is the function of poetry? Shelley, a great Romantic poet, once called poets“the unacknowledged legislators of the world”.
It means that poets create a culture or spirit of an age that molds it thinkers and even politicians:more.
“I think it better…a poet’s mouth be silent”:
When the poet writes of “a poet’s mouth” being silent , he is using a technique called metonymy. It's one type of metaphor but in metonymy, something closely related to something else is substituted.
For example: “the crown” may refer to the Queen or royalty, or “the press” may refer to the newspapers. Both are closely connected. As the same, here the “poet’s mouth” represents his poetry.
“We have no gift to set a statesman right;” :
By this lines poet wants to say , a statesman is a political leader. Here, it is asserted that poets have no “gift”, or ability, to tell statesman how they should make decisions. We can say with the deep meaning for this lines that the poet no role in making big statements about wars.
"meddling": another word of this poem which seems to be difficult for understanding . This key word in the poem gives us a hint of the poet’s attitude to those who try and write activist or political poems: The tone is obviously negative.
“He… can please a young girl in the indolence of her youth”: by this lines we can say that this is the turning point of the poem , By the word "indolence" the sence of relaxed appears here.
“an old man on a winter’s night”: this line seems to be completed the Scope of the poet's influence. But, Does this mean that poetry is suited to everyday lessons and life? That the poet’s role is to appeal to beauty and wisdom, youth and age?These certainly seem narrower limits to the role of poetry than ‘setting statesmen right’. However, Yeats argue that poetry’s concerns are higher than political contingency.
Thus , I wants to say that this poem is interesting for me because it declares that poet can not write about war in political terms.
If you wants to get more ideas about the poem then here is the videos about this :
⚫ Characters
4082
⚫ Words
729
⚫ Sentences
47
⚫ Paragraphs
29
No comments:
Post a Comment