In the second stanza he illustrates the situation of an old man. Yeats the old man is caught in his past, in the rememberance of the things that he has achieved, and also caught in the picture of himself as a young man. The last two lines of the first stanza desrcibe the situation of the old. The line ``whatever is begotten, born and dies`` repeats the picture of the life-cycle. So he also uses the image of the life-cycle: Using these images from nature Yeats shows, that this is a natural process. That means there is only place for the young and strong ones and the old ones lost their right to live in the same sea.
BYZANTIUM WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS ANALYSIS FULL
Like earth is full of human beings, the sea is not only full of mackerels it is stuffed. The mackerel crowded seas create another picture. ``The salmon- falls`` can also mean, that the salmon that once was young and has been a symbol for youth, now is falling, he is getting old and loses his power. On the other hand, it has got the opposite meaning. The salmon overcomes this hindrance to create a new generation. On the one hand the salmon jumping up the falls is a symbol for birth, youth and energy. The image of the salmon has got a double meaning. This contrast is visually strengthened with the use of hyphens. Then there`s again the contrast to the old: ``-Those dying generations-``. The world of the young people is full of love and harmony: ``in one another`s arms``.Įven nature joins in: ``birds in the trees``. The two generations are also contrasted by the content of the next lines. The old and the young stand directly next to each other in one line, but they are seperated by a full stop. Now Yeats sets the old men on contrast to the young. The country Yeats talks about in the first stanza is the world he lives in and this has obviously left no room for him, because it ``is no country for old men``. The last two stanzas tell from the hope of a new life in eternity.
The first two stanzas desrcibe the ordinary life, the age and death. Sailing to Byzantiumcan be divided in two parts. In the fallowing work I want to unriddle the two poems to win insight in the poet`s dreams and fears. They tell from life and death and from the idea of being born again. As he became an old man, Yeats wrote two poems about the antique city of Byzantium.
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