Byzantium (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Butler Yeats
- First Published: 1932
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Nature, Symbolism, Youth, Fire, Life and death, Old age or elderly people, Aging
The Poem
“Byzantium” is written in five eight-line stanzas that are, in their metrical precision and complex rhyme scheme, reminiscent of the unique stanzaic patterns of the early nineteenth century odes composed by such English Romantic poets as William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. The twentieth century Anglo-Irish poet William Butler Yeats certainly shares many traits with those, and other, nineteenth century precursors. Nevertheless, despite all the intensity of its emotion and the rich intricacies of its imagery, “Byzantium” is hardly the sort...
[The entire page is 1526 words long]
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