The Circus Animals’ Desertion (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Butler Yeats
- First Published: 1939
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Authors or writers, Art or artists, Poetry or poets, Drama or dramatists, Circuses or carnivals, Ireland or Irish people, Old age or elderly people, Animals, Aging, Heart
The Poem
“The Circus Animals’ Desertion” is a five-stanza poem in three parts. Part 1 introduces the poet’s problem: a lack of inspiration. Part 2 explores three earlier writing experiences, and part 3 offers a solution to the problem.
The circus animals of the title are William Butler Yeats’s earlier symbols and themes, which until now “were all on show,” but now have deserted the elderly poet. In the first stanza, the speaker bemoans that desertion: “I sought a theme and sought for it in vain,/ I sought it daily for six weeks or so.” When inspiration...
[The entire page is 1505 words long]
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