Student Question
What's the main theme in Yeats's "A Dialogue of Self and Soul", and how does his perspective differ?
Quick answer:
The main theme of the poem "A Dialogue of Self and Soul" by William Butler Yeats is an affirmation of earthly life. The elderly speaker embraces living, not dying. This differs from most poems contemplating end-of-life issues, which usually advise resignation and preparation for death.
The main theme of the poem is the conflict the narrator experiences between Self and Soul, with the Self, representing life, winning the debate.
The speaker is an old man, and the Soul is in dialogue with him. The Soul asks him to transcend his earthly Self and think of what is to come after he dies. The Soul argues that the speaker should ponder eternity (the "quarter where all thought is done"):
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done
Long past his prime remember things that areBut while the Soul tries to turn the Self's thoughts towards death, the Self clings relentlessly to the worldly. In the second stanza, the voice of the Soul, earlier in dialogue and debate with the Self, is silenced. In this stanza, the Self affirms life, saying he would be "content" to live it all over again. He states:
Emblematical of love and war?
We must laugh and we must sing,Yeats's perspective on death is different from that of other poets who write about the end of life. Most poets writing about the end of life counsel paying attention to the soul and preparing oneself for what is to come. In contrast, Yeats's speaker seems determined to double down on experiencing all the fullness of life, despite his old age.
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.
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