Student Question
What is the meaning of the last stanza in Yeats's "A Man Young and Old: XI. From Oedipus at Colonus"?
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say;
Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day;
The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.
Quick answer:
The last stanza of Yeats's "A Man Young and Old: XI. From Oedipus at Colonus" reflects on the existential question of life's value. It suggests that perhaps never having lived is ideal, as life can be full of suffering and meaningless in a vast, indifferent universe. The stanza contemplates whether a brief, joyful existence, like that of a mayfly, might be the second-best option, highlighting a skeptical view on the purpose and meaning of life.
We live life and are told it's a grand, mysterious adventure.
But what if it really is just a tale told by an idiot that actually means nothing at all? It is what it is and then it's gone. What if it is but a veil of tears and then you die? What if life is just another of those vast myriad of things in the vast workings of a cold, indifferent universe... not about us or for us?
Certainly we have a stake in believing that it all has a purpose, a master plan that gives us some nobility and hope. But what if that's just our need to find a reason to go on?
So we have this Yeats poem about the wanderings of the tragic Oedipus. What has his life, in all its blindness, amounted to? Would he have been better off not to have suffered and not to have brought about so much suffering of others? Is it heresy to ask if it were better that he were not ever born at all?
Or perhaps the best life one could have is one lived by the female mayfly of the order Ephemeroptera. A gay, five-minute dance of life and then pfft, she's gone.
Get Ahead with eNotes
Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.
Already a member? Log in here.