Brief Questions in W. B. Yeats' Poems    

• What sense was W.B. Yeats called the National Poet of Ireland?

Ans: By birth, temperament, and choice, Yeats became the poet of Irish tradition and was called the national poet of Ireland.

• What is I.R.B.?

Ans: I.R.B. means the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret revolutionary party that Yeats joined in 1896.

• What kind of poem is “The Stolen Child”?

Ans: “The Stolen Child” is an escape-lyric based on the Irish belief that fairies steal human children.

• What kind of life do the fairies live?

Ans: The fairies live a merry and carefree life surrounded by nature’s beauty.

• What is the fairyland like?

Ans: Fairyland is a leafy island where fairies dance, sing, and enjoy a dreamy life.

• What do you mean by “Rosses”?

Ans: “Rosses” is a seaside village near Sligo where Yeats’s family spent their summers.

• What is the theme of “When You Are Old”?

Ans: The poem shows the fleeting nature of love and human beauty.

• How does Yeats imagine his beloved in old age?

Ans: He imagines Maud Gonne as an old woman reading his poems by the fireside.

• What is “the pilgrim soul”?

Ans: It means a pure soul that comes to earth for a short sacred journey.

• What would Maud Gonne murmur sadly about her love?

Ans: She would realize the poet’s true love and mourn his death with regret.

• What is the theme of “The Man Who Dreamed of Fairyland”?

Ans: It shows a man escaping reality to live in dreams and imagination.

• What happens in the maturity of the Irishman?

Ans: His mind turns to worries about money but his imagination flies to fairyland.

• What happens in the Irishman’s grave after death?

Ans: His restless thoughts disturb his peace even in the grave.

• What is “No Second Troy” about?

Ans: It is about Maud Gonne—Yeats’s beloved—whom he both admires and criticizes.

• Why does Yeats criticize Maud Gonne?

Ans: He criticizes her for her indifference to him and her violent politics.

• What kind of beauty does Maud Gonne have?

Ans: Her beauty is like a tightened bow, full of power and intensity.

• How does Yeats show Maud Gonne’s unique beauty?

Ans: He says her beauty is strong and active, like a bow ready to strike.

• What is the theme of “September 1913”?

Ans: It expresses Yeats’s anger at the greed and dullness of modern Ireland.

• How does Yeats see present Ireland?

Ans: He sees it as materialistic and lifeless, far from romantic ideals.

• Why was “September 1913” written?

Ans: Yeats wrote it after the Lane Gallery controversy in Ireland.

• How did the Lane controversy arise?

Ans: It began when Hugh Lane’s art collection faced opposition in Dublin.

• What was the subtitle of “September 1913”?

Ans: It was “On Reading Much of the Correspondence against the Art Gallery.”

• Who is O’Leary?

Ans: John O’Leary was an Irish patriot and Fenian leader admired by Yeats.

• How does Yeats pay tribute to O’Leary?

Ans: He says, “Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, it’s with O’Leary in the grave.”

• What is “Greasy till”?

Ans: It means a shop drawer—symbolizing the money-minded Irish people.

• What is “Kiltarton’s Cross”?

Ans: It is a village near Coole Park, the home of Robert Gregory.

• How would the Irish airman balance his life?

Ans: He finds life meaningless and sees death in war as equal to life.

• Whom does the Irish airman guard?

Ans: He guards the English or possibly the Italians.

• What is the theme of “A Prayer for My Daughter”?

Ans: It shows the poet’s prayer for his daughter’s safety and future happiness.

• What is the name of Yeats’s daughter?

Ans: Her name is Anne Butler Yeats, born in 1919.

• Why did Helen find life dull?

Ans: Her proud beauty made her married life with Menelaus dull.

• How was Aphrodite born?

Ans: She was born from sea foam according to Greek mythology.

• Why does Yeats wish his daughter to have no hatred?

Ans: He believes a heart free from hatred remains happy and peaceful.

• Why does Yeats call Maud Gonne opinionated?

Ans: Because she acted stubbornly and rejected his love for irrational reasons.

• What kind of husband does Yeats wish for his daughter?

Ans: He wishes her an aristocratic husband who values tradition and courtesy.

• What were Yeats’s views on life-pattern?

Ans: He admired grace, manners, and tradition, not the roughness of common life.

• What is the theme of “The Tower”?

Ans: The poem expresses Yeats’s struggle against weakness and old age.

• What is “Ben Bulben” and how is Yeats linked to it?

Ans: It is a mountain near Sligo where Yeats spent his childhood.

• Who is Plato?

Ans: Plato was a Greek philosopher who believed real things are only copies of ideal forms.

• Who is Plotinus?

Ans: Plotinus, a follower of Plato, believed in mystical escape from the material world.

• Who is Hanrahan?

Ans: Hanrahan is Yeats’s fictional poet, modeled on the Irish bard Eoghan Ruadh O’Sullivan.

• What is the theme of “Leda and the Swan”?

Ans: It describes the divine act that led to the birth of Greek civilization.

• What does “Agamemnon dead” mean?

Ans: It refers to King Agamemnon, killed by his wife Clytemnestra after the Trojan War.

• What does “Brute blood of the air” refer to?

Ans: It refers to Zeus in the form of a swan who forced Leda.

• What is “Plato’s parable”?

Ans: It means man and woman were once one being, later divided but spiritually united.

• What is “Paddler’s heritage”?

Ans: It means the nature of ordinary, common women.

• What is “Honey of generation”?

Ans: It means the joy and sweetness of birth and creation.

• When does life become fruitful?

Ans: When both body and mind work in harmony and not against each other.

• What does the soul call upon the poet’s self?

Ans: It urges him to climb higher toward wisdom and eternal truth.

• What is “Sato’s ancient blade”?

Ans: It is a 550-year-old Japanese sword given to Yeats by Zunzo Sato.

• What does “Sato’s sword” symbolize?

Ans: It symbolizes the union of love and war in life.

• Why does the poet accept reality?

Ans: He accepts life with all its joys and sorrows, rejecting escape or denial.

• What is Byzantium?

Ans: Byzantium is the old name for Constantinople, a symbol of perfect art and wisdom.

• What does “Byzantium” refer to in the poem?

Ans: It refers to a spiritual world beyond time, symbolizing paradise.

• What is “Hades’ bobbin”?

Ans: It means the soul freed from the human body after death.

• Where does the poet see the “golden bird”?

Ans: He sees it in his vision, perched on a golden bough in Byzantium.

• What is the theme of “The Gyres”?

Ans: It shows the cyclical rise and fall of human civilizations.

• What is the theme of “Lapis Lazuli”?

Ans: It shows that art and wisdom give joy even in times of tragedy.

• What is “Lapis Lazuli”?

Ans: It is a blue semi-precious stone used in art and decoration.

• What was the opinion against fine arts?

Ans: People thought art was useless during war and crisis.

• Why is art useful, according to Yeats?

Ans: Art helps people stay calm and strong during suffering.

• What is Yeats’s view on the rise and fall of civilization?

Ans: He believes that destruction and rebirth are the eternal laws of nature.

• Who was Callimachus?

Ans: He was a Greek sculptor skilled in shaping marble.

• What is the message of all arts?

Ans: Time destroys everything, yet life and art keep returning in cycles.

• What is the theme of “The Municipal Gallery Revisited”?

Ans: It describes Yeats’s emotional visit to the Dublin Municipal Gallery in 1937.

• What is the theme of “The Circus Animals’ Desertion”?

Ans: It explores the poet’s search for the source of imagination.

• What is “The Countess Cathleen”?

Ans: It is a play by Yeats where the heroine Cathleen represents Maud Gonne.

• What does Yeats mean by “masterful images”?

Ans: They are purified images born from the poet’s deep emotions.

• When did Yeats receive the Nobel Prize?

Ans: He received the Nobel Prize in 1923.

• Whom does Yeats address in “When You Are Old”?

Ans: He addresses his beloved, Maud Gonne.

• What is Yeats’s nationality?

Ans: He is an Irish poet.

• What does Yeats see in “excited reverie”?

Ans: He foresees future years of bloodshed and social chaos.

• What is the meaning of “Gyres”?

Ans: “Gyres” are spiral cycles that symbolize the turns of history.

• What does “Hurled the little street upon the great” mean?

Ans: It means Maud Gonne incited the poor to revolt against rulers.

• Why is the poet’s mind gloomy in “A Prayer for My Daughter”?

Ans: He feels anxious seeing the storm outside and the coming troubles of the world.

• Whom does the poet address on landing at Byzantium?

Ans: He addresses the golden smithies of the Emperor.

• What does the falcon symbolize in “The Second Coming”?

Ans: It symbolizes the human intellect that has lost control.

• What does the “golden bird” symbolize?

Ans: It symbolizes the liberated and immortal soul.

• What is “intellectual hatred”?

Ans: It is the hatred of a learned mind that destroys peace and happiness.

• What is “Spirit of the World”?

Ans: It means Spiritus Mundi, the world spirit that inspires poets.

• What kind of husband does Yeats wish for his daughter?

Ans: He wishes her a noble husband who values old traditions and customs.

• What is “Horn of Plenty”?

Ans: It means abundance and prosperity, symbolized by an overflowing horn.

• Why is Maud Gonne compared with Helen?

Ans: Because her beauty and proud nature resemble the Greek Helen.

• How did Yeats receive “Lapis Lazuli”?

Ans: He received it as a carved medallion from Harry Clifton on his seventieth birthday.

• What does “Ledaean body” mean?

Ans: It refers to the beautiful body of Maud Gonne, like Leda’s or Helen’s.