The Second Coming

Poetry | William Butler Yeats

How does W.B. Yeats Desire for Immortality

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How does W B Yeats desire for immortality and show his attitude to old age in Sailing to Byzantium NU W B Yeats wrote Sailing to Byzantium when he was getting old He felt weak and unwanted in the world of young people So he wanted to leave the real world and go to a holy eternal place Byzantium In this poem Yeats shows that he does not like old age He wants to become immortal through art and spirit Old Age Makes Life Difficult Yeats feels sad because of old age He says that old people are like A tattered coat upon a stick This means old people are weak and useless if they don t have a strong soul He feels that in this world only young people are praised Old people are forgotten So he wants to leave this world of youth Desire to Escape the Real

World Yeats wants to go to Byzantium It is not just a place It is a symbol of a holy and eternal world He wants to go there to learn spiritual things He wants to forget the pain of the body and enjoy the beauty of art and soul So he says O sages standing in God s holy fire He calls on wise people sages to help him leave the body and become something eternal Desire to Become Immortal through Art Yeats says he does not want to return to the human world He wants to become like a golden bird made by artists never dying So he writes Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form He wants to be an artwork that sings forever beyond time death or decay Yeats feels old age is painful and lonely So he dreams of immortality through art He believes the soul can live forever not the body This shows his deep wish to escape time and find peace in beauty

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