What is Yeats' attitude to old age in the poem Sailing to Byzantium?
PremiumWhat is Yeats' attitude to old age in the poem Sailing to Byzantium In the poem Sailing to Byzantium William Butler Yeats describes a complex and uncertain attitude towards old age The poem written in is one of Yeats' most prominent works and is often regarded as a reflection on the themes of aging art and the search for immortality Intransient In the first stanza Yeats describes the world of nature as transient and impermanent contrasting it with the eternal world of deception and spirituality represented by the ancient city of Byzantium He sees the natural world as being consumed by time and decay The use of vivid imagery such as the salmon-falls mackerel-crowded seas and the young in one another's arms conveys a sense of vitality youthfulness and the cyclic nature of life He says The salmon-falls the mackerel-crowded seas Fish flesh or fowl commend all summer long Whatever