is a symbol of peace Purpose of Yeats' Symbols in his Poetry W B Yeats wrote an essay The Symbolism of Poetry published in in which he recounted the function of symbols in his poetry evocation and suggestion In the poem Upon a Dying Lady Yeats himself says that he does not speak but only uses symbols that make the poem unique Prospects of Symbols in Yeats' Poetry Yeats' poetry is full of symbols and he is a symbolist from the artistic sense of the words that's why his symbols have multiple aspects or prospects The Aspect of the Total Mood The symbol in Yeats' poems serves as an aspect of total mood that conveys his symbols' intellectual and emotional qualities Because of the symbols' total mood he has repeatedly returned to specific images and symbols such as the stone bird tree wind sea colours etc Besides the title of Yeats's poems is symbolic and allusive too Easter and The Second Coming of the collection of poetry Michael Robartes and the Dancer are such poems Wherever green is worn Are changed changed utterly A terrible beauty is born Here in these lines green is an emotional symbol of the memory of the martyrs of the independent movement and terrible beauty is an oxymoron-based intellectual symbol for freedom or good governance So the prospect of total mood signifies purity and sovereignty Unification and Perfection For the conjunction of the real and the ideal Byzantium has been used as unity and perfection The poet means that a world of art can defeat the traditional concepts of birth generation and death and ultimately move to immortality It knows not what it is and gathers me Into the artifice of eternity These last two lines of the poem Sailing to Byzantium included in the collection of poetry The Tower clarify the poet's decision of unification and perfection with ideality Supernatural Prospect As we know Yeats' symbols have versatile aspects and his creative faculty cannot be satisfied with only ritual and hypnotic symbols He has been able to give his images of the occult deeply connected to the richness of man's most profound reality with them His famous poems The Second Coming A Prayer for My Daughter No Second Troy etc are replete with the occult aspect of symbols Indeed some revelation is at hand Surely the Second Coming is at hand The Second Coming Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Spiritus Mundi is the best emblem occult prospect to reform the world with a civilized governing system vanquishing anarchy and autocracy Magical Mystery The most outstanding aspect of Yeats' symbols is the magical mystery It has been appreciated for the particular purpose of his poetry In the poem A Song of the Rosy Cross the poet means to say that his beloved has unusual beauty and he has an obligation or responsibility of suffering and pain which he can find that for the archetype of perfect union his suffering and pain in love help him for being more patient He measures gain and loss When he gave to thee the rose Gave to me alone the cross In conclusion W B Yeats' use of symbols is a hallmark of his poetry and plays contributing to their depth and richness While his symbols can be challenging and esoteric they invite readers to explore themes of identity spirituality history and the human condition Yeats' symbolism stays a subject of fascination and interpretation making his works enduring sources of literary and intellectual inquiry