Sailing to Byzantium

I
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees,
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

II
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

III
O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

IV
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

© J.M. Dent / Everyman, 1990/1994.

Een verzamelbundel met daarin alle gedichten van William Butler Yeats. Dat zijn – in alfabetische volgorde – de volgende gedichten:
• ‘Acre of Grass, An’; ‘Adam’s Curse’; ‘After Long silence’; ‘Against Unworthy Praise’; ‘All Souls’ Night’; ‘All Things Can Tempt Me’; ‘Alternative Song for …’; ‘Among School Children’; ‘Anashuya and Vijaya’; ‘Ancestral Houses’; ‘Another Song of a Fool’; ‘Apparitions, The’; ‘Appointment, An’; ‘Are You Content?’; ‘Arrow, The’; ‘At Algeciras – A Meditation upon Death’; ‘At Galway Races’; ‘At the Abbey Theatre’;
• ‘Baile and Aillinn’; Ballad of Father Gilligan, The’; ‘Ballad of Father O’Hart, The’; ‘Ballad of Moll Magee, The’; ‘Ballad of the Foxhunter, The’; ‘Balloon of the Mind, The’; ‘Beautiful Lofty Things’; ‘Before the World Was Made’; ‘Beggar to Beggar Cried’; ‘Black Tower, The’; ‘Blessed, The’; ‘Blood and the Moon’; ‘Broken Dreams’; ‘Bronze Head, A’; ‘Brown Penny’; ‘Byzantium’;
• ‘Cap and Bells, The’; ‘Cat and the Moon, The’; ‘Certain Artists Bring Her Dolls and Drawings’; ‘Chambermaid’s First Song’; ‘Chambermaid’s Second Song’; ‘Choice, The’; ‘Chosen’; ‘Church and State’; ‘Circus Animals’ Desertion, The’; ‘Cloak, the Boat and the Shoes, The’; ‘Coat, A’; ‘Cold Heaven, The’; ‘Collar-Bone of a Hare, The’; ‘Colonel Martin’; ‘Colonus’ Praise’; ‘Come Gather Round Me Parnellites’; ‘Coming of Wisdom with Time, The’; ‘Conjunctions’; ‘Consolation’; ‘Coole and Ballylee, 1931’; ‘Coole Park, 1929’; ‘Countess Cathleen in Paradise, The’; ‘Cradle Song, A’; ‘Crazed Girl, A’; ‘Crazed Moon’; ‘Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman‘; ‘Crazy Jane and the Bishop‘; ‘Crazy Jane Grown Old Looks at the Dancers’; ‘Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop’; ‘Crazy Jane on God’; ‘Crazy Jane on the Day of Judgment’; ‘Crazy Jane on the Mountain’; ‘Crazy Jane Reproved’; ‘Cuchulain Comforted’; ‘Cuchulain’s Fight with the Sea’; ‘Curse of Cromwell, The’;
• ‘Dancer at Cruachan and Cro-Patrick, The’; ‘Dawn, The’; ‘Death’; ‘Death of the Hare, The’; ‘Dedication to a Book of Stories …’; ‘Deep-Sworn Vow, A’; ‘Delphic Oracle upon Plotinus, The’; ‘Demon and Beast’; ‘Dialogue of Self and Soul, A’; ‘Dolls, The’; ‘Double Vision of Michael Robartes, The’; ‘Down by the Sally Gardens’; ‘Dream of Death, A’; ‘Drinking song, A’; ‘Drunken Man’s praise of Sobriety, A’;
• ‘Easter, 1916’; ‘Ego Dominus Tuus’; ‘Empty Cup, The’; ‘End of Day, The’; ‘Ephemera’; ‘Everlasting Voices, The’;
• ‘Faery song, A’; ‘Fallen Majesty’; ‘Falling of the Leaves, The’; ‘Fascination of What’s Difficult, The’; ‘Father and Child’; ‘Fergus and the Druid’; ‘Fiddler of Dooney, The’; ‘First Confession, A’; ‘First Love’; ‘Fish, The’; ‘Fisherman, The’; ‘Folly of Being Comforted, The’; ‘For Anne Gregory’; Four Ages of Man, The’; ‘Fragments’; ‘Friends’; ‘Friend’s Illness, A’; ‘Friends of His Youth, The’; ‘from Oedipus at Colonus’; ‘From the Antigone’;
• ‘Ghost of Roger Casement, The’; ‘Gift of Harun Al-Rashid, The’; ‘Girl’s Song’; ‘Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors’; ‘Great Day, The’; ‘Grey Rock, The’; ‘Gyres, The’;
• ‘Happy Townland, The’; ‘Harp of Aengus, The’; ‘Hawk, The’; ‘He and She’; ‘He Bids His Beloved Be at Peace’; ‘He Gives His Beloved Certain Rhymes’; ‘He Hears the Cry of the Sedge’; ‘He Mourns for the Change that …’; ‘He Remembers Forgotten Beauty’; ‘He Reproves the Curlew’; ‘He Tells of a Valley Full of Lovers’; ‘He Tells of the Perfect Beauty’; ‘He Thinks of His Past Greatness when …’; ‘He Thinks of Those Who Have spoken Evil …’; ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’; ‘He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead’; ‘Heart of the Woman, The’; ‘Her Anxiety’; ‘Her Courage’; ‘Her Courtesy’; ‘Her Dream’; ‘Her Friends Bring Her a Christmas Tree’; ‘Her Praise’; ‘Her Race’; ‘Her Triumph’; ‘Her Vision in the Wood’; ‘Hero, the Girl, and the Fool, The’; ‘High Talk’; ‘His Bargain’; ‘His Confidence’; ‘His Dream’; ‘His Memories’; ‘His Phoenix’; ‘His Wildness’; ‘Host of the Air, The’; ‘Hosting of the Sidhe, The’; ‘Hound Voice’; ‘Hour before Dawn, The’; ‘Human Dignity’;
• ‘I Am of Ireland’; ‘I See Phantoms of Hatred and …’; ‘Image form a Past Life, An’; ‘Imitated from the Japanese’; ‘In Memory of Alfred Pollexfen’; ‘In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz’; ‘In Memory of Major Robert Gregory’; ‘In Tara’s Halls’; ‘In the Seven Woods’; ‘Indian to His Love, The’; ‘Indian upon God, The’; ‘Into the Twilight’; ‘Irish Airman Foresees His Death, An’;
• ‘John Kinsella’s Lament for Mrs Mary Moore’;
• ‘King and No King’;
• ‘Lady’s First Song, The’; ‘Lady’s Second Song, The’; ‘Lady’s Third Song, The’; ‘Lake of Innisfree, The’; ‘Lamentation of the Old Pensioner, The’; ‘Lapis Lazuli’; ‘Last Confession, A’; ‘Leaders of the Crowd, The’; ‘Leda and the Swan’; ‘Lines Written in Dejection’; ‘Living Beauty, The’; ‘Long-Legged Fly’; ‘Love’s Loneliness’; ‘Lover Asks Forgiveness of His Many Moods, The’; ‘Lover Mourns for the Loss of Love, The’; ‘Lover Pleads with His Friend for Old Friends, The’; Lover Speaks to the Hearers of His Songs in Coming Days, The’; ‘Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart, The’; ‘Lover’s Song, The’; ‘Lullaby’;
• ‘Mad as the Mist and Snow’; ‘Madness of King Goll, The’; ‘Magi, The’; ‘Maid Quiet’; ‘Man and the Echo’; ‘Man Who Dreamed of Faeryland, The’; ‘Man Young and Old, A’; ‘Mask, The’; ‘Meditation in Time of War, The’; ‘Meditations in Time of Civil War’; ‘Meeting’; ‘Memory’; ‘Memory of Youth, A’; ‘Men Improve with the Years’; ‘Mermaid, The’; ‘Meru’; ‘Michael Robartes and the Dancer’; ‘Model for the Laureate, A’; ‘Mohini Chatterjee’; ‘Moods, The’; ‘Mother of God, The’; ‘Municipal Gallery Re-visited, The’; ‘My Descendants’; ‘My House’; ‘My Table’;
• ‘Nativity, A’; ‘Needle’s Eye, A’; ‘Never Give All the Heart’; ‘New Faces, The’; ‘News for the Delphic Oracle’; ‘Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen’; ‘Nineteenth Century and After, The’; ‘No Second Troy’;
• ‘O Do Not Love Too Long’; ‘Oil and Blood’; ‘Old Age of Queen Maeve’; ‘Old Memory’; ‘Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water, The’; ‘Old Stone Cross, The’; ‘Old Tom Again’; ‘On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmund Dulac’; ‘On a Political Prisoner’; ‘On Being Asked for a War Poem’; ‘On Hearing that the Students …’; ‘On Those that Hated …’; ‘On Woman’; ‘O’Rahilly, The’; ‘Owen Aherne and His Dancers’;
• ‘Parnell’; ‘Parnell’s Funeral’; ‘Parting’; ‘Paudeen’; ‘Peace’; ‘Peacock, The’; ‘People, The’; ‘Phases of the Moon, The’; ‘Pilgrim, The’; ‘Pity of Love, The’; ‘Players Ask for a Blessing …’; ‘Poet Pleads with the Elemental Powers, The’; ‘Poet to His Beloved’; ‘Politics’; ‘Prayer for My Daughter, A’; ‘Prayer for My Son, A’; ‘Prayer for Old Age, A’; ‘Prayer on Going into My House’; ‘Presences’;
• ‘Quarrel in Old Age’;
• ‘Ragged Wood, The’; ‘Realists, The’; ‘Reconciliation’; ‘Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland’; ‘Remorse for Intemperate Speech’; ‘Results of Thought, The’; ‘Ribh at the Tomb of Baile and Aillinn’; ‘Ribh Considers Christian Love Insufficient’; ‘Ribh Denounces Patrick’; ‘Ribh in Ecstasy’; ‘Road at My Door, The’; ‘Roger Casement’; ‘Rose Tree, The’; ‘Rose of Battle, The’; ‘Rose of Peace, The’; ‘Rose of the World, The’; ‘Running to Paradise’;
• ‘Sad Shepherd, The’; ‘Sailing to Byzantium’; ‘Saint and the Hunchback, The’; ‘Scholars, The’; ‘Second Coming, The’; ‘Secret Rose, The’; ‘Secrets of the Old, The’; ‘September 1913’; ‘Seven Sages, The’; ‘Shadow Waters, The’; ‘She Turns the Dolls’ Faces to the Wall’; ‘Shepherd and Goatherd’; ‘Sixteen Dead Men’; ‘Solomon and the Witch’; ‘Solomon to Sheba’; ‘Song, A’; ‘Song for the Player Queen, A’; ‘Song of the Happy Shepherd, The’; ‘Song of the Old Mother, The’; ‘Song of Wandering Aengus, The’; ‘Sorrow of Love, The’; ‘Spirit Medium, The’; ‘Spilt Milk’; ‘Spur, The’; ‘Stare’s Nest by My Window, The’; ‘Statesman’s Holiday, A’; ‘Statistics’; ‘Statues, The’; ‘Stick of Incense, A’; ‘Stolen Child, The’; ‘Stream and Sun at Glendalough’; ‘Summer and Spring’; ‘Sweet Dancer’; ‘Swift’s Epitaph’; ‘Symbols’;
• ‘That the Night Come’; ‘There’; ‘There Are the Clouds’; ‘Those Dancing Days Are Gone’; ‘Those Images’; ‘Thought from Propertius, A’; ‘Three Beggars, The’; ‘Three Bushes, The’; ‘Three Hermits, The’; ‘Three Marching Songs’; ‘Three Monuments, The; ‘Three Movements’; ‘Three Songs to the One Burden’; ‘Three Things’; ‘To a Child Dancing in the Wind’; ‘To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing’; ‘To a Poet, Who Would Have me Praise …’; ‘To a Shade’; ‘To a Squirrel at Kyle-na-no’; ‘To a Wealthy Man Who Promised …’; ‘To a Young Beauty’; ‘To a Young Girl’; ‘To an Isle in the Water’; ‘To Be Carved on a Stone at Thoor Ballylee’; ‘To Dorothy Wellesley’; ‘To His Heart, Bidding It Have No Fear’; ‘To Ireland in the Coming Times’; ‘To Some I Have Talked with by the Fire’; ‘To the Rose upon the Rood Of Time’; ‘Tom at Cruachan’; ‘Tom O’Roughley’; ‘Tom the Lunatic’; ‘Towards Break of Day’; ‘Tower, The’; ‘Travail of Passion, The’; Two Kings, The’; ‘Two Songs from a Play’; ‘Two Songs of a Fool’; ‘Two Songs Rewritten for the Tune’s Sake’; ‘Two Trees, The’; ‘Two Years Later’;
• ‘Unappeasable Host, The’; ‘Under Ben Bulben’; ‘Under Saturn’; ‘Under the Moon’; ‘Under the Round Tower’; ‘Upon a Dying Lady’; ‘Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation’;
• ‘Vacillation’; ‘Valley of the Black Pig, The’; ‘Veronica’s Napkin’;
• ‘Wanderings of Oisin, The’; ‘What Magic Drum?’; ‘What Then?’; ‘What Was Lost’; ‘Wheel, The’; ‘When Helen Lived’; ‘When You Are Old’; ‘Whence Had They Come?’; ‘White Birds, The’; ‘Who Goes with Fergus?’; ‘Why Should Not Old Men Be Mad?’; ‘Wicked Old Men, The’; ‘Wild Swans at Coole, The’; ‘Wisdom’; ‘Witch, The’; ‘Withering of the Boughs, The’; ‘Woman Homer Sung, A’; ‘Words’;
• ‘Young Man’s Song’; ‘Youth and Age’.

ERK Niveau:

C1

Schrijver:

William Butler Yeats

Jaar van uitgave:

1990

Aantal pagina's:

868

Tijd waarin het verhaal zich afspeelt:

1850-1950

Plaats van handeling:

Ierland, meerdere plaatsen

Bijzonderheden:

Een bundel met daarin alle bundels en alle officieel gepubliceerde gedichten van W.B. Yeats.

IS HET BOEK VOOR JOU INTERESSANT?

De verzamelbundel ‘The Poems’ bevat 499 gedichten van één van de belangrijkste Engelstalige dichters van de twintigste eeuw. Yeats schreef lange, maar vooral veel kortere gedichten waarin hij thema’s als politiek, liefde, relaties en mythologie verwerkte. Zijn gedichten zijn nog altijd even actueel: zeker voor wat betreft de liefdesgedichten of de gedichten waarin hij de Ierse ‘situatie’ aan de orde stelt.

WAT MOET JE WETEN?

‘The Poems’ heeft een veelheid aan onderwerpen. Wanneer je bijvoorbeeld een gedicht over een klassiek thema leest (b.v. ‘Leda and the Swan’) is het handig wanneer je het mythische verhaal eerst (her)leest voordat je het gedicht probeert te begrijpen. Dat geldt ook voor een politiek geladen gedicht als ‘Easter 1916’: zonder kennis van de Ierse onafhankelijkheidsstrijd tegen de Engelse bezettingsmacht is het gedicht moeilijk te begrijpen.

DE TAAL

De taal van ‘The Poems’ is vaak lastig: Yeats gebruikt de Engelse taal zeer divers. Toch zijn er ook gemakkelijke en toegankelijke gedichten: ‘An Irishe Airman Foresees His Death’ is daar één van.
De alinea’s en de hoofdstukken zijn van een gemiddelde lengte.
Sommige dichtregels van Yeats zijn zeer beroemd geworden – zoals ‘(This is) No country for old men’ (uit: Sailing to Byzantium’).

DE TAAL EN HET VERHAAL

Qua taal is de bundel moeilijk, maar zeker toegankelijk. De gedichten rijmen heel vaak en ze hebben meestal een strak metrum.
De thema’s zijn zeer uiteenlopend: opgroeien, liefde, ziekte, ouder worden, psychische problemen, kerk en (Rooms-Katholiek) geloof, dood, vriendschap, politiek, natuur, enzovoort.
Op basis van deze eigenschappen is ‘The Poems’ een boek met een literair niveau C 5a en een taal-(ERK-)niveau C1.

Schrijfstijl:

William Butler Yeats was een zeer getalenteerde dichter die een enorme liefde had voor het land Ierland, waar hij – als Engelse immigrant van heel lang geleden – altijd oog had voor de zorgen van de mensen.

Actie:

‘The Poems’ bevat gedichten met een beperkte hoeveelheid actie.

Tijd:

De gebeurtenissen in de bundel spelen zich af in de jaren 1880-1940.

Plaats:

De setting van ‘The Poems’ is meerdere plaatsen in Ierland – met de nadruk op het platteland.

Verhaallijn:

Er zijn veel verschillende verhaallijnen in ‘The Poems’.

Verteller:

De bundel heeft ik-vertellers en auctoriale vertellers.

Hoofdkarakters:

De hoofdkarakters in ‘The Poems’ zijn:
• De ik-verteller, de dichter William Butler Yeats;
• Vrienden, familieleden en geliefden van de dichter.

Bijfiguren:

De belangrijkste bijfiguren in ‘The Poems’ zijn:
• Ieren uit alle lagen van de bevolking;
• Politici en vrijheidsstrijders;
• (Rooms-Katholieke) geestelijken;
• Karakters uit de Ierse, Keltische en Griekse mythologie.

Website:

https://poemanalysis.com/best-poems/william-butler-yeats/

Film:

De gedichten uit ‘The Poems’ zijn niet verfilmd. Wel zij er soms citaten uit de gedichten van Yeats gebruikt voor de film (zoals ‘No country for old men’).

Overig:

‘The Poems’ verzamelt de gedichten uit de bundels die van William Butler Yeats werden uitgebracht. Daarbij gaat het om de onderstaande bundels:
• ‘The Wanderings of Oisin’ (1889)
• ‘Crossways’ (1889)
• ‘The Rose’ (1893)
• ‘The Wind among the Reeds’ (1899)
• ‘The Old Age of Queen Maeve’ (1903)
• ‘In the Seven Woods’ (1904)
• ‘The Shadowy Waters’ (1906)
• ‘The Green Helmet and Other Poems’ (1910)
• ‘Responsibilities’ (1914)’The wild Swans at Coole’ )1919)
• ‘Michael Robartes and the Dancer’ (1921)
• ‘The Tower’ (1928)
• ‘The Winding Stair and Other Poems’ (1933)
• ‘Parnell’s Funeral and Other Poems’ (1935)
• ‘New Poems’ (138)
• ‘On the Boiler’ (1939)
• ‘Last Poems’ (1939)

Link naar pagina over auteur

-->Informatie over William Butler Yeats.

Leessuggesties:

Als je dit een mooi boek vond, zou je ook kunnen lezen:
• The Poems van Gerald Manley Hopkins
• The Poems van Dylan Thomas
• New Selected Poems, 1966-1987 van Seamus Heaney

Citaat:

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

Vragen over het boek:

Analyseer de onderstaande gedichten:
1. ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’
2. ‘Sailing to Byzantium’
3. ‘Easter 1916’
4. ‘No Second Troy’