Life of the Soul Revealed in Sailing to Byzantium and Shadows Essay

Life of the Soul Revealed in semivowel to Byzantium and Shadows The view of death from an aged individual can be one of acceptance of his lifes end or one of mystified wonder over the immortality of the soul. Both William Butler Yeats and David Herbert Lawrence take the latter view in their respective poems, Sailing to Byzantium and Shadows. By viewing death as a continuation of their souls life in a different realm of being, they provide a consolatory solution to the fear that death may be the end of their existence. In W.B. Yeats Sailing to Byzantium and D.H. Lawrences Shadows, death is addressed from the viewpoint of one preparing for its eminent arrival Yeats, however, expresses the article of belief that he can live forever when his soul becomes a form of art whereas Lawrence states that death delivers him to the hands of God to send him forth as a new humans. Sailing to Byzantium presents the end of a mans journey through life in which he yearns to, once out of nature, b e err in gold as a work of art. By using the motif of a journey to parallel the end of ones life, Yeats presents Byzantium as the ultimate destination for his mundane body. He contrasts the holy city of Byzantium with the country for the young, a land which he has now departed. In the land of the young, the aged man is but a paltry thing who is out of place among those who are caught in the sensual music. The knowledge that comes with age, including the respect for things immortal, causes the traveler to leave the place that neglects monuments of unageing intellect. The acknowledgment that life is ephemeral is a divisor separating those who reside in the land of the caught young and those who exhibit free action by traveling... ...Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 128-132. Holdberg, Michael. Sailing to Byzantium A New Source and a New Reading. English Language Notes VII (1974) 111-116. Macheice, Louis. The Ash of Poetry. The Poetry of W.B. Yeats. London Oxf ord University Press, 1941. 139-141. Olson, Elder. Sailing to Byzantium Prolegomena to a Poetic of the Lyric. University critical review VIII (1912) 257-269. Panichas, George A. Voyage of Oblivion. Critics on D.H. Lawrence. Ed. W. T. Andrews. Coral Gables University of Miami Press, 1971. 121-123. Perloff, Marjorie. The Rhyme Structure of the Byzantium Poems. Rhyme and Meaning in the Poetry of Yeats. Mouton & Co. Paris, 1970. 122-131. Young, David. Byzantium and Back. Trouble Mirror A matter of Yeats The Tower. Iowa City University of Iowa Press, 1987. 14-29.