W.

B Yeats was one of the foremost figures of the 20th century literature, he was a pillar of the Irish
Literary establishment and a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats had a long interest
in the art and culture of Byzantium. The aftermath of the WWI and the preparations for the WWII in
motion, the ambience of existentialism surrounded the people, everyone was disturbed physically,
psychologically with poverty on the verge of breaking new heights. Byzantium for Yeats becomes a
Utopia to escape for the grief sickening reality he had to face everyday. He yearning for the city of
Byzantium was heighten by his anxieties that comes crippling in with his old age. These accumulated
in his zeal for ‘Sailing to Byzantium.’

The poem is a poetic rumination steeped in the tradition of the Shakespearean monologue where
the five key themes are emphasised upon: Youth, Old Age, Immortality, Nature and spirituality. These
themes in Sailing to Byzantium, Yeats crafts a poetic exploration deeply infused with existential
reflection. These themes are not only reflective of his personal longing but are heightened by the
backdrop of a world scarred by war and existential anxieties. Hence there is a need to devote
emphasis on these themes individually:

Youth

The poem opens by portraying youth as a time of sensual engagement and lively immersion in the
world, symbolized by images of “birds in the trees” and “one another’s arms.” However, Yeats views
this stage as inherently bound to the natural cycle of decay and death. Youth, with all its beauty and
vigor, is fleeting and, in Yeats’ eyes, lacks the depth of intellectual and spiritual pursuits. He critiques
the “sensual music” of youth’s distractions, suggesting that it blinds young people to the lasting
wisdom of “monuments of unageing intellect.”

Old Age

Old age, for Yeats, brings with it a sense of marginalization and physical decay. He describes the aging
body as a “tattered coat upon a stick,” revealing his perception of physical decline as a burden. Yet
this burden also fuels his yearning for a transcendental escape to Byzantium, where he can transcend
the constraints of the flesh and enter a state of perpetual wisdom and artistic beauty. Byzantium
symbolizes a sanctuary where he can be freed from the relentless passage of time, experiencing a
form of existence that values intellect and soul over physical vitality.

Immortality

For Yeats, the desire for immortality is deeply entwined with his passion for art. In Byzantium, he
envisions a realm where the soul, purified by “God’s holy fire,” can achieve an eternal state, liberated
from the ravages of time. Through the image of the golden bird, a crafted artifact that sings
endlessly, Yeats symbolizes his aspiration for artistic immortality—a man-made eternity that survives
beyond nature’s cycles. This yearning for permanence through art is his response to the transience of
human life, seeking to leave behind a legacy that echoes through time.

Nature

Nature’s cycles are both celebrated and lamented in the poem. The poem’s opening lines praise the
beauty of natural life “fish, flesh, or fowl”, yet Yeats ultimately sees nature as something fleeting and
bound by decay. This impermanence contrasts with the man-made, enduring quality of the golden
bird, suggesting that human artifice can achieve a form of immortality that natural life cannot.
Nature’s beauty, while rich and alive, is nonetheless transient and caught in the unyielding cycle of
life and death.

Spirituality

Yeats’ spirituality in Sailing to Byzantium does not align with conventional religion. Rather, it is a
blend of various beliefs and philosophies, drawing from Irish folklore, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the
cultural richness of Byzantium, which he reveres as a spiritual utopia. In Byzantium, he envisions a
mystical realm of sages, purified in “God’s holy fire,” where he might find transcendence and achieve
a state of unity between the artistic and the divine. This spirituality is Yeats’ response to his “dying
animal” self, as he prays for guidance from divine messengers to lead him into an “artifice of
eternity,” where he can leave behind the limitations of earthly existence and partake in a higher,
more lasting form of life.

In Sailing to Byzantium, Yeats employs a rich tapestry of symbols to illustrate the complexities of the
immortality of art, spirituality and the longing for intellectuality. These symbols serve as markers
within his poetic journey, shaping his existential quest for transcendence and the unity of art and
spirituality. The symbols showcased in this poem are :

Byzantium

The city of Byzantium represents the ideal aesthetic, and transformed existence. It symbolizes a far
off, unfamiliar civilization where art is for its’s own sake and whose religion is in an exotic form.
Byzantium is often referred to as the “Holy City” and is associated with beauty high culture.

Golden Bird

The golden bird symbolizes Yeats' vision of artistic immortality. Unlike natural birds bound to life and
death, this crafted bird sings eternally, representing Yeats’ desire to achieve lasting beauty through
art. It embodies his hope for a "monument of unageing intellect," transcending the limitations of
nature and capturing the enduring significance of the soul.

Music

Music, particularly the “singing- masters” in Byzantium , represents the art of eternity. The poet
hopes to be taken away from his body and become one with the music, achieving a state of
timelessness and transcendence.

Gyre

The ‘gyre’, a spiral shape, is a symbol of the cyclical nature of time and the inevitability of decline and
rebirth. It represents the poet’s acceptance of the passage of time and his desire to transcend it.

Scarecrow

The scarecrow is a symbol of the poet’s own mortality and the futility of human endeavour. It
represents the fragility and impermanence of human , contrasting with the central beauty and
artistry.
The sages in “God’s Holy Fire”

The sages in "God’s Holy Fire" symbolize the spiritual purity and wisdom Yeats seeks. Immersed in
divine fire, they represent transcendence and purification, shedding earthly attachments. The "holy
fire" symbolizes divine transformation, guiding the poet toward enlightenment and an eternal realm
of intellect and art in Byzantium.

The gravity of the poem’s main argument lies in the opinionated view of that the Youth of a Human
life though wonderful in its enjoyment is inherently degenerated by the progress of life that is decay.
Yeats poem emphasised the swift decay and death of everything natural, the smooth sailing youth is
followed by death that is crippling in our fate day by day. The numerous analysis of Yeats, ‘Sailing to
Byzantium seems to generate two main groups: critics like John Crowe Ransom states, ‘the poem is
more magical than religious and its magnificence a little bit forced.’ The other are of praises of the
poem for its perfect structure and its magnificent exaltation of art.

The overall relevance of the poem is that Yeats creates his utopia in Byzantium as a distant and
arcane land that he could use as a transport portal for the existential problem of the present that
was crippling him. This utopia of Yeats is much like how Coleridge uses Xanadu as a paradise in Kubla
Khan as a paradise and this feature is used by many writers to create their own world of escapism.
Yeats decides to travel to Byzantium and later to eternity where age is not an issue unlike his present.
World he will be able to transcend his physical life. The world that the poet wants to leave to Sail to
Byzantium is transfixed by the ‘sensual music’ of its birds singing which foreshadows the decaying
multitudinous bodies. The poem presents the theme of spirituality, the reference of this spirituality
by the poet is different and does not centre around asceticism. Yeats own private religion after his
early rejection of Christianity was indeed a hodgepodge, containing at various times elements of Irish
folklore, his exposure to Hinduism, Buddhism and especially in his later years the culture of the
Byzantium Empire about the time of Justinian.

Yeats in the humility of his religious attitude in this poem prays from his weakness as a dying animal
that the messenger form God’s holy fire may lead him into the artifice of eternity that he yearns for
The poem deals with the contradictions and contrasting aspect between Old age and Youth, and the
eternal tranquillity that the city of Byzantium brings with its magnificent art which he wishes to be
one so that he can last for eternity .Yeats specific attitude towards Byzantium that is most relevant to
the poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ is expressed in A Vision, where he states, ‘ I think If I could be given
a month in antiquity and leave to spend it where I chose, I would spend it in Byzantium.’

In conclusion, Sailing to Byzantium stands as a testament to Yeats’ masterful intertwining of personal

longing and universal themes. Through his exploration of youth, old age, and the pursuit of
immortality, the poem becomes more than just a reflection of one man’s quest for transcendence—it
embodies the struggle against the inexorable passage of time. Byzantium, depicted as a haven of
artistic and spiritual permanence, symbolizes an aspirational escape from the impermanence of
nature and human frailty. Yeats’ intricate use of symbols such as the golden bird, the sages, and
music elevates his vision of art as a path to immortality, framing his journey within a larger existential
and spiritual context. His yearning for an "artifice of eternity" encapsulates the poet’s desire to
outlast the transient physical world, ensuring that his art continues to resonate and inspire across
generations, and on this note we would like to conclude our video, Thank You.