Major theme of Yeats poetry

During his lifetime, Yeats saw many ups and downs in his own life as well as in Ireland and the world. So he tried to record most of these ups and downs and tried to interpret them in his own unique poetic way. The result is that his themes cover such wide-ranging areas as love, old age, politics art and aristocracy, violence and prophecy, history, myth, unity of being and country, intellectual hatred, innocence, anarchy and nostalgia.

A romantic longing to escape is one of the major themes of Yeats's poetry. The best example of that is the beautiful poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”. The poem gives a perfect expression of the feeling of nostalgia. In the poem, Yeats reveals his desire to escape away from the din and bustle of town life to the remote island of Innisfree. He intends to build his own cottage and produce his dailies with his own hands. He also wants to be entertained by the sweet music of the birds and insects.

He thinks that the rhythm of nature will lull him into a peaceful sleep. This desire to go in contact with nature is so forceful in him that he can see the place in his imagination. In his mind's eye, he visualises the gentle movement of the lake water:

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore:
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavement grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Yeas's poetry reveals his wares to Irish nationalism. Thus the poem ‘Easter’ 1916 depicts the poet's respect to the Irish nationalist who laid down their lives for the sake of their country. It may be that those persons had led a comic and ordinary their country and ordinary life earlier. But their sacrifice has given a meaning to their lives and as a result, a terrible beauty is born. These people embody the eternal human-like quality. Their permanent stone-like quality can trouble the lives of other people. This is why the poet says-

Hearts with one purpose alone Through summer and winter seem Eachanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream

Irish mythology, legends and personalities form another of Yeats major themes. Easter 1916 is based on Irish mythology and Irish politics. In this poem, we see Yeats's myth-making imagination at work. He transforms and modifies old myths to suit his purpose, he even creates new myths. The opening lines convey an impression that some legendary figures are coming out of the dead past to take part in the activity of the present.

Yeats's sense of history is another of his major themes and the best expression of this theme comes in the great poems “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium”. In “The Second Coming”, the whole of history is seen as gyres or alternating cycles.

According to history the present cycle of history which began roughly with the birth of Christ, is about to end and it is likely to be replaced by another cycle, the ruling authority which may be very terrifying and cruel:

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to he born?

Easter 1916 deals with contemporary Irish history. Sailing to Byzantium is an emphatic reminder of Yeats's keen interest in the historic city of the Eastern Empire and the significance he attached to its art and culture. Byzantium to Yeats stood for that moment in history where religious, aesthetic and practical life were one something never achieved before or since in recorded history.

Old age is the theme of many of Yeats's poems, the most notable hong “Sailing to Byzantium". In the poem, we find that as Yeats is a grown man. It is a country in which all are given to sensual pleasures. Reproductive activity goes on everywhere, men and women, birds, hearts and fish all alike indulge in sensual pleasures.

Many of Yeats's poems have his love for Maud Gonne. Very poignant passing references to his loss of Maud Gonne and her beauty are made in “A Prayer for My Daughter”. In the poem, we also find the theme of intellectual hatred.

According to the poet Maud Gonne had intellectual hatred because of which she acted foolishly and ruined her happiness by marrying John Mac Bride, a worthless “ vainglorious lout” So the poet wishes that his daughter should avoid the fault of Maud Gonne-intellectual hatred.

To sum up, Yeats chose various themes for his poems. He patiently probed into different fields of learning to find the appropriate theme and the means of presenting it to his readers. Even if he took up personal themes he made it universal by relating it to the Irish folklore and mythology.