In this autobiographical poem, the reader is introduced to Anne Yeats the duaghter of William Butler Yeats, the author of said poem. The one important factor to remember about this poem is that Anne was born in 1919, the same year in which the poem was written, so this poem is for his daughter.
In the first stanza the reader finds Yeats pacing the floor due to his mind not being settled due to the birth of his daughter. There is a storm outside as well as a storm inside due to the reader's apprenhension of what I can only assume that he does not believe in his skills as a father. The second stanza continues with the sentiment yet it is not until line13, that the speaker reveals that he has gone over in his mind the future of his daughter.
In the third stanza, I feel as if it has a Sleeping Beauty, the fairies gifts to the new born baby. Each fairy gave a gift, one was beauty the other song and before the final gift could be bestowed thats when the evil fairy gifts death. So with Yeats he asks that his daughter be granted beauty, yet there was a stipulation that her beauty. Yeats wanted her to be beautiful yet to have a kind heart and never let her beauty overshadow her heart. Yeats goes into giving examples of how beauty can be a curse, he uses Helen (Helen of Troy) and Aphrodite (goddess of love) to show how with their beauty they found life difficult.
The following stanza has Yeats hoping that Anne has roots as well as many branches. This reminds me of the saying about giving a child roots and wings. This is the hope for all parents for their children. The stanzas that follow the reader find Yeats wanting the best for his daughter. He wants her to have a mind and be able to speak her mind as well as have a self esteem. He wants his daughter to be happy.
The last stanza is the most sentimental in my opinion, Yeats is hoping that his daughter finds a husband that will allow his daughter to thrive as he has done. Yeats like all parents wish for, pray for and hope for a happy child that is happy, thriving and well adjusted.
Tony,
ReplyDeleteVery good synopsis of and commentary on Yeats's poem, with an insightful comparison to the fairy tale. The reliance solely on paraphrase and summary, though, in the absence of any textual support, really weakens the success of this post.
I agree that this is a sentimental poem, and I think the imagery you recall does a very good job of showing this. I think it lets us into a completely different part of Yeats.
ReplyDeleteI really like your analysis of this poem. Yeats was kind of hard for me to follow in the readings. I agree that the imagery and specific details you use helped to paint a better picture and relating that story to Sleeping Beauty helped me immensely! I went back and looked at this poem after reading your blog and it actually made sense!
ReplyDeleteI like how Yeats use Greek Mythology in his poem. Your analysis was great and gave a lot of detail. Being unaware of knowing how to be a good parent is a personal storm, and the fact that a lot of people really want their newborns only to be beautiful should take not from Yeats that beauty is not just exterior. To get the total package your beauty has to also be interior.
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