Introduction of the Poem:
The poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ was published in ‘The Tower’ in 1928. This poem belongs to the third period of his poetic life when he was concerned to explore and express the intricacies of a private mythology. In the poem he has used his philosophical symbolism that has made the poem difficult. Byzantium is the name of a city but according to most of the critics it is symbol for some abstraction. A critic remarks, “Yeats is writing about an ideal city: Byzantium has become for him a Utopia, a symbol of holiness, of perfect craftsmanship, and of Ireland's future achievement in the arts: it is the world of intellect and spirit, as distinct from the world of the senses.”
In spite of attempts to interpret the poem in relation to this or that philosophy, it remained obscure till the end of 1970s. Then it was interpreted by Indian Scholars in relation to the Upanishads. It gave them a clear meaning. In 1937, Yeats translated with Purohit Swami, ‘Ten Principal Upanishads’. In ‘The Black Tower’ and ‘Under Ben Bulben’ he represented the central theme of the Gita. So, the poem has been interpreted in the light of Upnishadic symbolism. According to it, ‘Byzantium’ is a symbol of the city of the Soul. A human being is made up of three things, the first thing is mortal body, the second thing is the subtle body that stays in the human heart, it is the abode of ten Indriyas, and the third thing is the Atman or the Self that stays in the Buddhi as the first principle of intelligence and prana.
Summary of the Poem:
Life is a voyage through childhood, youth and old age. The poet has journeyed through the field of youth. The country (the field) of youth is worthless for the old people. The young people walk with arm - in - arm and enjoy the pleasures of Indriyas. The birds sing and mate in trees. The Salmon fish abound in rivers; and they copulate there. Mackerel fish crowd the seasonal mate there. In this way fish, animals, birds and all other mortal creatures are busy copulating and enjoy sensual pleasures during their youth. When their children are born they become happy, but when they die the young creature are sad. Caught in the mashes of the sensual music, all young men and women do not pay any attention to the great city of the unaging soul.
An aged man is a worthless thing if his soul does not clap its hands and sings in praise of God. He is like a scarecrow in tattered clothes if he does not use his time in singing of the glory of God. As a matter of fact, his soul must sing louder and louder to expiate for every sin done by his bodily form. But the soul cannot sing, there is no tradition that says that the soul can sing. But there is a tradition in Upanishads that the soul can study through yogic Samadhi the greatness of its own nature. Therefore the poet has come to the soul's holy city of Byzantium crossing the seas of worldly attachments, bondages and desires.
The poet addresses the powers of the senses and says that these sense organs or Indriyas stand in God's holy fire called Prana or they are like the Rishis standing in the fire of penance, or they are like coloured stone pieces in the mosaic work of a wall. He calls them to leave their places in his body, and go back to his soul. They may return to his soul as a hawk returns to its starting point on earth after flying in a circular way in the sky. These powers should guide his Soul to realise the Self. His soul should be purged of all worldly ills. His Soul is sick with desires. Being tied to the mortal body it does not know its real nature. His sense organs should help him to attain the yogic Samadhi in which his Soul may see its unaging and eternal form.
If once his soul comes out of the bondage of Nature, and attains Yogic Samadhi, he shall never assume bodily form for any worldly pleasures. He shall sit still and straight in the Samadhi as if he were a gold statue made and coloured by Greek goldsmiths in order to keep his Soul awake. His Soul is the Emperor of his physical and material universe, and still a little sleepy with worldly attachments. He shall make his Soul sit upon a golden bough of the Samadhic tree to admit to the Manas and the Buddhi and to the Indriyas, the Samaskaras of its past lives, those of the present life and the effects of those Samaskaras in future.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
‘Sailing to Byzantium’ is one of the famous poems composed by W. B. Yeats. It is his first poem of his poetic volume ‘The Tower’ published in 1928. One critic remarks, “It was composed on September 20, 1927 after the poet had suffered from great fever. At the time he was sixty two years old. He was detaching himself from the world, and often studied the Upnishads and Patanjali's Yog Sutra.” According to Upnishads, a human body consists of the gross body, the subtle body and the Atman. The gross body is born, ages and dies. The subtle body in immortal and dissolves in the elements on the last day of the universe. It stays in human heart and is of the size of a thumb. The Atman dwells in the subtle body, and as such, it is called Jivatman, or the Self. The Self is glorious, and its glory turns the subtle body golden.
Byzantium:
‘Byzantium’ was an ancient city and capital of the Easter Empire (395. 1453 A.D.). It was famous for the architecture, gold enamelling, gold mosaic, gold ornaments, and golden buildings. But Yeats employs ‘Byzantium’ as a symbol for the city of the Soul in his living human form. He has given the poem the title, ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. He implies that he has been sailing across the seas of worldly thoughts, desires, fears and expectations etc. with a view to arriving at the city of Byzantium. He means that he has been journeying towards the realisation of the Self. A critic remarks, “Behind the physical Byzantium which is vividly conceived, there is present the symbolical city of the Unity of Being, the kingdom of artistic imagination and ‘monuments of unaging intellect’. The poet of aged in body, troubled with desires is on a mental voyage out of his native country, which is given over to youth and sensual pleasures.”
The Contents of the Poem:
The poet turns his back upon the country of youth because it is not fit for the life of the old men who have become physically and sensually weak not able to enjoy sensual pleasures of the world, young men and women embrace one another, fish swarm in the water, mate and copulate, birds sing in the trees out of the excitement of mating season. All are busy in the sensual urge of procreation. Such life is fit only for the young. They procreate, and get attached with their young ones. But they are unhappy when their young ones or children die. The sensual pleasure and sexual life charm them so much that they do not get any time for the upliftment of their soul which is eternal and ever shining.
In the second stanza the poet says that an old man is worthless for sensual life. He is like a scare - crow if his soul does not sing in praise of God's glory. It must sing songs in praise of God to expiate for its sins committed by means of its gross body. The fact is that the soul cannot sing songs. A sin is Samaskar on the mind, of a sinful act. To expiate for its sins it has to realise its own glorious nature in Yogic Samadhi. Once it has realised its own glory, it transcends the walls of its mind - body prison and shines over it as the sun of its physical and mental universe. The poet has given up the world and come to the holy city of Byzantium or to the stage of attaining to Yogic Samadhi.
The poet is seated on his Yogic Samadhi and prays the powers of bodily senses to withdraw themselves into his mind, shine upon his soul, and burn up all the worldly ignorance surrounding it. It is still sick with desires. Being shut up in the body – mind prison, it does not know its real nature. Finally the poet prays these powers to lead him into Shat Samadhi in which his soul may be conscious of being eternal and self - shining. Once he is in the state of Shant Samadhi he shall not come out of it for any kind of pleasure or worldly possession. In that state he shall free his soul from the shackles of body - mind prison completely. Then his soul may see the Samaskaras his present life and those of his past lives and the prospective fruits of all those Samaskaras in future.
The Images:
The images used in the poem evoke the power of enchantment and the pathetic transience of the life within it. The young lovers, the singing birds, the fish swarming in the waters all sing joyfully in praise of procreation and sensual pleasures, but natural mortality makes them unhappy. The young are in the heat of procreation but the old men are worthless if they do not devote their time in the realisation of their self. The old man is à scare - crow: ‘a tattered coat upon a stick’. Human body is a ‘mortal dress’. This is an image from ‘The Gita’. There is ‘the gold mosaic of a wall’, and a hawk coming back to the ground after making a circular flight in the sky. In the last stanza Soul is seen as ‘set upon the bough of a golden tree’. All these images and metaphors are appropriate to the subject of the poem. They give us a complete picture of youth and old age. The old should devote their time to the world of intelligence, spirituality and art— ‘the monuments of unaging intellect’, then only they will find some meaning in their life.
Symbolism:
There are Upanishadic symbols in the poem. ‘Byzantium’ is the symbol of the city of the soul - the subtle body. Manas and Buddhi have been represented as ‘Monuments of unaging intellect’. The powers of bodily senses and sense organs have been represented as ‘sages standing in God’s holy fire’. The sea is a symbol of countless desires, expectations, fears, hopes etc. ‘A drowsy Emperor’ is the Soul as the Emperor of the body - mind universe. ‘Lords’ are Manas and Buddhi, and the ‘ladies’ are the Indriyas in the subtle body.
The Poetic Diction:
The poem has 32 lines. They have been divided into four stanzas of eight lines each. The metre used is iambic pentameter. Each line consists of five iambic feet, ten syllables. Some lines have extra syllables at the end for the sake of rhyme. Each stanza has a rhymed couplet. The lines are rhythmical and lyrical. There are alliterations, rhymes, half rhymes and cadences as in the following lines:
“Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all the summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.”
The rhythm is iambic but characterized by a variety of falling rhythm. The diction is simple dignified, literary and symbolic. The polysyllabic words are few. Monosyllabic and disyllabic words are used profusely. The style of the poem is romantic. The feelings of the poet become warmer and warmer gradually in the ensuing stanzas. The poem is a perfect piece of art.
Conclusion:
‘Sailing to Byzantium’ has a good effect on a number of readers all over the world, influencing their thinking and feelings. The poem draws our attention to the real aim of life, the upliftment of the Soul. It tells us that to remain attached to the worldly pleasures is our weakness. The Indian scholars have discovered the key to open its symbolism. The key is Upanishadic philosophy and Patanjali's views on Yogic Samadhi. Interpreted with reference to the philosophy of Upanishads and Yog - Sutra, it gives us clear meaning and weighty thoughts. It is one of Yeats ' best poems and establishes his greatness as a poet.
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