{"id":521,"date":"2022-12-16T05:20:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T05:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/education\/?page_id=521"},"modified":"2023-03-27T06:59:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T13:59:34","slug":"e212-questions-yeats-spr-2011","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/e212-questions-yeats-spr-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"E212 Questions – Yeats – Spr. 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EMAIL<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0SYLLABUS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0POLICIES<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0| QUESTIONS<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0PRESENTATIONS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0JOURNALS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0PAPER<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0EXAM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Lake Isle of Innisfree\u201d<\/strong> (Lough Gill, County Sligo, Wikipedia)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.  In \u201cThe Lake Isle of Innisfree,\u201d what does the speaker say he wants to do\u2014why will he go to the Lake Isle and what will he do there?  Also, compare this poem to a romantic nature lyric\u2014how does the relationship posited between nature and the speaker in this symbolist-oriented poem differ from that of a romantic poem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Second Coming\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.  What do the last twelve lines of \u201cThe Second Coming\u201d suggest about poetry\u2019s power to render great events intelligible, or to project future possibilities based on present conditions?  Do the last twelve lines clarify the historical situation, or obscure it?  Explain your reasons for responding as you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.  What is the source or \u201cprovenance\u201d of the Sphinx myth referenced in \u201cThe Second Coming,\u201d and what was the point of the original version?  What significance does it take on in Yeats\u2019 modern treatment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeda and the Swan\u201d (Leda, Wikipedia)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.  In \u2018Leda and the Swan,\u201d what is the source of the myth that Yeats employs?  (See the Wikipedia entry above.)  How does the speaker represent the transmission of poetic insight by means of this classical legend?  To what extent does the poem respond to its own question about whether Leda \u201cput on his knowledge with his power\u201d?  That is, what does the poem suggest about the connection between prophetic knowledge and creative power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.  What suggestions does \u201cLeda and the Swan\u201d make about the origins of Greek civilization\u2014how does it represent the foundational moments in the life of a people so important to the development of western history?  What does this poem imply about the significance of Greek myth as a way of understanding history?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSailing to Byzantium\u201d<\/strong> (Constantinople, Wikipedia)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.  The speaker begins \u201cSailing to Byzantium\u201d with the line, \u201cThat is no country for old men,\u201d apparently in reference to the natural world and to youthful human beings.  What is going on in that environment that makes it unfit for an aging person\u2014how does the poet describe it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.  In the second stanza of \u201cSailing to Byzantium,\u201d how does the speaker convey what it means to him to grow old?  How does he represent the relationship between body and soul?  And what becomes his priority, now that he knows his end is near?  How does he present his decision to set sail for \u201cthe holy city of Byzantium\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.  Who are the \u201csages\u201d in the third stanza of \u201cSailing to Byzantium,\u201d and what does the speaker pray for in addressing them?  How does this stanza reinforce the need for (and further specify the nature of) the transformation he must undergo from mortality to a state of being that lasts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.  In the fourth stanza of \u201cSailing to Byzantium,\u201d what resolution does the speaker make about what he will do when he arrives in Byzantium?  What does \u201cByzantium\u201d represent in this poem?  How does this final stanza (and the poem in its entirety) assert the value of artistic form and process over \u201cWhatever is begotten, born, and dies\u201d (6)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmong School Children\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10.  In stanzas 1-4 of \u201cAmong School Children,\u201d the speaker\u2019s stroll among school children leads him to reflect on his present identity and his childhood past.  (Yeats himself held a post as an inspector of schools in Ireland.)  What does  he apparently think of the children before him, and how does he say they regard him?  To what reveries does his presence among them lead him, and what do those reveries mean to him emotionally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11.  How do stanzas 5-7 of \u201cAmong School Children\u201d follow up on the meditation the speaker has already offered on childhood?   What does he suggest about the philosophical systems of Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras, which tried to explain the nature and purpose of life?  Why does he compare the \u201cimages\u201d mothers worship with those venerated by nuns\u2014what insight does he draw from that comparison?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12.  How, and to what extent, does the final stanza of \u201cAmong School Children\u201d resolve the speaker\u2019s quandary over his present identity and his earlier self?  What role does the address to a great \u201cchestnut tree\u201d play in the speaker\u2019s attempt to deal with his disjunctive sense of who he was and is?  And what does the reference to dancing add to our understanding of this problem?  When the speaker asks, \u201chow can we know the dancer from the dance?\u201d  How do you interpret the significance of that question?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cByzantium\u201d<\/strong> (Constantinople, Wikipedia)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

13.  In \u201cByzantium,\u201d what is the holy city like and what seems to be happening in it, now that the speaker has arrived there, as he said he wanted to in \u201cSailing to Byzantium\u201d?  And as for the speaker, what are his experiences, thoughts, and feelings in Byzantium?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14.  How does \u201cByzantium\u201d explore the distance between ordinary human affairs and the world of artistic production?  In \u201cSailing to Byzantium,\u201d the aging speaker seemed to have figured this destination as an answer to his difficulties.  What sort of answer does the present poem turn out to be\u2014do you find \u201cByzantium\u2019s\u201d vision of the eternal city of art satisfying, reassuring, comforting, etc?  Or would some other terms better describe your own response and what you believe to be Yeats\u2019 aim?  Explain your reasons for responding as you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrazy Jane Talks with the Bishop\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

15.  In \u201c<\/strong>Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop,\u201d<\/strong> how is Crazy Jane\u2019s response an appropriate rebuke to the Bishop, who privileges heavenly things at the expense of the body?  How does she drive home her point about the importance of the body?  And how does she explain the soul\u2019s relation to the body?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder Ben Bulben\u201d<\/strong> (Ben Bulben, Wikipedia)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

16.  In \u201cUnder Ben Bulben\u201d who is the addressee from the first stanza onward?  Who must \u201cswear\u201d to do\u2014and then do\u2014what the speaker tells them to?  And who is the speaker to tell them this\u2014where does his authority come from, as this authority reveals itself through the poem\u2019s several stanzas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17.  In the second section\/stanza of \u201cUnder Ben Bulben,\u201d what doctrine about \u201ceternity\u201d emerges?  How should we understand death, according to this doctrine?  And how does the poet\u2019s loyalty to Ireland and its heritage begin to show in this section?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18.  In the third section\/stanza of \u201cUnder Ben Bulben,\u201d what admonishment does the speaker offer about the need for \u201ctension\u201d in human existence?  What does the \u201cviolence\u201d the speaker references do for a person?  And what understanding of life\u2019s purpose does this stanza encourage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19.  In the fourth section of \u201cUnder Ben Bulben,\u201d how does the speaker sum up the ages of art and their effect upon the societies within which they were created?  How did those ages all, in their way, honor the imperatives of form and craftsmanship?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20.  To what extent does the fifth section of \u201cUnder Ben Bulben\u201d suggest that the past can serve as the \u201cstuff\u201d of poetic creation?  What significance does the present play in this regard\u2014that is, what should Irish poets of the speaker\u2019s own time do so that future generations may remain \u201cthe indomitable Irishry\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21.  In the sixth section of \u201cUnder Ben Bulben,\u201d how does the speaker describe his coming to terms with death?  What words does he require to be carve upon his tombstone, and how should they be interpreted?  Does this epitaph refer to the relationship between the poet and his work, or perhaps to that and something more?  Explain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Circus Animals\u2019 Desertion\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

22.  In the first part of \u201cThe Circus Animals\u2019 Desertion,\u201d what trouble is the speaker having as a poet, at least for the present time?  How do you interpret his reference to the \u201ccircus animals\u201d that were always \u201call on show\u201d until he arrived at old age?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23.  In the second part of \u201cThe Circus Animals\u2019 Desertion,\u201d what is the speaker\u2019s point in taking himself (and us) back to his earlier creations in the second part of the poem?  What enabled him to create them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

24.  How confident is he in his ability to recover what has been lost?  What course of action does he decide upon?  The poem concludes, \u201cI must lie down where all the ladders start \/ In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.\u201d  What is the \u201cladder\u201d here, and what is the \u201cbone shop\u201d?  Where does creative capacity originate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edition: <\/strong>Abrams, M. H. et al, eds.  The Norton Anthology of English Literature.  <\/em>8th ed.  Vol. F.  New York: Norton, 2006.  ISBN Package 3 (Vols. DEF) 0-393-92834-9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Lake Isle of Innisfree\u201d (Lough Gill, County Sligo, Wikipedia) 1.  In \u201cThe Lake Isle of Innisfree,\u201d what does the speaker say he wants to do\u2014why will he go to the Lake Isle and what will he do there?  Also, compare this poem to a romantic nature lyric\u2014how does the relationship posited between nature and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"wf_page_folders":[43],"class_list":["post-521","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4694,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/521\/revisions\/4694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}