poetry analysis: (sailing to byzantium) W. B. Yeats, 1927

Sailing to Byzantium acts as a reflection of Yeats's own concerns about aging, the impermanence of life, and his yearning for a form of transcendence through art. The journey towards the mythical Byzantium is representative of the ancient beauties of immortal art and Yeats's yearning to solidify his soul in something of permeance. Earth's fleeting and sensuous nature emphasises the "dying generations" of their abundance in the rich world exists in the cyclical "begotten, born" die. His once young self can no longer be appreciative of his mortality, and the terminal failures of his aging body represented by the metaphor "a tattered coat upon a stick". The third stanza highlights the idea of transformation and transmutation. Yeats speaks of a "golden bird" that represents the spirit of an artist. He wants to be consumed by the fire of this bird's singing, which symbolizes the idea of artistic creation and immortality. Yeats sets his sights on Byzantium, an ancient and culturally rich city that represents an idealized realm of art and intellect. He wants to sail to Byzantium as a means of transcending the limitations of the physical world. He asks for the sages of Byzantium to take him into their community. The poem primarily employs metaphorical and symbolic language to convey its themes, and it does not make use of numerical or mathematical elements, including Roman numerals, within its text. In the final stanza, Yeats contemplates his own mortality and the idea that he, as an old man, is no longer a part of the world of the young and vital. He believes that his soul, once it has been purified by the flames of artistic inspiration, will become an eternal work of art. He concludes by declaring that he has become an "artifice of eternity" rather than a mere mortal.