Poetry is a strange beast. Even if my life depended on it, I could not write a good verse. Maybe I lack the passion or the rhythm. In that way, it’s rather like art or music. I love those, too, but am not good creating at them.
Though poetry isn’t my medium of expression, I can drink it. A good poem fills me with intensity. It takes the insanity of life and arranges those disparate pieces in an order that shapes into meaning. It lays out a path in the wilderness and takes me to places I never knew existed...in my own mind. There's happiness, sorrow, fear, anger, forgiveness, love, and every other human feeling. I can emerge from a book of poetry much like I emerge from listening to good music or taking a swim in cold water on a warm day: refreshed and rejuvenated. I’ll skip the massage; give me some Coleridge or Dickinson.
Some people are intimidated by poetry just as others are frightened of art, wine, or fashion. Don’t be. Snobs have created their own vocabulary to give their own lives value, but that does not prevent you from participating in the same spheres. View, drink, or wear what you want. Like it, hate it, or react to it honestly and in your own words. Don’t let snobs tell you it's not your place because you belong also. And don't let trendsetters tell you what to follow. Make your own direction.
One of my favorite poets is William Butler Yeats. When I was in college, I actually went to Ireland for a semester just to study Yeats’ poetry; that’s how important it was to me. His poems span a broad section of life’s experience and I find a lot of wisdom in them.
W.B. Yeats had several dimensions. As he moved through the phases of his life, his poetry evolved in style and choice of subject matter, though his reference points were surprisingly consistent. Yeats was an Irish nationalist and he grounded much of his poetry with names and symbols from Irish life. Both Irish and classical mythology were important to him. He observed nature and he had an interest in the supernatural, yet he made his poetic journey through the human world. And from an early age, Yeats could be described as an old soul, bringing both maturity and weariness to his writing.
Nothing ages a person like a long, unrequited love interest. For much of his life, Yeats was in love with a woman named Maud Gonne, who was a radical Irish nationalist. She did not reciprocate his interest in her, rejecting his offers of marriage four times, and going on to marry another man, which must have broken the poet’s heart. Though Yeats did have a physical affair with her later and eventually went on to have a happy marriage with another woman (and numerous affairs on the side), Maud Gonne was his unrequited muse.
Maud Gonne
Here are three poems from that part of Yeats’ life. For anyone who has not read Yeats before, these provide a great entry point, and from here there are many more poems to discover. You can see how he suffered and poured his heart into his poetry. Would it have been so passionate if he had not been torturing himself with his thoughts for Maud Gonne? Often, it seems that suffering produces the best art.
No Second Troy
By William Butler Yeats
Why should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
Or hurled the little streets upon the great,
Had they but courage equal to desire?
What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as a fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern?
Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
Was there another Troy for her to burn?
W.B. Yeats
The Sorrow of Love
By William Butler Yeats
The brawling of a sparrow in the eaves,
The brilliant moon and all the milky sky,
And all that famous harmony of leaves,
Had blotted out man's image and his cry.
A girl arose that had red mournful lips
And seemed the greatness of the world in tears,
Doomed like Odysseus and the labouring ships
And proud as Priam murdered with his peers;
Arose, and on the instant clamorous eaves,
A climbing moon upon an empty sky,
And all that lamentation of the leaves,
Could but compose man's image and his cry.
Never give all the Heart
By William Butler Yeats
Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that’s lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.
Needs No Translation
In those three poems, Yeats’ words were plain and he wore his passion on his sleeve. Having begun with some background at the beginning, I’ll let you do the rest of the work of analyzing them. You don’t really need a PhD in literature to do so. Their real meaning is what they mean to you.
Hopefully, you enjoyed this brief poetic interlude.
Yeats statute in his hometown of Sligo, Ireland.
W.B. Yeat's poems are public domain. A great source for poems is the following site: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-butler-yeats
EDIT: I wrote that Maud Gonne rejected Yeat's offers of marriage three times. After looking this up again to confirm it, the correct number is FOUR times that she rejected his proposals, per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._B._Yeats#Maud_Gonne . The number in the text has been updated.
Images are believed to be public domain, except that first image is from Quotefancy.com and last image is used under Creative Commons license via Flickr.com by Marcus Murphy (and cropped by author).
Yeat is a true poetry icon
Poetry to me is a beautiful aspect of art itself.
These are great poems from this great poet.
I have no idea or knew him but his works has spoken for themselves.
It’s 6:41am here and waking up to such beautiful poetry of this man is food for thought and ofcourse inspirational.
Thanks for this early morning inspiration @donkeypong you’re much appreciated
What a wonderful way to wake up! Glad it gave you some inspiration for your new day.
Yeah yeah it does , thanks for the inspiration you know . Keep steeming and touching lives
It is lovely to read a poem that directly to our heart and after reading full of emotion, heartfelt to those have unique style of poem. Thank you @donkeypong. I was a fan of poetry and I am doing it well to in my own words of freedom!
The three poems we saw including No Second Troy
By William Butler Yeats is a testament to the fact that he was going through a phase of crises in the aspect of love the thing is, a writer, a poet are always controlled by what they feel, it's their greatest weapon in creating a poem.
I'm a poet, I've been so for five years out of the five years I wrote heartbreaks for two years because someone I love left me so badly, I could show you some of the link to one of these poems @donkeypong with your permission.
However the thing is poetry is of the soul, and if the emotion is broken, so will the poem
It's definitely a pure language of emotion, whatever that flavor may be. Thanks for the comment.
Sure...why peoples scary to poetry. It has lot of meanings. Peoples must follow there contents lines. Those days and current poets made social problems indeed poetry. It most valuable for fix some problems. So I tell every peoples must need to follow best poems. Thanks for the long information. I'll check it out your link.
Maybe 'intimidated' would be a better word. What I meant was that some people are scared by the literary snobs and their vocabulary, when many of the poems themselves are quite accessible to average people.
@donkeypong, That would be very interesting topical indeed post. William Butler Yeats was a perfect poet I've ever seen. I had heard some of his poetry as well. Poems serious giving us inspiration and cool feelings. Currently I lost my poetry skills coz I long term didn't used. I remember my school time, I created lot of naturalize poems.
Yep..Seriously poems create us happiness, love etc indeed something. It can forget our stress. Some of past authors shown to the society it's positive thinking process. Actually listen poem how impressive to us. Thanks for the inspiration.
I also like to read poem, sometimes I try to write it in my own language.
thanks a lot dear for sharing such a nice post.
I appreciate your post.
👌👌👌👌👌👌
Just wow what an amazing post with really amazing words and poem.I had heard about him but never seen or listened to his amazing poem.You know what all the words are really motivating .William Butler Yeats literature is just amazing.All the poem has it's own meaning and message.As you said poetry is a beast that i cannot also control but greatest people like William Butler Yeats can do it.So, i cannot write poem but i have heard a lot of poem.Thanks for sharing this amazing poem and inspiring us @donkeypong
Thanks for sharing your perspective and I'm glad you liked these poems.
Poetry is a unique pursuit. Which consumes the hearts of people. Many are afraid of it People like poems for specific topics for a specific period. And what the poets write, how much of the pain is the result of those who understand the thoughtful star.
Yes, well said. I think you are right and I love the "thoughtful star" image.
I am an aspiring poet and reading his poem written perfectly in simple English has indeed set some goals for me. The last one "Never give all your heart" is really good and very very applicable to me.. lol. I give all my heart too often
That's great. Thanks for the comment. If you have time, please follow that link at the end of the post, since there are many more great poems on that site (all free to read, of course).
Will do that buddy @donkeypong
Thanks for sharing with us the work of this great poet. I’m in love with the second poem . The sorrow of love , very captivating. Merci boucoup mon ami
Poem make me feel good inside and my feelings at that moment is free, poems talk about different things, it can be about love, happiness, hate, peace etc,William Butler Yeats poem's are great, he makes you to understand some things in life with he wonderful poems. His statute in his hometown shows that he was really a great man and a role model too. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post
Every man should read novels and literature to bring some relief to the working time. The poems you wrote above are really very extraordinary and thank you very much for presenting some extraordinary poems in this committee 😊
Sir, there are some examples in each poem about each individual's personal life, and the things that you wanted to present in the above poems are really poetic and he has written poems for presenting the subjects which are related to the present time.
Damn! The last one is so moving. I couldn't imagine the aches he had been through or maybe he's just hopeless romantic.
He definitely was a hopeless romantic, but he also had some maturity from an early age.
Ahhh they just don't make 'em like that anymore. The love and pain that poured forth form this era of Yeats has always tugged at my heart. Even the title of your third choice, Never give all the Heart is so telling and so very sad, but like you said, it makes you wonder what his poetry would have been like without his unrequited love.
Thank you for bringing a bit of the classics to steemit. I for one appreciate it very much!
I am not really intimidated,but may be nit taken enough time to study poetry as you did in college!
I first heard of Yeats's from one of Jim Rohn's audio books and he is a great poet...didnt know much especially the suffering..3 times marriage rejection!
Indeed pain sometimes releases something(potential) in us to prove to the other person otherwise.
Thanks for this early morning motivation.
Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've been following your hard work building the community in your country. You're doing a great job.
Thanks for always supporting me sir..I am humbled by your appreciation comment on my community work here .
I appreciate your honesty. But I'm sure you could write some really good poetry. Why? Because you're really inspired by it. I too, like to drink it in. Sometimes it's like a magical place you can go to by reading it.
I hope to read one of your poems soon.
Thank you. It's nice that you are a fellow poetry fan. I'm not a poet, but I like to write prose without having to worry about rhythm (not much of a dancer either).
This is not just poem, indeed it is a life impacting words, of course there is a deep commitment to the word love, not just meaning..... I almost fell of my chair when reading that phrase......'to never give all once heart for love...... It has a deep meaning a sense of it is more than what it really carries..... Well the last I could say is good work @donkeypong. This indeed is not just a poem, but a word for the moment.
What an interesting man, his quote about conviction really resonates with me! Also in the 3rd poem you shared, wow what an intense ending.
Really enjoyed the 3rd one, whats written on his statue thought? Can't seem to get many words out of it.
I've never seen that statue in person, but I imagine it's probably covered with some lines from his writings.
I did some googling out of curiosity and yes, it turns out its some verses from his poems and writings!
Now I know why you are so grounded in writing. Your story about #smt last year was so hilarious like you said in this post
I'll check on the link above. Thanks for sharing such gold info.
Poetry is amazing ,there was a time i had a misunderstanding with my girlfriend,i could remember searching for the best poem to make us back together ,then i came across one of Yeat poem
A DRINKING SONG
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
After texting her this ,i got a text of "I LOVE YOU" from her and our misunderstanding ends just like that. You just made me remember the beautiful old times. Thank you @donkepong
Yes, that's a fun one. It's nice that you used it well. Thanks for sharing.
I just first read the poem by William Butler Yeats because of your post. Well, I agree that suffering produces the best artwork.
I cultivate writing talent by writing short stories and then novels. As for poetry, I may still be like you. It is not easy to conquer poetry, but we can honestly string up words and there is nothing wrong with trying.
It's a poem I'm trying to write about the color of purity in the beautiful of person.
https://steemit.com/poetry/@anggreklestari/easypoetry-18-your-purity-colored-the-meaning-of-love-feat-countrygirl-sajakmendadak-18-kemurnianmu-mewarnai-arti-cinta-b26eb56cb1c23
That's nice. Keep up the good work!
OMG! I'm really glad that you support my post. Thank you very much, Sir @donkeypong I promise to do my best
Once again, thank you very much for your kindness.
'Never Give All The Heart' speaks to me the most of the three selections. Yeats is a master of rhyme, meter, imagery, and repetition. This poem exemplifies all these aspects of his poetry and also hits home on the desperation found in the experience of unrequited love. Having gone through it (like most young men do), I know exactly what he is saying. I'm glad those painful lessons are in the past. 😎
I am very glad you are finally discussing poetry, though for the first time I hear and read the story of WB Yeats. Interesting to know that most poets become poetry when they fall in love. This is experienced by many young people who try to captivate her idol girl with a romantic line of sentences.
But WB Yeats is very different because of his perseverance to fight for his feelings. Four times failed for women alike I think is very painful. Perhaps someone else easily said, why did not he look for another woman? Relationships with a woman are not easy when it comes to hearts and feelings. This can not be understood by logic.
I'm glad WB Yeats chose the way of poetry to express his feelings. Imagine, if he chooses a drug or a weapon because of the failure of love, it is all possible under Irish conditions of the day (today also).
Thank you for your great article @donkeypong. I hope next time you review about Mark Twin, he is very popular in Indonesia.
I remember in HS our English teacher talking about his fondness for Yeats. Good stuff about Love and pouring your Heart in things only to be disappointed. And it all be temporary and fleeting.
He was really an exceptional Poet. Thnak for sharing @donkeypong.
P.S. When I saw his photo above, Actor Bruce Dern came to mind almost immediately :)
Writing poetry is not easy, you have to have imagination.
writing poetry must be in love with life inspired at all times to be a person with dreams to be happy.
Yeat was a great poet ... I recommend you read Mario Benedetti. I assure you that you would like his poetry.
This post is romantic, I enjoyed the line of the poem, most especially the power rhythm adopted plus the rhyme scheme of abab, through run through and the beautiful message embedded.
Actually I know poem included literature came from our deepest mind. Probably if we can find best meditation process sure we can be great poets. That's impressive title @donkepong. Every thoughts created better poems.
Multifaceted Yates's multifacetedness is striking - one of the main figures of the Irish literary revival - and above all, of course, a remarkable poet whose gift did not diminish until the last days of his life. Thanks for the message I enjoyed reading it.
Really awesome...
you are a great writter dear @yeats
I love literature, I spend my free time by reading literature.
It's really good one.
I want to give special thanks to @donkeypong for sharing such a nice post
It is Mind blowing one.
thanks a lot dear for sharing such literature.
it refresh our mind.
I like it dear.
I never thought of loving you, even for a moment.
But what happens is an inverted fate.
I love you from the first time,
when you gently spoken your spoken word and your lug eyes
sued.
Without realizing it, two years already I was
waiting for you.
Covering me with my only love.
I did not have to ask.
Is not love ever need alasa, though
just one letter? Looks like yes ...!
Really sharing a great post.
I am thankful to you for sharing him.
@yeats is a good writer, I also love poetry.
wishing both of your good health.
god bless you dear.
I always love to write and read poems. This is seems very good and comfortable for me. And the person who does not know how to love poetry does not even know how to love people
It's a great creation of writter.
thanks for sharing such a good literature.
just amazing poetry.
thanks to writter who gifted us such a nice poem.
god bless you dear.
literature is the creation.
poem is the beauty of literature.
I also love it...💜💜💜💜
thanks for sharing such a great post...
Poetry is involved in the life of every human being and I have read constantly and novels that give me great joy. Poetry is written by a lot of poetry and he tries to keep poetry related to the life of the person who has presented your poem blog post, very specific Used as a symbol and I have your answer The aforementioned poems are all sound and the content that has been tried to convince them is very strong.
The poems have been written wonderfully and every poem of the authors has stunned every word that attracts every person. I have read all the above poems and I appreciate the writing of poems.
Sir, the above poems that you wrote above are wonderful and I find it very nice content because the poems of each poet are part of their individuality and possess a creative personality; I think the poet expresses his personal life through poetry and how to manage life. They will present the conclusion about that.
A poet can write a poem because of the hard work of his personal life that the poem is introduced in his name and when the poems create light in the whole world, it is a matter of great joy for the poet.
The above poems are admonished for every person's life and every poem has been written for improving the lives of the people.
Sir, thank you so much for your valuable time, I express my heartfelt respect for writing the above poems on blogs 💕
Poetry is not everybodys cup of tea..
After studying the above mentioned three poetry i have the right to say that this poetry is wonderful.
The above lines are full of inspiration, emotional, motivation and giving such a charm feeling our hearts..
This really an amazing poetry describing every lit bit of our life and relates us various prospectives...
Thanks for posting such a wonderful inspiring post ...
Poem and poetry reading and understanding is a great quality of human being. Thanks for those the poet and writer who compose these. "The Sorrow of Love" touched me. I never read it before. Others are awesome. Thanks Sir @donkeypong for sharing the three beautiful poems.
Poetry me is abeautiful aspect of art itself.
These are great poems from this great poet.
I have no idea or knew him but his works has spoken fort themselves.
Thank for this early morning inspiration @donkeypong.
You're much appreciated.
thanks for sharing.
Great poem choice kudos to you truly inspiring. These poem have deeper meaning from within if you tried to read between the lines. It has message
It is very meaningful in poetry. so sometimes only in authors who are able to provide detailed directions to where the writing. beautiful words.
Have you read much of our own resident poet, @johnjgeddes?
I've been following John for a long time. I really love his poetry. He is gifted, and I like to think that my encouragement has increased his output. In any case, knowing that you appreciate Yeats inclines me to think you will also appreciate John... :D
😄😇😄
A Curator Of Asia
A Curator is a source of strength,
A teacher and a guide,
The one his family looks up to
With loving trust and pride…
A Curator is a helper
With a willing hand to lend,
A partner, an adviser,
And the finest kind of friend.
Woke up to see this and i feel blessed and motivated. I am not a fan of poetry that much but they are some that their message is so touching to the soul.
Still getting a glance at it and trying to meditate it till i decode the message they all carries.
Suffering indeed produces the best art. These are tremendous pieces from Yeats.. Brief but with a lot of meaning to them. The last poem has a lot for young people who are looking for partners to pick from. You can never know what someone truly thinks of you. And you should be ready to accept a no from someone you've been chasing.
Poem is such a lovely way of expression, you can't be a good poet if you can't search deep down within you, poet are great thinkers, no wonder their expression speak volumes to the soul of men.
Thank you for sharing W.B Yeast work with us.
I can see in him a man who is filled with so much passion for love but get the opposite of love in turn of his love. The one he thought he love does not repay him for all his love.
Though, he married another women, but the poem shows where his heart belong.
He couldn't get what he wanted as far as love is concerned, so he became buttered and shattered but still able to guide us in retaining some part of us to us no matter how deeply we fall in love.
This is a lesson for all, he can't withstand us all to go the path he went.....
He must have been hurt so badly from his relationship with Maud Gonne.
Very heart felt poems. Beautiful and full of feelings. Thanks for sharing it with us.