BYZANTIUM - W B YEATS

 BYZANTIUM - W B YEATS

The unpurged images of day recede;

The Emperor’s drunken soldiery are abed;

Night resonance recedes, night-walkers’ song

After great cathedral gong;

A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains

All that man is,

All mere complexities,

The fury and the mire of human veins.

Before me floats an image, man or shade,

Shade more than man, more than a shade:

For Hades’ bobbin bound in mummy-cloth

May unwind the winding path;

The mouth that has no moisture and no breath

Breathless mouths may summon;

I hail the superhuman;

I call it death-in-life and life-in-death.

Miracle, bird or golden handiwork,

More circle than bird or handiwork.

Planted on the star-lit golden bough,

Can like the cocks of Hades crow,

Or, by he moon embittered, scorn aloud

In glory of changeless metal

Common bird or petal

And all complexities of mire or blood.

At midnight on the Emperor’s pavement flit

Flames that no g=faggot feeds, nor steel has lit,

Nor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame,

Where blood-begotten spirits come

And all complexities of fury leave,

Dying into a dance,

An agony of trance,

An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.

Astraddle on the dolphin’s mire and blood,

Spirit after spirit! The smithies break the flood,

The golden smithies of the Emperor!

Marbles of the dancing floor

Break bitter furies of complexity,

Those images that yet 

Fresh images beget,

That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.

ed. mastanappa puletipalli

“Byzantium” is a poem by W B Yeats that explores themes of spirituality, art, and the search for eternal truths. The poem is part of Yeats’ later works, which often delve into mystical and philosophical themes.

The poem is divided into pour stanzas, each with a distinct focus, it draws heavily from Yeats’ interest in Byzantine art and culture, using Byzantium as a symbol of a timeless, ideal realm. 

In the first stanza, Yeats describes his weariness with the physical world and its limitations. He belongs for a deeper connection with a spiritual realm, seeking a place where he can find a new kind of inspiration.

The second stanza shifts to the image of  sages’ gallery in Byzantium, where holy images come to life and speak. Yeats portrays the sages as individuals who have transcended the mortal world, seeking eternal life and spiritual truth.

The third stanza introduces the character of the Emperor, who is a symbol of spiritual transformation. The Emperor is associated with the mythical figure of a bird, the Byzantine emperor’s soul transformed into a mechanical bird, representing the soul’s transcendence beyond mortality.

In the final stanza, Yeats himself longs for a similar transformation, expressing a desire to be reborn in the form of singing bird. He wishes to escape the human condition and achieve a state of artistic and spiritual perfection. 

The poem as a whole reflects Yeats’ personal quest for spiritual fulfilment and his fascination with the mystical and eternal, using the imagery of Byzantium as a symbol of an ideal, timeless realm where art, spirituality, and immortality intertwine.