Yeats essay HELP (1 Viewer)

[sanjanaramachandran1]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if there any English Advanced experts who can help me to break down and simplify the following question for a Yeats' essay please, "

"In your view, how does Yeats’ portrayal of the complex nature of inspiration contribute to the enduring value of his poetry?"

I really can't understand.

Thanks heaps.
Sanjana

 

[doggossigh]

How does Yeat use different techniques to show his ideas of inspiration to make his poetry memorable and worthwhile?

Portrayal --> the techniques used in his writing
Complex nature of inspiration --> What is inspiration? What are the values associated with inspiration? What is YEAT'S opinion/ideas about inspiration (where does it come from etc.)
Contributing to the enduring value of his poetry --> How does his portrayal and his points about inspiration make his poetry memorable, unique and effective in shaping the reader's opinion of this (how does he 'convince' the reader that his opinion about inspiration is correct and relatable to the reader).

Basically you need to approach it in:
1. What techniques does Yeats use (do this in your standard quote, technique, effect or 'STEEL' paragraph or whatever you were taught)
2. How do these techniques show his opinion on inspiration? What is Yeat's stance on inspiration/how is it portrayed in his writing?
3. What does this portrayal leave on this audience to make it memorable and lasting? How does he make his opinion valid and relevant to us? Link points 1 and 2 to strengthen your reasoning.

I hope this makes sense and helps, but this is just my perspective on the question. I would probably ask your peers to see what they are writing about.

 

[MrSir]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if there any English Advanced experts who can help me to break down and simplify the following question for a Yeats' essay please, "

"In your view, how does Yeats’ portrayal of the complex nature of inspiration contribute to the enduring value of his poetry?"

I really can't understand.

Thanks heaps.
Sanjana

Please check your private message for more information

 

[planetblue]

Late answer, sorry, but hopefully this can help other people.

"In your view, how does Yeats’ portrayal of the complex nature of inspiration contribute to the enduring value of his poetry?"

To simplify: In your opinion, how does Yeats' show the good and bad side of inspiration, and how does this make his poetry have a timeless appeal?

This looks tricky at first, but it's actually a pretty versatile question. Inspiration can be, but not limited to (haven't done Yeats in months, this is from the top of my head), the following:
- Maud (be careful how you write about her. She's good to mention for context, and she was his actual muse, as we all know. Link it with the below)
- ageing
- time
- love
- loss
- war
- passion

These things inspired him to write. Some of his inspiration is positive, some of it is negative and causes him pain (I'm looking at you, Maud and old age!). Hopefully, your teacher should have gone over these themes with your class. The words, "complex nature of inspiration" were actually cloaking the fact that you DO get to write about these themes.

Now, the "contribute to the enduring value of his poetry" is easy peasy. We have to write about it anyway, in any English essay that we do, except this module actually puts it in the question. How does the way that Yeats writes his poetry still resonate with contemporary audiences? Well, for instance, he was feeling conflicted in Easter 1916 (and that is an example of the complex nature of inspiration - he didn't think there was a right answer, and his confusion/conflict shows how inspiration can lead to more questions rather than answer them). As the audience, we still feel like there is no right answer. It's an enduring struggle. The words "enduring", "timeless" and "tension" are great to use for this module in particular.

So, if I had to answer that question in one sentence, using Easter 1916, it would be something like this (this could possibly be a LINK sentence):
Yeats shows that conflict can produce inspiration that has no direction, and can cause eternal confusion over bravado and morals.

Boom badda bang bang bang. I'm so sorry for any teachers or decent English students who see this and are like, "she's so wrong". I'm trying here.

Obviously, the word "portrayal" in the question is asking for techniques, like any other English essay. As was mentioned above, the STEEL structure is great if you're lost. Although, it should be more like STEEEEL for the HSC, or if you really want to go there, STEELEEL.

Enjoy!