Yeats poetry (1 Viewer)

[heart]

Is anyone doing Yeats?
I am, and i'm kind of confused about what we're actually meant to do for this module in regards to Yeats.
Our teacher's not being very clear on what this essay should be about.

 

[simoneldahr]

i no

itz so weird and confusing what poems are u doing?

 

[heart]

We're doing Easter 1916, Wild swans, second coming, when you are old, Byzantium and Sailing to byzantium.
What are you doing? Does everyone do the same poems?

 

[simoneldahr]

ahhhhhhhhhhh

yeh were doing the same itz ok now but our teachers agve us some study notes and stuff that explaions the poem if u have a mobile i can call u and help ya out and explain it send it to my email lebanese69r@hotmail.com

 

[heart]

Thanks for offering to help, much appreciated. =)
Yeah i kind of understand the poems better know, our teacher gaves us notes too on Yeats which explained it better. Maybe we have the same notes?
Have you started looking for critics, our school is lacking in resources about Yeats - so i'll probably have to look in another library or something

 

[Slidey]

Is anyone doing Yeats?
I am, and i'm kind of confused about what we're actually meant to do for this module in regards to Yeats.
Our teacher's not being very clear on what this essay should be about.

This module is about close analysis of a text or texts.

The focus for Yeats' poetry is obviously going to be the different readings of (ways to interpret) the poems.

Your primary stock-standard reading should be the liberal humanist (or lyric) reading, which involves closely analysing the poem as it reads from the page, assuming no contextual, historical or biographical knowledge. This reading is typically the most powerful and common reading of a poem.

The other prominent reading is the biographical reading, in which the responder knows something about the poet's life and dealings, and uses this knowledge to augment the lyric reading (or perhaps forge a completely different reading altogether, but I think this would be rare).

There are other readings, aswell, though most are pertinent only to specific poems. For example, for Easter 1916, the historical reading is very important.

For your synthesis, you should do a body paragraph as per usual: topic sentence, analysis (perhaps the lyric reading combiend with how the bio reading augments it), evaluation (most notably a juxtaposition between readings: does the bio reading add much to the lyric reading, does it perhaps even weaken it by personalising what was universal in the lyric reading, or does it allow for a completely different take on the poem algother? et cetera).

 

[heart]

Oh that makes more sense on what we're meant to do for Yeats.
Thanks heaps. =P
But where did you find info on different critics etc.
I have some info from critics, but a lot of it is irrevelant and hard to understand completely.
I know there are some critic books on Yeats, but i'm having trouble getting my hands on one.

 

[imano]

does any1 have any info about thompson in citizen kane

 

[Slidey]

Oh that makes more sense on what we're meant to do for Yeats.
Thanks heaps. =P
But where did you find info on different critics etc.
I have some info from critics, but a lot of it is irrevelant and hard to understand completely.
I know there are some critic books on Yeats, but i'm having trouble getting my hands on one.

I don't understand. What's this about critics?

 

[heart]

Sorry the critcs things was something our teacher wanted to do in class.
She wanted to find critics on Yeats, not 100% sure why yet.
I meant to say, where did you find info on different readings and the like.

Thanks =)

 

[HotShot]

we have to

to critical study his poems, that is look into variant readings and so on. I dont understand it either..

 

[hillsdude]

Our teacher got us to do an assessment task in the form of a speech on one of the poems and discuss it's dominant reading, an alternate reading and then justify your personal opinion of the poem. She then took all the speech transcripts and put them in a book for everyone to have a copy of, which is pretty handy.

All you've got to really do is crap on about how Yeats' poetry is a reflection of his own life. It's best to pick three poems each from the so called different periods of his poetry along with their alternate readings to show how his poetry is a reflection of his life and that the poetry has no meaning when it is taken out of context.

Poems i used in my half yearly were When You are Old with theological reading, The Second Coming with Occultist reading and Sailing to Byzantium with a political reading. I scored 18/20

If you can just basically work around the idea of context and the idea that Yeats is an idosyncratic poet you'll go alright...

 

[Slidey]

All you've got to really do is crap on about how Yeats' poetry is a reflection of his own life. It's best to pick three poems each from the so called different periods of his poetry along with their alternate readings to show how his poetry is a reflection of his life and that the poetry has no meaning when it is taken out of context.

Sorry, but I think you'll find anybody well-versed in classical literature would tear you down if you went around saying that Yeats' poetry cannot meaningfully exist independently of knowledge of Yeats' life.

Take one look at Wild Swans at Coole to see how that statement makes no sense. The dominant reading in that poem is the lyric reading! In fact, I'd posit that the biographical reading actually trivialises the poem as it turns big universal ideas and questions into personal insecurities.

Or simply take a look at the Second Coming - which is entirely removed from his personal life (though the occult remains, knowledge of it is not crucial to deriving meaningful reading from the poem).

You do have something when you mention that his poetry is some sort of reflection of his life, but that's concept that would require careful manipulation if it is to be done correctly.

Heart: Well... that's a difficult question to answer. I guess just think of the different ways to interpret a poem. You can just read it straight off the page, you can try and see if there's any connection to the poet's life, you can try and find references to pop culture or history, you can examine it based on modernism or symbolism (two things Yeats experimented with), et cetera.

With each of these, what to do is partially intuitive. For the lyric reading, look at the nitty gritty bones of the poem: rhyme, imagery, connotations, tense, voice, et cetera. For a biographical reading, examine how knowledge of the poet's life changes or adds to your understanding of the poem, or gives you a new way to interpret it. I haven't covered the historical, symbolist or modernist readings yet, but for the historical at least, the process would be very similar to the biographical reading.