PART 2 Modernism
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PART 2 Modernism The Arrival, ca. 1913. Christopher R. W. Nevinson. Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. Tate Gallery, London. “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science.” —Albert Einstein, “What I Believe” 1105 Tate Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY 11105105 U6P2-845482.inddU6P2-845482.indd Sec2:1105Sec2:1105 11/29/07/29/07 1:56:301:56:30 PMPM BEFORE YOU READ Yeats’s Poetry MEET WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS illiam Butler Yeats (yats¯ ) is universally regarded as one of the greatest poets Wof the twentieth century. Born into an Anglo-Irish Protestant family in the Dublin suburb of Sandymount, Yeats loved to read and daydream as a child, especially during his summers at his grandparents’ home in County Sligo, where he rode his pony about the scenic countryside and discovered Irish folklore and mythology. with his friend and patron, Augusta, Lady Gregory, and the playwright J. M. Synge. Yeats contributed Irish Romantic The son of a distinguished por- many of his own plays to this theater, including The trait painter, Yeats briefly studied painting but Land of Heart’s Desires. He hoped to unite Catholics turned to writing poetry in his teens. His early and Protestants in Ireland through a national litera- work was influenced by the Romantics, particularly ture that transcended religious differences. William Blake. Yeats even dressed the part of the romantic young poet, wearing a flowing tie, brown velvet jacket, and his father’s old cape and wide- “We should write out our own thoughts brimmed hat. in as nearly as possible the language we When Yeats was twenty-three, he published his first book of verse, and soon afterward a young thought them in, as though in a letter to woman named Maud Gonne arrived at his home an intimate friend.” to tell him that his poetry had moved her deeply. This meeting began Yeats’s long obses- —William Butler Yeats sion with Gonne, an actress and Irish patriot who inspired him to join the fight to free Ireland from British rule. From Romantic to Modernist In middle age, Although Gonne refused Yeats’s many marriage when Yeats reread the poems of his youth, he proposals, she haunted his imagination and became found “little but romantic convention, unconscious a central figure in his poetry. Yeats did not end his drama.” He began to write in a less romantic style pursuit of her until 1916, more than twenty years that more closely resembled natural speech. His after they had first met. He later wrote that it was poetry became less dreamlike and more energetic; a “miserable love affair” and that he might as well his imagery became more economical and his tone have been offering his heart to a statue in a museum. more conversational. “Sentimentality,” he declared, Fortunately, Yeats found contentment in 1917, “is deceiving oneself; rhetoric is deceiving other when he married Georgie Hyde-Lees. people.” Yeats received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. Yeats combined his passions for literature and for William Butler Yeats was born in 1865 and died Irish nationalism by joining the Celtic Revival, a in 1939. cultural and political movement dedicated to Irish independence and to the use of Irish folklore in lit- erature. He also presided over the Irish National Author Search For more about Theatre Society at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin William Butler Yeats, go to www.glencoe.com. 1106 UNIT 6 THE MODERN AGE Hulton Getty/Tony Stone Images 11106-1109106-1109 U6P2App-845482.inddU6P2App-845482.indd 11061106 33/7/06/7/06 44:54:19:54:19 PPMM LITERATURE PREVIEW READING PREVIEW Connecting to the Poems Reading Strategy Drawing Conclusions In these poems, Yeats reveals his thoughts and feelings About Author’s Meaning about a special place and a special person. As you Drawing conclusions is part of the process of inferring, read, think about the following questions: or making informed guesses about what an author • Where would you like to go to find peace and suggests. Because poets often suggest meaning rather renewal? than state it directly, drawing conclusions is essential to How would you describe this place of peace? constructing meaning in a poem. When you draw a • conclusion, you make a general statement that is sup- Building Background ported by evidence. Yeats’s early poems “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” and “When You Are Old” are romantic, lyrical, and dream- Reading Tip: Taking Notes Use a chart like the one like. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” was influenced by below to record conclusions you draw from the details Yeats’s reading of Walden by Henry David Thoreau, presented in the poems. a nineteenth-century American writer, who described his retreat from the city to a simple cabin by a forest Details Conclusions pond. Yeats wrote his poem after the sight of a small fountain in a shop window in London brought the The speaker plans The speaker dreams sound of Sligo’s lake water lapping back into his to build a small of a simple life close consciousness. cabin, raise bees, to nature. and plant beans. Setting Purposes for Reading Big Idea Modernism The Modernist poets were fascinated with contrast and the tension between opposites. As you read, notice how Yeats’s early poetry reflects this characteristic. Literary Element Rhyme Scheme The pattern that end rhymes form in a stanza or poem is known as its rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is designated by assigning a different letter of the alpha- bet to each new rhyme. • See Literary Terms Handbook, p. R15. Juliette Drouet, 1883. Jules Bastien-Lepage. Oil on canvas, 36 x 31 cm. Musée Victor Hugo, Paris. Interactive Literary Elements Handbook To review or learn more about the literary elements, go to www.glencoe.com. OBJECTIVES In studying these selections, you will focus on the following: • analyzing rhyme scheme • analyzing literary periods • drawing conclusions about author’s meaning WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS 1107 Musée Victor Hugo/akg-images 11106-1109106-1109 U6P2App-845482.inddU6P2App-845482.indd 11071107 11/10/07/10/07 10:04:3210:04:32 AMAM William Butler Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,1 1. Innisfree is an island in County Sligo. Yeats had wanted to go And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles2 made: to Innisfree since hearing of it Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, as a child. 3 And live alone in the bee-loud glade. 2. Wattles are walls made of twigs. 5 And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes 3. A glade is an open space in the forest. dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet’s4 wings. 4. A linnet is a small brown songbird. I will arise and go now, for always night and day 10 I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the deep heart’s core. William Butler Yeats When you1 are old and gray and full of sleep, 1. Some critics think that the you Yeats is addressing is Maud And nodding by the fire, take down this book, Gonne, the woman he loved And slowly read, and dream of the soft look and who rejected his proposals Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; of marriage. However, this poem is actually a free 5 How many loved your moments of glad grace, translation of Pierre de Ronsard’s sonnet to his love And loved your beauty with love false or true, Hélène (see page 460). But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars,2 2. Glowing bars refers to the 10 Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled grate in front of the fireplace. And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. Literary Element Rhyme Scheme Which lines rhyme in this stanza? 1108 UNIT 6 THE MODERN AGE 11108108 U6P2U6P2 SeSel-845482.inddl-845482.indd 11081108 33/7/06/7/06 44:07:06:07:06 PM AFTER YOU READ RESPONDING AND THINKING CRITICALLY Respond Analyze and Evaluate 1. Would you like to live in Innisfree or a place like it? 5. In “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” what do you think Why or why not? Innisfree symbolizes, or represents, for the speaker? Recall and Interpret 6. In “When You Are Old,” what does the personifica- tion of love seem to suggest about the woman? 2. (a)List three details from “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” About the speaker’s love for the woman? that describe this special place. (b)What can you infer about this place from the speaker’s descrip- 7. Evaluate the speaker’s tone, or attitude toward the tion of it? subject, in “When You Are Old.” Does the speaker seem disillusioned? Why or why not? Use details 3. (a)What does the speaker hear “in the deep heart’s from the poem to support your answer. core”? (b)What do you think it means to hear something in this manner? Connect 4. (a)According to the speaker in “When You Are Old,” 8. Big Idea Modernism What contrasts does the how does his love differ from that of others? speaker suggest in these poems? (b)What might you infer about the relationship between the woman and the speaker? LITERARY ANALYSIS READING AND VOCABULARY Literary Element Rhyme Scheme Reading Strategy Drawing Conclusions In these poems, Yeats adopts the traditional form of About Author’s Meaning the lyric with a recurring pattern of rhyming sounds.