William Butler Yeats’ The Magi Essay -- The Magi Essays

William Butler Yeats The Magi Briefly stated, William Butler Yeats The Magi is a song about state who, upon reaching old age, or perhaps undecomposed older age, turn to God and the spiritual world for fulfillment and happiness. We atomic number 18 told in the footnote to this numbers that, after writing The Dolls, Yeats looked up into the good-for-naught sky and imagined that he could see stiff figures in procession. possibly after imagining these figures, Yeats debated within himself whom these pictures could represent. Yeats then went on to write The Magi, a poem which is full of symbol, a literary technique that he greatly valued. In the first two lines of the poem, Yeats writes Now as at all measure I can see in the minds eye, / In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsated ones. Yeats is saying that when he looks into the blue sky, towards paradise above, he is reminded of all those people who ease up spent their lives playing the hazard. These people have achi eved great success and have many extraordinary things, such as their stiff, painted clothes, but still they feel as if their lives ar incomplete. Despite everything they own and the pride they feel in what they have accomplished, they argon not quite happy with their lives as a whole. The fourth part line of the poem, With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones, clarifies for me that Yeats is talking about people of an older generation. He is certainly not talking about unsatisfied twenty- or even thirtysomethings. Yeats uses simile in this line to describe faces that are well worn. These faces belong to people who have experienced the stresses and strains of life. They are no longer vibrant and distinct, but are instead bland and unremarkable. These are people who ... ...and successful and are turning to God for solace. They are choosing to enjoy and revere him in the hopes of finding everlasting peace and happiness. Perhaps Yeats wrote this poem out of frustration with his own life. Maybe he felt that he also was one of the pale, unsatisfied ones. He may have been essay with the strains brought upon him by success. He may also have been going by means of a time of indecision in regards to his own spiritual life. whatever the reason for his writing The Magi, Yeats wrote a poem rich in symbolism and imagery that many people could then, and can now, relate to on a very personal level. References Ellmann, Richard and Robert OClair, eds. The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, 2nd edition. New York W. W. Norton, 1988. Urdang, Laurence, ed. The American ascorbic acid Dictionary. New York Oxford UP, 1995.