William Butler Yeats

I like this poet. He seems to be able to create complex emotions in his works without addressing them directly. In his poem "Sailing to Byzantium." I felt very sad for the speaker. The speaker is old. He sees the eternal art of the ancients and knows that he can never even come close to becoming permanent as they are. He knows he will die, and this fact is reminded to him over and over as he is surrounded by the cosmopolitan city he travels through.

Life is passing, art is forever. We saw this theme in Keat's "Ode to a Nightingale," but in a more positive sense. I think the speaker of Yeats poem, was addressing art in an almost jealous nature.



I must confess that I have not finished reading all the way through Great Expectations. It has become a sort of a surprising pleasure read (who would have thought), and I resist the urge to Spark note it out, because I really have enjoyed the first two thirds.

This weeks is devoted to finishing my web page.