In many of William Butler Yeats's works, he creates a seemingly inevitable vortex or cycle that history and human lives follow. In The Second Coming, Yeats examines the cycle of history in which a new messiah arrives every two thousand years. In An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, Yeats explores the vortex in which man is trapped, where his current state dies and is renewed. In a broader sense, the poem emphasizes the inevitability of death. However, neither of these two poems acknowledges the possibility of escaping the vortex. Yet, in his poem Sailing to Byzantium, Yeats recognizes a way out of the aforementioned vortex. Through the separation of the soul from the physical body one can transcend time. Yeats uses diction surrounding aging and the motifs of birds and the soul to show the insignificance of mortal life, revealing the desire for the soul to last beyond mortal life through art. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Sailing to Byzantium, Yeats uses the motif of birds to criticize man's tendency to focus on the moment and forget the importance of the soul, a tendency that especially afflicts the young. He describes a world with "Young people in each other's arms, birds in the trees." This description shows the sexual nature of “young people in each other's arms,” taken by their own senses, and compares them to carefree birds. Young people use this sensuality as a distraction from the cycle they are trapped in, but their actions also demonstrate a continuation of the cycle. Young people are so distracted by the physical that they are unaware of their soul and their ability to separate from their physical state. By condemning the actions of the young people, the speaker implies that their youth and vitality are wasted. Like young people, birds also represent the cycle. The birds sing just as the little ones love, but soon they will be blindly overtaken by death because they are too distracted by their singing. The speaker continues his observation that young people lack something greater, their intellect and purpose, when he says that “the seas crowded with mackerel, the flesh of fish or fowl” will breed all summer long. Just like man, animals and all natural things are in a cycle of birth and death of which they are unaware. This highlights the true insignificance of individuals because all natural things will live and die. Furthermore, constant reproduction leads to change and renewal. What will last after the current cycle? The speaker responds to this when he wishes to be “set on a golden branch to sing” like a bird but with a permanence beyond the current whirlwind. Gold and the art created from gold resist death. Art is Yeats's solution to escape the inevitable cycle. The bird in the final stanza, represented by a being singing on the branch, is physically capable of transcending time. Yeats recognizes the vortex in which he is caught when he explores the differences between the aging and younger generations. “This is no country for old men” begins. “That” refers to a changing world that no longer accepts traditional ideas. The speaker separates himself from this new generation by recognizing that he can no longer live in a country designed for them. He continues with the idea of ​​a separation between young and old when he calls attention to the “dying generations”. The idea that generations die creates a cycle: when one dies, another is created. However, this cycle also shows that the young and the old are intrinsically linked; the now young generation will soon become the dying generation. The cycle continues with “Everything that is generated, is born, dies” which highlights thiscontinuous cycle. Unlike aging generations, new generations ignore the “monuments of the non-aging intellect” and therefore do not respect the accomplishments and ideas of their predecessors. Older generations recognize the importance of knowledge and life after death and try to preserve their ideas with “monuments of the intellect that does not age” and thus want to transmit these ideas to younger generations. This idea ties back to the title of the poem. Byzantium, once a great empire, no longer exists and its culture and ideals have disappeared. Even great civilizations face the same cycle as individuals. Like a declining empire, “An old man is but a mean thing, a tattered cloak on a stick.” The older generation is insignificant and has passed its prime and therefore cannot connect with the new generation and convey its ideas. The birds in the first stanza represent the new generation and the tattered old man in this stanza is portrayed as a scarecrow who repels the new generation and therefore cannot convey his ideas to them. The old celebrate “every shred in its mortal guise” while the young focus on the moment and their sexuality creating further separation between the generations. The shreds represent the struggles faced throughout one's life. The older generation has accumulated many scraps or lessons throughout their lives, while the younger generation has not. Older generations recognize the importance of celebrating the knowledge born from the pain of life and the value of the soul over the physical. Even with the recognition of the soul as a separate entity, the heart is “attached to a dying animal” and so the speaker must find a way to allow his soul to escape the physical and transcend into the “artifice of eternity.” Unlike the body, the soul has the capacity to be eternal, but this eternity is established by the things the soul creates. Unlike the natural world, man-made things are not trapped in the cycle and can therefore continue to survive even after the death of their creators. Yeats uses the motif of the soul to emphasize the speaker's desire to be reborn as something that is capable of transcending time. An old man is nothing more than his tattered body, "unless the Soul claps its hands and sings." By personifying the soul, the speaker recognizes the distinction between the soul and the physical body. By allowing it to “clap and sing,” the physique allows the soul to be more prominent. Without this separation the soul is unable to “sing” and live from the past death. For Yeats, this song is poetry. The speaker gives the example of a group that has lived through time: the “wise men who stand in the holy fire of God As in the golden mosaic of a wall.” The sages represent the frieze of the saints and sages of Byzantium as depicted in the Old Testament. The fire alludes to the burning bush of the Book of Exodus. This bush is on fire, but never burns, representing the transformation and removal of impurities. Therefore, the wise, who stand in this purifying fire, have been purified from sin and are able to be reborn because the impure physical being has been removed and the pure spiritual aspects of the soul remain. Fiery sages appear in gold, which symbolizes art, and are therefore able to escape the vortex and transcend time. The speaker wants these wise men to teach him to “be the songmasters of my soul.” By focusing on the soul, the speaker is able to escape the cycle because he is no longer focused on the physical. This song symbolizes the art that allows the speaker to join the wise in eternity. Therefore, the speaker desires a spiritual rebirth in which: "Once out of nature, I will never take my corporeal form from.