Expectations Failed: Different Shades of Disappointment in W. B. Yeats’s Selected Poems

Abstract

In his long literary career that lasted nearly a half-century, William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was a prolific author of diverse fictive and non-fictive works. Along with dozens of lyric poems, Yeats also wrote numerous narrative poems, plays, essays, and reviews. It is apparent that he dealt with variety of themes and subjects in his writings, and one might also arguably expect to observe his engagement in political issues, for he was one of the intellectuals of his day with an Anglo-Irish background. Due to the overwhelming agenda of his day, a sudden wish to retreat appears to be a dominant theme in his works. Nonetheless, his escapism that might explicitly be observed in his poetry could not be limited to the political turmoil. He also suffered from separate disappointments caused by his private affairs as well. Accordingly, this study aims to foreground Yeats’s particular disappointments reflected in his lyrical poems such as “The Lake Of Innisfree” (1890), “When You Are Old” (1891), “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” (1918), and “The Circus Animals’ Desertion” (1939) that emerged from specific incidents.

Keywords

• William Butler Yeats,disappointment,The Lake Of Innisfree,When You Are Old,An Irishman Foresees His Death,The Circus Animals’ Desertion

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