Therefore, neither the living nor the non-living gives any permanent satisfaction to their worshippers. Sons break their mother’s heart by growing old and stones cause grief by never changing. ![]() Both the images cause grief to their worshippers. The images in the churches which are lighted by candles are made of marble ad bronze but the images worshipped by mothers are of human figures. The images that saints worship are different from the images that are worshipped by mothers. The poet talks about holy nuns and mothers who worship illusions and mere phantoms. The poet concludes that it is useless to mourn over the loss of youth and beauty. Despite, being so knowledgeable and wise, they became old with time and looked like scarecrows. What the poet wants to say is that all these qualities of these philosophers were of no use to them. He was a great musician and claimed that he could hear the musical sound of the planets that moved around the orbits. Then the poet brings up another great philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras who claimed that he had golden thighs. Aristotle whipped Alexander to make him learn but the latter learnt very little from him. Plato explained the world as the reflection of God’s ideas. Here, the poet refers to some of the eminent philosopher’s theories. Thus, the process of life will continue and mothers too must forget how their child will look in their old age. The ‘honey of generation’ is the drug which makes the new born forgets the memories of pre-natal freedom. Therefore, in such situations, sons would no longer bring joy to their mothers for the pain they have to bear during childbirth. If they could see the ugliness off their sons, they would not take the trouble of bearing children. The poet then talks about the mothers who could see how ugly their sons have turned in their old age. He tells us that we must keep smiling and love the way we are and even if we have turned into a scarecrow, we should be comfortable being a scarecrow. There is no profit cribbing over the loss of youth and beauty. ![]() However, he believes in the idea that no matter how he looks he should have a smiling face. The poet says that though he was not very handsome but he was presentable. According to the poet, when Maud Gonne was old, she had hollow cheeks and looked old and decrepit but still she looked beautiful like a piece of some Renaissance art. He recalls her when she was an old woman. The poet, W.B Yeats continues to dwell upon the image of his beloved, Maud Gonne. The poet’s imagination runs wild and he sees his beloved standing before him as a living child. The poet finds resemblance in one of the girls who have the same color of cheeks and hair like his beloved had. Maud Gonne was even compared to ‘daughters of Swan’ i.e., Helen who was a very beautiful woman. The poet thinks of the sad event that his beloved Maud Gonne once told him, he starts looking from one girl to another wondering if any of them resembled Maud Gonne in her childhood. The poet had always sympathized with her till their souls had blended into one like the yolk and white of an egg. Yeats recalls an incident when Maud Gonne told him about those petty incidents of reproofs imposed on her by her teachers and how the teachers caused great unhappiness to her and turned her entire into a tragedy. The poet stands there in front of those little girls and recalls Maud Gonne that she must have once been a little girl at school too. The poet then passes through the school and comes across the female students who remind him of another Ledaean beauty, Maud Gonne with her well chiseled Leda-like classic features. The children stared with wonder at the poet- who was then a sixty year smiling public figure to them. ![]() The poet observed that all these were taught to the children through modern techniques of teaching. They were also learning how to read books, how to cut and sew clothes and be neat and clean in everything that they did. The poet saw that the children were learning arithmetic and singing. She was assigned the task of showing the school to the poet and to answer his enquiries. The poet says that he was received by a nun who wore a white hood. This is how the poet describes his visit. “Among School Children” was written after the poet’s visit to a convent school. The poem reflects on the theme of meditation of life, love and the creative process and stands out for the poignancy and profundity that it holds. It was composed by Yeats after visiting a convent school in Waterford, Ireland in 1926. The subject of the poem revolves around the interpretation of matter and spirit. “Among School Children” by W.B Yeats is considered as one of the most difficult poems.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |