Describe the critical summary of the poem, "sailing toe byzantium
Answers
In the poem 'Sailing to Byzantium' William Butler Yeats says that Ireland is not a proper place for old men. They tend to get entangled in some sensual music which obstructs them from gaining the artistic accomplishments of the intellect. The young lovers, the birds in the trees and the fowls and fishes sing the same song of the senses. At the same time these creatures are prone to death.
Ireland is not good for old men whose physical powers are declining. They need to learn the song of the soul and rejoice. But there is no singing school in Ireland where the soul can get educated. The schools are concerned with studying the monuments instead of caring for the monuments of the unageing intellect. So the poet travels across the seas and reaches Byzantium which is a holy city.
In Byzantium he asks the holy sages who were standing in the holy fire like the figures which stand in the gold mosaic work of a wall, to come down from their spiritual position and teach the right kind of song to his soul. He asks them to purify his heart and remove the animal instincts and physical lusts. After that it will be easier to lead him into the artifice of eternity. He wants to be a part of the things which are beyond birth and death.
After coming out of the cycle of nature the poet wants to take a form which has a golden enameling. The Grecian goldsmiths can make a golden bird which can sing to keep the Emperor awake. He wishes to be a golden bird of eternity so that he can be set on a golden bough in the court of Byzantium. This will enable him to sing songs of all times, the past, present and future to the Ladies and Lords of Byzantium. His song will be different from the sensual music. He will sing the monuments of unageing intellect.