Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Byzantium": Variations of a Byzantine Song

Abstract

W. B. Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Byzantium" draw almost all major critics' attention; in these poems there appear both Yeats' ultimate visions of Byzantium and his idea of what an artist is to be. But critics tend to read the two poems separately, which will not reveal the true meanings the poet wants to convey, despite the fact that both poems have a common root. This paper attempts to point out this neglect and compare "Sailing to Byzantium" and "Byzantium" by making connections between them and by keeping an eye on the key images, in particular, the image of the golden bird both in "that country" and Byzantium in the two Byzantine poems. This paper concludes that these two poems are to extol artists' artifacts and their difference results from Yeats' change in view of life in different health conditions.