{"id":352,"date":"2014-06-19T16:30:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/?post_type=chapter&p=352"},"modified":"2014-10-17T17:59:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T17:59:48","slug":"byzantium","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/chapter\/byzantium\/","title":{"raw":"Byzantium","rendered":"Byzantium"},"content":{"raw":"[footnote]In \u201cSailing to Byzantium,\u201d written four\u00a0years earlier in 1926, Yeats expresses his desire to be reincarnated as a work of art, a golden bird, living in sixth-century Byzantium (now Istanbul), his ideal city.\u00a0 In this poem, he imagines he has achieved his dream, and he watches as other souls are purified.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nThe unpurged images of day recede;\r\nThe Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed;\r\nNight resonance recedes, night walkers' song\r\nAfter great cathedral gong;\r\nA starlit or a moonlit dome[footnote]Of the sprawling Greek Orthodox basilica, St. Sophia (now a museum).[\/footnote]\u00a0disdains\r\nAll that man is,\r\nAll mere complexities,\r\nThe fury and the mire of human veins.\r\n\r\nBefore me floats an image, man or shade,\r\nShade more than man, more image than a shade;\r\nFor Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth\r\nMay unwind the winding path;[footnote]After death, when the soul is in Hades (the underworld), the bobbin or spool or gyre of life may unwind, in preparation to enter the realm of pure spirit.[\/footnote]\r\n<\/a>A mouth that has no moisture and no breath\r\nBreathless mouths may summon;\r\nI hail the superhuman;\r\nI call it death-in-life and life-in-death.\r\n\r\nMiracle, bird or golden handiwork,\r\nMore miracle than bird or handiwork,\r\nPlanted on the star-lit golden bough,\r\nCan like the cocks of Hades crow,[footnote]To announce a reincarnation.[\/footnote]\r\n<\/a>Or, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud\r\nIn glory of changeless metal\r\nCommon bird or petal\r\nAnd all complexities of mire or blood.\r\n\r\nAt midnight on the Emperor's pavement flit\r\nFlames that no faggot[footnote]A bundle of sticks tied together, used to fuel fire.[\/footnote]\u00a0feeds, nor steel has lit,\r\nNor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame,\r\nWhere blood-begotten spirits come\r\nAnd all complexities of fury leave,\r\nDying into a dance,\r\nAn agony of trance,\r\nAn agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.[footnote]Here Yeats describes the ritual process whereby the mortal soul is purified to render it immortal.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nAstraddle on the dolphin's mire and blood,\r\nSpirit after Spirit! The smithies break the flood.\r\nThe golden smithies of the Emperor![footnote]Overwhelmed by the number of sprits who come on the backs of dolphins, which in Greek mythology carried souls to the Isles of the Blessed, the goldsmiths call a halt to the purification process, unable to accommodate any more, for now.[\/footnote]\r\n<\/a>Marbles of the dancing floor\r\nBreak bitter furies of complexity,\r\nThose images that yet\r\nFresh images beget,\r\nThat dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented[footnote]From the ringing of the gong, the funeral bell.[\/footnote]\u00a0sea.\r\n\r\n\u2014<\/b>\u00a01933","rendered":"

[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

The unpurged images of day recede;
\nThe Emperor’s drunken soldiery are abed;
\nNight resonance recedes, night walkers’ song
\nAfter great cathedral gong;
\nA starlit or a moonlit dome[2]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0disdains
\nAll that man is,
\nAll mere complexities,
\nThe fury and the mire of human veins.<\/p>\n

Before me floats an image, man or shade,
\nShade more than man, more image than a shade;
\nFor Hades’ bobbin bound in mummy-cloth
\nMay unwind the winding path;[3]<\/sup><\/a>
\nA mouth that has no moisture and no breath
\nBreathless mouths may summon;
\nI hail the superhuman;
\nI call it death-in-life and life-in-death.<\/p>\n

Miracle, bird or golden handiwork,
\nMore miracle than bird or handiwork,
\nPlanted on the star-lit golden bough,
\nCan like the cocks of Hades crow,[4]<\/sup><\/a>
\nOr, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud
\nIn glory of changeless metal
\nCommon bird or petal
\nAnd all complexities of mire or blood.<\/p>\n

At midnight on the Emperor’s pavement flit
\nFlames that no faggot[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0feeds, nor steel has lit,
\nNor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame,
\nWhere blood-begotten spirits come
\nAnd all complexities of fury leave,
\nDying into a dance,
\nAn agony of trance,
\nAn agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Astraddle on the dolphin’s mire and blood,
\nSpirit after Spirit! The smithies break the flood.
\nThe golden smithies of the Emperor![7]<\/sup><\/a>
\nMarbles of the dancing floor
\nBreak bitter furies of complexity,
\nThose images that yet
\nFresh images beget,
\nThat dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented[8]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0sea.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/b>\u00a01933<\/p>\n

  1. In \u201cSailing to Byzantium,\u201d written four\u00a0years earlier in 1926, Yeats expresses his desire to be reincarnated as a work of art, a golden bird, living in sixth-century Byzantium (now Istanbul), his ideal city.\u00a0 In this poem, he imagines he has achieved his dream, and he watches as other souls are purified. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. Of the sprawling Greek Orthodox basilica, St. Sophia (now a museum). ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. After death, when the soul is in Hades (the underworld), the bobbin or spool or gyre of life may unwind, in preparation to enter the realm of pure spirit. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  4. To announce a reincarnation. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  5. A bundle of sticks tied together, used to fuel fire. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  6. Here Yeats describes the ritual process whereby the mortal soul is purified to render it immortal. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  7. Overwhelmed by the number of sprits who come on the backs of dolphins, which in Greek mythology carried souls to the Isles of the Blessed, the goldsmiths call a halt to the purification process, unable to accommodate any more, for now. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  8. From the ringing of the gong, the funeral bell. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["william-butler-yeats"],"pb_section_license":"public-domain"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[54],"license":[78],"class_list":["post-352","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-william-butler-yeats","license-public-domain"],"part":324,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2413,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/352\/revisions\/2413"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/324"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/352\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/englishliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}