Poet’s Desire for Immortality in Sailing to Byzantium
‘Byzantium’ symbolizes the world of
intellect and the spirit and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ symbolizes a mental orientation,
a psychological change from a mentality which values the pleasures of sexuality
and the flesh to one which values things of the mind, the spirit
and the soul. As an old man the poet finds the physical world meaningless and
sets sail for Byzantium. As soon as he reaches there, 
he prays not to God, but to God’s saints to come down from heaven and teach him the appreciation of art. The sages are great artists of Byzantium who created in the past “monuments of unageing intellect”, and who are its guardian angels so to say. He visualizes them “standing in god’s holy fire”. The fire is a symbol of purification and it does them no harm for they are supernatural. The poet invokes them to come down with a rapid spiral movement and to teach him how to enjoy the beauty of art. They should purify his heart of all physical passions, for he is old like a dying animal incapable of any physical enjoyment. So he prays to them for absorption into the “artifice of eternity”. In short, the poet prays to the saints to grant him an eternity such as is enjoyed by the art of Byzantium.
he prays not to God, but to God’s saints to come down from heaven and teach him the appreciation of art. The sages are great artists of Byzantium who created in the past “monuments of unageing intellect”, and who are its guardian angels so to say. He visualizes them “standing in god’s holy fire”. The fire is a symbol of purification and it does them no harm for they are supernatural. The poet invokes them to come down with a rapid spiral movement and to teach him how to enjoy the beauty of art. They should purify his heart of all physical passions, for he is old like a dying animal incapable of any physical enjoyment. So he prays to them for absorption into the “artifice of eternity”. In short, the poet prays to the saints to grant him an eternity such as is enjoyed by the art of Byzantium.
No comments:
Post a Comment