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Yeats's 'Sailing to Byzantium.' (William Butler Yeats)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19940101
Author:Steinman, Michael

William Butler Yeats was strongly influenced by Shakespeare's 'King Lear,' as evident in several references to the play in Yeats's works. An allusion to 'King Lear' that has been missed by critics is found in Yeats's 'Sailing to Byzantium.' Yeats's note to the poem and the image of a singing, golden bird in the poem allude to King Lear's lines when he was imprisoned with Cordelia. In his lines, King Lear speaks of singing in prison as a golden bird did before Byzantians. The lines imply that art and love are fragile but art inspired by love could overcome evil and mortality.

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