Imagery, Symbolism, and Myth (HSC SSCE English Advanced): Revision Notes

Imagery, Symbolism, and Myth

W.B. Yeats' selected poems use vivid imagery, complex symbolism, and mythic frameworks to explore Ireland's revolutionary period and questions of mortality. Understanding these three literary devices is essential for analysing the seven prescribed poems:

• 'The Wild Swans at Coole'
• 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death'
• 'Easter 1916'
• 'The Second Coming'
• 'Sailing to Byzantium'
• 'An Acre of Grass'
• 'Long-legged Fly'

Understanding the three key elements

Before examining the poems, it's important to understand what these three fundamental terms mean and how they function in Yeats' poetic vision.

Imagery: seasonal, elemental, and apocalyptic

Yeats crafts visually precise imagery that blends natural observation with visionary intensity. His imagery evolves across the poems from pastoral clarity to cataclysmic distortion, reflecting both personal and historical change.

Pastoral imagery in 'The Wild Swans at Coole'

The poem opens with autumnal clarity and natural beauty. Yeats describes the scene with meticulous attention to seasonal detail:

The trees are in their autumn beauty, / The woodland paths are dry

The sibilant sounds in "moonlit clouds" and references to "brilliant creatures" whose "hearts / Have not grown old" create a sense of timeless grace. Aquatic imagery dominates the poem, with swans that "paddle in companionable streams" and whose "wings half-lift". The plosive sound of "splash" and liquid quality of "streams" mimic wingbeats, contrasting sharply with the poet's internal "scatter[ing]" heart.

Elemental imagery in 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death'

This poem condenses imagery to elemental spareness. The airman exists among "clouds above" and experiences the "tumble of the sea and air". The monosyllabic phrase "waste of breath" evokes the isolation of aerial combat. The stripped-back, minimal imagery reflects the airman's existential clarity about his impending death.

Civic-mythic imagery in 'Easter 1916'

'Easter 1916' fractures ordinary Dublin life into mythic register. Yeats presents "vivid faces / Laughing and biting into coffee and bread" - mundane, everyday imagery - which then collides with the paradoxical phrase "a terrible beauty". The heartbeat rhythm of iambic metre pulses through the refrain:

changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born

The transformation is visualised as civil servant "grey" dissolving into sacrificial "stone". This shift from ordinary to mythic imagery mirrors the transformation of ordinary people into martyrs.

Apocalyptic imagery in 'The Second Coming'

'The Second Coming' unleashes apocalyptic distortion with disturbing imagery. The "blood-dimmed tide" and "ceremony of innocence drowned" create a sense of civilisation collapsing. The falcon "turning and turning in the widening gyre" spirals out of control, whilst the sphinxine beast described as "A shape with lion body and the head of a man" moves towards Bethlehem in a parody of Christ's nativity.

Artificial imagery in 'Sailing to Byzantium'

The poem contrasts the "sensual music" of natural life - "fish, flesh, or fowl" - against the artificial permanence of golden "mosaic" and "God's holy fire". The imagery shifts from organic decay to crafted immortality, reflecting the speaker's desire to transcend bodily death through art.

Elemental-shamanic imagery in 'An Acre of Grass'

The poem ignites with elemental fury: "lightning in the blood" and "eagle mind / In the noisy chimney". This shamanic imagery suggests access to visionary power through elemental forces. The violent, electric quality differs markedly from the pastoral calm of 'The Wild Swans at Coole'.

The progression of imagery

Yeats' imagery arcs across the poems from pastoral (Swans) to elemental (Airman), civic-mythic (Easter), apocalyptic (Second Coming), artificial (Byzantium), and elemental-shamanic (Acre). This progression reflects both his personal journey and his vision of historical transformation.

Symbolism: gyres, swans, and historical phases

Yeats draws symbols from A Vision, his 1925 occult system that describes history as moving through interlocking cones called gyres, marking 2,000-year civilisations. Key symbols include swans (representing Phase 28 unity), gold (eternal artificer), and various elemental symbols. These symbols carry both personal and political resonance.

Swans in 'The Wild Swans at Coole'

The "nine-and-fifty swans" symbolise Platonic multiplicity and mystery. The odd number defies pairing (they are "Unwearied still, lover by lover"), yet they paddle in "companionable streams", evoking eternal Celtic grace. The swans' unchanging beauty contrasts with the speaker's "sore heart", symbolising the permanence he has lost.

Falcon and gyre in 'The Second Coming'

The falcon and gyre symbolise the end of the Christian era. When "The falcon cannot hear the falconer", this centrifugal loss represents control breaking down as one historical cycle ends. The spiral widens over twenty centuries, leading to "indignant desert birds" and the sphinx - a creature with "lion body... head of a man" - which represents the rough beast of a new antithetical gyre being born.

Stone in 'Easter 1916'

The poem traces symbolic transformation from "hearts with one purpose" to "hearts of stone". This hardening represents the martyrs' sacrifice - their humanity calcifying into monumental permanence. The oxymoron "terrible beauty" symbolises martyrdom's dual nature: it both transfigures and destroys. The stone becomes immovable, unchanging, separate from the living stream.

Golden bird in 'Sailing to Byzantium'

The golden bird symbolises crafted immortality. The speaker wishes to be "set upon a golden bough to sing / Of what is past, or passing, or to come", rejecting the "tattered coat upon a stick" of his ageing body. Gold represents the eternal artificer - the artist who escapes mortality through permanent art rather than temporary flesh.

Archetypal symbols in 'An Acre of Grass'

The poem invokes archetypal symbols: the eagle (prophetic vision), lightning (daimonic rupture), and the noisy chimney (Promethean fire). These symbols connect to shamanic traditions where elemental forces grant access to higher consciousness.

Civilisational symbols in 'Long-legged Fly'

The long-legged fly symbolises civilisational creativity at crucial moments. Caesar's maps, Michelangelo's painting of Venus with a "long-legged fly upon her thigh", and Anne Yeats at her typewriter synchronise historical genius. The fly's delicate presence represents the fragile concentration required for world-changing work, where "Heaven's part" enters history.

Symbolic interconnections

Myth: Celtic, biblical, and personal mythopeia

Yeats constructs personal mythology by weaving together Celtic lore, biblical inversion, and A Vision phases into historical prophecy. His mythopeia creates a framework for understanding both Irish history and universal human experience.

Celtic mythology in 'The Wild Swans at Coole'

The poem draws on Celtic swan symbolism, particularly the legend of the children of Lir who were transformed into swans and lived for hundreds of years. The nine-and-fifty swans evoke mythic numerology (the odd number suggesting mystery) against mere empirical counting. This Celtic framework positions the swans as eternal lovers existing outside normal time.

Christian martyrdom in 'Easter 1916'

'Easter 1916' reframes the rebels as Christian martyrs. Their "vivid faces" become saintly icons, their execution yields resurrection in the form of "terrible beauty", and daily Dublin becomes a via dolorosa (path of suffering). However, Yeats questions this mythology even as he constructs it, asking whether their sacrifice was truly noble or merely stubborn ("hearts of stone").

Biblical inversion in 'The Second Coming'

'The Second Coming' inverts the Christian nativity story. Instead of Christ being born in Bethlehem, a sphinx emerges - not to save humanity but to herald a new era of chaos. The gyres replace linear Christian eschatology (end-times belief) with cyclical history. This inversion suggests Christianity's 2,000-year dominance is ending, to be replaced by something darker.

Byzantine quest in 'Sailing to Byzantium'

The poem quests after a late antique ideal: the 4th-century mosaics and holy fire of Byzantium. Yeats imagines the sages standing in "God's holy fire" as a way to transcend Christian soul/body dualism. Rather than waiting for heavenly resurrection, the speaker wants to be transformed into an artificial bird now - crafting his Phase 28 artificer identity through art rather than religion.

Shakespearean mythology in 'An Acre of Grass'

'An Acre of Grass' invokes Shakespearean mythopeia: "Hamlet's bare imagination" and "Lear's red-rimmed eyes". The speaker seeks shamanic "frenzy" to access the tragic sublime that Shakespeare achieved. This connects personal artistic ambition to the greatest achievements of English literature.

Classical montage in 'Long-legged Fly'

'Long-legged Fly' creates a montage of classical myth: Caesar (representing Roman founding), Michelangelo (Renaissance recovery of classical beauty through his Venus), and Yeats' daughter Anne (representing modernity). The typewriter "clicking" preserves "Heaven's part", suggesting mythic continuity even in the mechanical modern world. The poem argues that historical genius requires the same delicate concentration across all eras.

Classical heroism in 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death'

The airman secularises classical heroism, particularly Achilles' autonomous aristeia (warrior excellence). He chooses his fate beyond nationalist epic: "Those that I fight I do not hate, / Those that I guard I do not love". This creates a modern myth of existential choice rather than tribal duty.

Mythic unity across poems

Interconnections: imagery fuels symbol, myth structures vision

Understanding how imagery, symbolism, and myth work together reveals Yeats' sophisticated poetic method. These elements don't exist separately but interweave to create layered meaning.

How imagery particularises symbol

Imagery gives concrete form to abstract symbols. The swans' "splash" visualises Platonic multiplicity - we can hear and see the unity Yeats describes. The gyre "turning" embodies historical loss through spiralling movement we can picture. The "blood-dimmed tide" makes civilisational collapse visceral and terrifying rather than merely conceptual.

How symbol drives myth

Symbols become the building blocks of mythic meaning. The Easter "stone" fuels the Christian resurrection narrative - hardened martyrs become foundations for new Ireland. Byzantium's "gold" enables the personal eternity myth - the poet escaping time through artistic transformation. Without these symbolic anchors, the myths would remain abstract philosophy.

How myth links poems

Myth creates coherence across the collection. The Swans' Celtic grace prefigures Byzantium's mosaic permanence - both seek eternity beyond change. The Airman's existential ledger echoes the Acre's eagle autonomy - both prize individual vision over collective conformity. Easter's transformative beast foreshadows the Second Coming's sphinx - both imagine violent historical rupture.

Historical progression

Exam advice for HSC students

When writing about imagery, symbolism, and myth in Yeats' poetry, structure your response clearly and support every point with precise textual evidence.

Thesis structure

A strong thesis might state:

Yeats layers pastoral imagery with gyric symbolism and mythic frameworks, evolving from Swans' Celtic eternity through Easter martyrdom to Second Coming apocalypse and Byzantine transcendence.

This shows you understand the progression and interconnection of the three elements.

Essay structure for Module B

Quotation strategy

Aim for 9-11 quotes per body paragraph. Essential quotes include:

• "nine-and-fifty swans" (Coole - Platonic multiplicity)
• "widening gyre" (Second Coming - historical collapse)
• "terrible beauty" (Easter - oxymoronic transformation)
• "gold mosaic" (Byzantium - artificial eternity)
• "eagle mind" (Acre - prophetic vision)

Band 6 analysis structure

Key terminology

Use sophisticated terms accurately:

• Gyric symbolism
• Oxymoronic transfiguration
• Montagic historiography (for Long-legged Fly's structure)
• Daimonic imagery
• Mythopeia
• Apocalyptic distortion

Practice clusters

Time management