Reading Notes Week 13 Part A - William Yeats

The way Yeats writes is interesting to me, and I like the way the poems flow. They are very rhythmic, and have a good sway to the way the lines flow. I really like the poem "When You Are Old," on page 522. Of course, like I've already said, I initially liked how the flow of the poem and the ease at which my eyes read it and I could hear someone reading it aloud. I also like how the last word on the first line and the last word on the fourth line rhyme; as does the last word of the second line and the last word of the third line. (This is present in all three stanza's.) The meaning behind this poem seems sweet; the older we get, we start nodding off and dreaming of our younger selfs. It tells of ones we've loved and lost, until we found that one true man, who stayed by your side until the end.

I also really liked the poem "Leda and the Swan," on page 525. It seems to tell of a woman and a man, who share a love both emotionally and physically. I got the impression that the woman got pregnant, and had a painful birth, "a shudder in the loins engenders there the broken wall, the burning roof and tower..." The poem seems a little sad, as well as painful. Are they not delighted to have a newborn child?