Yeats uses his poetry to reflect on his contextual surroundings in a search to understand and attain a Unity of Being

through a contemplation of universal questions and the human condition. The anarchy of Yeats surroundings during a
time of rebellion and war is mirrored by Yeats attempt to align binary oppositions throughout his body of work. Easter
1916 fosters beautiful romanticized and naturalistic themes to present conflicting ideas that attempt to unravel the
constituents of a Unity of Being. Among School Children(1982) further develops this quest that is finally completed in
the revelatory notion of the final stanza that answers Yeats s question on unity. Through an analysis of conflicting
concepts and an equation of immortality and transience as well as dreams and reality Yeats aims to achieve a sense of
harmony. This complex analysis of the human world is made relatable through Yeats unique craftsmanship that adapts
his journey of self-discovery to a shared experience that prompts personal reflection in readers.
Yeats builds a comparison between the perennial state of nature and the transience of mankind in order to understand
the constituents of gaining a Unity of Being. In Easter 1916 Yeats highlights the frailty of mankind as he parallels the
eternal and mutable through his well-crafted metaphor of the stream and the stone. As a stone/to trouble a living
stream. ends in an abrupt full stop that breaks the preceding enjambment of the stanza Yeats foreshadows the
inevitable end humans face. This romanticized metaphor addresses universal themes that build on recognizable natural
elements in an attempt to achieve a commonality with readers who similarly question their mortality. In drawing from
the 1916 rebellion the stone represents the nationalist mentality that sought to stand against the communal stream of
oppression and is forever embedded in history. However the stream depicts the human body that though encasing
patriotic ideals must eventually flow on and meet its end. The longevity of the ideas and the brevity of the human body
is epitomized in the final stanza as we know their dream; enough/ to know they dreamed and are dead. Yeats searches
for an understanding inner peace through a questioning of human mortality that is only answered through its
conceptual development in the final stanza of Among School Children.
Yeats analysis of the human condition is evolved to create an understanding of this concept of a Unity of Being in which
both the mind and the body, the stone the stream, the blossom and the bole, must work in harmony to achieve the selfactualization depicted in the final stanza of ASC. Yeats evokes the image of the chestnut tree as a model of unity and
inner peace as all elements of the tree work harmoniously to ensure annual re-birth. The poem rhetorically reaches out
to readers questioning how can we know the dancer from the dance? to denote that the elements are inseparable
simultaneously encouraging us to mold mind, body and spirit in hopes of achieving the revitalization and longevity of the
Chestnut tree. This depicts how Yeats on going search for harmony throughout his Body of Work as depicted in Easter
1916, is finally completed through a unique understanding of peace as depicted by the Chestnut tree .In equating polar
oppositions of mutability and immortality Yeats aims to achieve a level of inner peace and unity as he reflects on core
human questions and the human condition.
Yeats search for a Unity of being is further developed as he explores the contrast of dreams and reality in the hopes or
resolving inner conflicts and achieving a level peace and unity. Yeats uses an oxymoron in Easter 1916 as a terrible
beauty is born to create a strict opposition that directly contrasts the beautiful Irish dream of independence with the
reality of death and war. The strict opposition of the oxymoron further evokes a sense of conflict in readers to
encourage them to question their own expectations and resolve internal struggles. In repeating this central line
throughout the poem Yeats enforces that nurturing unachievable dreams leads to conflict and disappointment that
stunts an individuals ability to find inner peace.
ASC further builds on these inner disputes through its contrast of an individuals hope for the future and the harsh truth
of physical deterioration and ageing. Through Yeats use of simile The candles lights are not as those/ that animate a
mothers reveries, he replicates reality and the ageing of mankind in the image of a flickering candle light that contrasts
a mothers dream of a marble or a bronze repose. This depicts the intrinsic human desire for eternal youth and physical
beauty and its direct opposition to the inevitability of ageing in human life invites readers to question their own

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expectations of the future. The image of the flame is further adapted in a Ledaean body, bent/ Above a sinking fire
using alliteration to emphasise bent and in turn evoking a hunchbacked image that parallels with the strains of age
encouraging readers to accept the reality of change that is emphasised by the metre shift from two feet to 5 feet . Yeats
concludes that a fostering of unachievable dreams inhibits the path to inner peace and as No beauty born out of its
own despair Yeats condemns lamenting age as no beauty will come of it. In aligning binary oppositions Yeats develops a
sense of conflict in readers that mirrors the internal battle of desires and reality that encourages readers to accept
human nature.
Throughout his Body of Work Yeats has attempted to understand and gain a Unity of Being through his effort to unify
antithetical concepts in manner that resonates with readers. Yeats reflection on humanity is heavily inspired by his
contextual surroundings yet is made to transcend time through his unique craftsmanship that builds commonalities with
readers. Yeats encourages an acceptance of mortality and reality in Among School Children and Easter 1916 as he
compares them with eternity and dreams in the hope of resolving inner conflicts to achieve a state of peace.

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