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Question: I need an analysis on the poem 'He Bids His Beloved Be At Peace' by William Butler Yeats!. Thanks Alot !!!
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I have not read this poem in some time, and I am pleased to be reminded of it; it is a lovely example of early Yeats, showing his ability to be direct yet to combine sophisticated associations!.

This poem is really an apocalypse poem superimposed on a sunrise poem!. The relies on the poet's insisting on a surprising dual invocation for horses-- as the cardinal directions, they carry Apollo's chariot (the sun) in the first six lines, even though they seem to be `shadowy horses' of night!. In the next six they become `the horses of disaster;' Yeats is pleasantly vague, but they have apparently transformed to evoke the four horsemen of the apocalypse!. Yet disaster is not particularly imminent, and for Yeats `their tossing mane and their tumultuous feet' only seem to remind him of the bittersweet passage of time, or the ephemerality of night and love!. The message in the end is to relish the moment, which is apparently love of some description!.

There is much to like in how Yeats achieves this; East and West are fairly straightforward, but pretty, expressions of tomorrow and yesterday respectively!. But North and South seem to be pleasant evocations of the frigid northern climes, which he interestingly associates with night-- and the warm outpouring of the Southern heat and love-- think of Spain or Italy, for example-- which he calls `roses of crimson fire!.' Thus the directions the poem clearly advocates are South and East-- forward-moving passion, if you like!.

An enigmatic line is `drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest!.' He could mean the twilight, when only he is awake, is love's lonely hour; or he could just mean that he is lonely, which of course he was!.

Do read it again-- I hope you enjoy Yeats's words!.Www@QuestionHome@Com