How does Yeats render transcend death as a theme in “Sailing to Byzantium”?

How does he hope to

transcend death?

Yeats sadly coveys that his country does not want old men anymore. Yeats has
become a grown old and his youth has gone away by course of time. And now he feels low
and believes that he is now useless and his country does not need old men’s contribution
anymore. Young men with enormous strength are only allowed to live in his country.
Everyone makes fun of old men thinking that what a mere old man can do to for his society
and country? Old men are only burden and waiting for death’s arrival. Moreover, he says
that a society forgets a man’s contribution when he grows old. Everyone behaves as if old
men are nothing but a scarecrow standing in the crowd without any aim. He feels bad,
depressed because he hates being a useless old man. 

Yeats understands that life travels around a circle. This circle is called the circle of
life and no one can break and surpass it. It is a never-ending loop.  It is nature that all man
born, they lives for some time in the world and then they dies. And after this someone else
is born again to replace. It is an universal phenomenon. But Yeasts wants to run away from
this loop to a place to gain something beyond death.

Yeats again says that he wants to break the circle. His desire is to go far beyond of
the life and death. He wants to transform/convert himself into a different being. To seek
that power of becoming an energy which is beyond death, Yeats decides to sail to
Byzantium. In this poem “Sail” is symbolizing the phase of transformation. He wants to
transform into an energy which is untouchable and does not have any fear of death.

Then he gets to know about an ancient city called Byzantium. Historically, Byzantium
was the city of ultimate resource of art and craft. And we know that art and craft never dies.
Because when human creativity transforms into arts and craft, it becomes immortals.

Yeats knows, human body becomes old and weak over the course of time.   And then
people lose their dignity and other young people only show sympathy and make fun of
them from behind. After that these old men die. But Yeats says he has no intention to loss
his consciousness by dying.  Rather he wants to transform his presence into an eternal
spirit. He believes that once he can blend himself with Byzantium’s arts and craft, he can
remain for eternity in this world where he will guide people with his undying intellect. 

So at the end we can say, Yeats hopes to transcend death by converting himself into a
piece of art which will remain forever.