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2040 / WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Sailing to Byzantium 1

T h a t i s n o c o u n t r y f o r old m e n . T h e y o u n g
In one another's arms, birds in the trees,
— T h o s e dying generations—at their song,
T h e s a l m o n - f a l l s , t h e m a c k e r e l - c r o w d e d seas,
5 F i s h , f l e s h , o r fowl, c o m m e n d all s u m m e r l o n g
W h a t e v e r i s b e g o t t e n , b o r n , a n d dies.
C a u g h t i n t h a t s e n s u a l m u s i c all n e g l e c t
M o n u m e n t s of unageing intellect.

2
An a g e d m a n is b u t a p a l t r y t h i n g ,
10 A t a t t e r e d c o a t u p o n a stick, u n l e s s
S o u l c l a p its h a n d s a n d sing, 2 a n d l o u d e r s i n g
F o r every t a t t e r i n its m o r t a l d r e s s ,
Nor is there singing school b u t studying
M o n u m e n t s o f its o w n m a g n i f i c e n c e ;
is A n d t h e r e f o r e I h a v e sailed t h e s e a s a n d c o m e
T o t h e holy city o f B y z a n t i u m .

3 ;
O s a g e s s t a n d i n g in G o d ' s h o l y fire
As in t h e gold m o s a i c of a wall, 3
C o m e f r o m t h e holy f i r e , p e r n e i n a gyre, 4
20 A n d be t h e s i n g i n g - m a s t e r s of my s o u l .
C o n s u m e m y h e a r t away; sick w i t h d e s i r e
A n d f a s t e n e d to a dying a n i m a l
I t k n o w s n o t w h a t i t is; a n d g a t h e r m e
Into t h e artifice of eternity.

4
25 O n c e o u t of n a t u r e I s h a l l n e v e r t a k e
M y bodily f o r m f r o m a n y n a t u r a l t h i n g ,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
O f h a m m e r e d gold a n d gold e n a m e l l i n g
To keep a drowsy E m p e r o r awake;5
30 Or set u p o n a g o l d e n b o u g h to s i n g
T o lords a n d ladies o f B y z a n t i u m
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

Sept. 1926 1927

1. Yeats wrote in A Vision: "I think that if I could
be given a m o n t h of Antiquity a n d leave to spend
it w h e r e I chose, I would spend it in Byzantium
[now Istanbul] a little before Justinian opened St.
Sophia and closed t h e Academy of Plato [in t h e
6th century c.e.]. . . . I think that in early Byzan-
tium, maybe never before or since in recorded his-
tory, religious, aesthetic and practical life were
one, that architect and artificers . . . spoke to
the multitude and t h e few alike. T h e painter, t h e
mosaic worker, t h e worker in gold and silver, t h e
illuminator of sacred books, were almost imper-
sonal, almost p e r h a p s without the consciousness
of individual design, absorbed in their subject-
m a t t e r a n d that t h e vision of a whole people."
2. T h e poet William Blake ( 1 7 5 7 - 1 8 2 7 ) saw the
soul of his dead brother rising to heaven, "clapping
his h a n d s for joy."
3. T h e mosaics in San Apollinaire Nuovo, in
Ravenna, Italy, depict rows of Christian saints on
a gold background; Yeats saw t h e m in 1907.
4. I.e., whirl in a spiral.
5. I have read somewhere that in t h e Emperor's
palace at Byzantium was a tree m a d e of gold and
silver, and artificial birds that sang [Yeats's note].