Word and Sound in Yeats' "Byzantium" Author(s): David I. Masson Reviewed work(s): Source: ELH, Vol. 20, No.

2 (Jun., 1953), pp. 136-160 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2872074 . Accessed: 19/02/2013 02:54
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ELH.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' "BYZANTIUM" By DAVID I. MASSON I poem has been elucidated The meaningof this remarkable in Review of English Studies, 1946.1 Using by A. N. Jeffares thepartplayed exposition, I wishhereto consider idsadmirable and by alliterativeand assonant patterns by word-repetition of the poem. The and the whole musicallyphoneticstructure symbolscarriesus back to ulseof words as neo-mythological takes repetition Rilke and to Mallarme,and theirincantatory us to the later Eliot. The use of the sound of words as prois almost universalin European poetrywheregramme-music ever lyricalfeeling exists,except in the morerigidor complex its use in "pure" music of such extreme but verse-forms; though richnessas here, for hypnoticor incantatoryeffect, found in writerssuch as Keats and Tennyson,and in such as Eliot and tluard, is above all a Symbolist modernwriters one of the best examples device. Yeats' " Byzantium" affords in Englishof a poemwhichattainsa highdegreeofexpressively as well as a high level of emotionaland musical perfection organisation. symbolic The unpurged imagesofday recede; drunken are abed; The Emperor's soldiery song recedes, night-walkers' Nightresonance After gong; greatcathedral A starlit domedisdains or a moonlit All thatmanis, All merecomplexities, and the mireof humanveins. The fury an image, man or shade, me floats Before Shade morethanman,moreimagethana shade; For Hades' bobbinboundin mummy-cloth the winding path; May unwind and no breath thathas no moisture A mouth
1 "The

Byzantinepoems of W. B. Yeats," RES, 9292 (1946), p. 49-592.

136

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON
Breathlessmouthsmay summon; I hail the superhuman; and life-in-death. I call it death-in-life Miracle, bird or golden handiwork, More miraclethan bird or handiwork, Planted on the star-litgolden bough, Can like the cocks of Hades crow, scorn aloud Or, by the moon embittered, In gloryof changelessmetal Common bird or petal of mireor blood. And all complexities At midnighton the Emperor's pavement flit Flames that no faggotfeeds,nor steel has lit, Nor stormdisturbs,flamesbegottenof flame, Where blood-begotten spiritscome And all complexitiesof furyleave, Dying into a dance, An agony of trance, An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve. Astraddle on the dolphin's mire and blood, Spirit afterspirit! The smithiesbreak the flood, The golden smithies of the Emperor! Marbles of the dancing floor Break bitter furiesof complexity, Those images that yet Fresh images beget, sea.2 that gong-tormented That dolphin-torn,

137

II
MYTH-WORDS AND THE ROLE OF REPETITION

Whole words are repeated in this poem, two, three, four or even five times (sometimes with grammatical modifications). has its part in the general play of alliteraThis word-repetition tion, assonance, and internal rhymes and other phonemic patterns; but it is also of obvious importance as a device for the direct intensification of the emotional and intellectual atmosphere through the affectiveand symbolic associations of the words themselves: it forms an intellectual and emotional
2 Reprintedfrom the CollectedPoems of W. B. Yeats (New York, 1951) withthe kind permissionof the Macmillan Company.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

138 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIIJM"

" music" of its own, with its own supra-logical organisation. Beforethe soundscan be considered qua sounds,it is essential to analyse this aspect of the poem. During the analysis we should bear in mind that Yeats is contrasting the distasteful pullulationof lifewiththe sereneperfection of the ultra-living. Apart from"little" words whose recurrence in any poem is almost inevitable,we have, here classifiedby subject, the following wordswhichare repeatedat least once again either or in modified forms: identically
SUBJECT WORDS STANZA AND LINE NUMBER

The basic antithesis: Light and darkness:

Life Death, dying Lit

Star Moon Substances: Flame Gold[en] Blood Mire Breath Passions: Agony Fury Bitter The Underworld: Hades Shade Spirit Humanity: Man Human Other animals: Bird Dolphin Verbs chiefly suggesting Recede Change and Becoming: [Un]wind[ing] Beget Break Totalityand comparison: All More than Pattern: Complexity Dance General nouns for things Image made: Miracle Handiwork Unclassified: Emperor Gong Mouth Smithy

Night

II 8. I 8, IV 6. I5, III 3, IV 2. IS, 1113. I5, III5. IV 2, 3, 8. III 1, 3, V 3. III8, IV4, VI. I 8, III 8, V 1. II 5, 6. IV 7, 8. 18, IV5, V5. III 5, V 5. II 3, III 4. II 1, 2. IV 4, V2. 16, 111,2. 18, 117. III 1, 2, 7. V 1, 8. I 1, 3. II4. IV 3,4, V7. V2,5. I 6, 7, III8, IV 5. II 2, III 2. I7, III8, IV 5, V5. IV 6, V 4. I 1, II 1, 2, V 6,7. III 1, 2. III 1,2. I 2, IV 1, V 3. 1 4, V 8. II5,6. V 2,3.

13, IVi.

2 3 4

2 2 4 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 4 3 4 2 5 2 2 3 2 2 2

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

139

The repetition of thesewordsunifies the wholepoem as the formulasof a religionunifya liturgy. But it also serves to indicate separate recurrent themeswithinthe poem, some of which contrastwith one another;and the words are used as leit-motifs. To illustrate thisuse,someofthemmay be grouped as follows (words in round bracketsare those which are not repeated but which are important in this grouping; words in square bracketsare paraphrasesand otherinterpolations): 1. Aspectsof life. Complexity Fury Blood Breath of Life [in] Human Man Mouth [normal] Dolphin Moon Star

(Moisture)Dopi

2. Aspectsof the better-than-life.

Golden [gold] Miracle Dance (Life-in-death) (Death-in-life)

Agony

Lit [light] [in] Smage Hades (Dying) [Other contrastsmade with Life] Handiwork

3. Apotheosesof theliving: Man [to]Shade [to]Image [stanzaII lines1-2] Bird [to]Handiwork [to]Miracle[stanzaIII lines1-2] theunliving:

Spirit

Flame

Flames [to] [negative phrases] [to] Flames begotten of flame [stanza IV lines 2-3]

4. Types of the livinganalysed in termsof the wordsconnectedto themin the poem.

Man, human: Bird: Petal: Dolphin: Complexity,Fury, Mire, Blood [in IV]. Complexity, Mire, Blood. Mire? Complexity?, Mire, Blood.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

140 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM" similarlyanalysed. 5. Types of the better-than-living Gong: exceptperhaps](Cathedral), (Tormented). [No associations, (Dome): Lit. Star,Moon, bird: [Artificial] Lit, Golden, Handiwork, Hades, Miracle. Star,Moon, (bough): [Artificial] Lit, Golden. Star, man: [Ghostly] Shade,Death, (Mummy),Image, (Bobbin), Hades. marbles): Dance, Emperor. (Floor,pavement, Flames: phrases]. [negative Dance, (Dying),Lit, Agony, Golden, Emperor. Smithies: 6. Wordsused in both contexts. of the main polarity: Of ambiguousallegianceor independent Image, Beget/begotten, Spirit, Night, Bitter/embittered, Dolphin. Words whose allegianceis clear in theircontext: Lit, Man,human/superhuman, Mouth, Breath/breathless, Bird. The " apotheoses" analysedin 3. above are of coursemetaphorical: they are apotheoses of the words heard in II 1-2, III 1-2,and IV 2-3,not of the thingsdescribed.We must note in 2. and 5. above, that thoughthe poet detestedat thisperiod the pullulation oflifeand wishedto set up againstit something this other glorious,and simple,his images expressing perfect, in thispoemthanthosewhichdescribe are farless unified entity

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

141

the living. The great use of negativesand of words such as "Death," must also be noted. Having thus cleared the groundby some consideration of these words primarily as words,with their atmospheres and associations,I shall as far as possible ignorethese aspects in the ensuinganalyses,and focusprimarily on the sound of the poem, and its use as pure and as programme " music." III
ANDRHYTHM STRUCTURE

The poem consistsof fivestanzas,withtrue or half-rhymes, of whicheach stanza is constructed of eightlineshavingsuccessively5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 3, 3, 5 beats, accents,or feet,and rhymes in the order a, a, b, b, c, d, d, c (of which d is feminine in stanzas II and III). (Stanza I line 6 is best scanned All that man is withthreebeats.) The effect of this general structure is that the long lines of description early in each stanza are followedby two short lineswhichfocusthe attention and slowdownthe psychological tempo,givingthe finallong line of the stanza the impressive effect of a verdictor an epitome. The shortish fourth line with its rockingsound, oftentrochaicin contrastto the generally iambicrhythm of the restof the stanza,has a curiously stirring effect, and preventsthe verse becomingbogged down among the longlines,but in all exceptthelast two stanzas corresponds to a pause in the syntactical flow. In stanza II rhymes b and c have the same end-consonant but are distinguished by a dissonanceof theirvowels (dark in b).

IV
MUSICAL SOUND AND THE PROBLEM OF EXPRESSIVE SOUND

Beforethe sound of thispoem in considered, some examination should be made of the general and rathercontroversial questionof the effects of sound in poetry. As I hope to show later,an important part is oftenplayed in a poem by musical
5

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

142 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM"

patterns,over and above those, such as the rhymes,which forman integralpart of the structure of the verse. Poet and readeror listener may be more,or less, consciousof thismusic, withouttroublingto analyse its mechanics;but the impulse creatingand acceptingit is below consciousness. is how thesepatterns What I wishto consider here,however, the meaning,to colourthe may be used, in part,to underline atmosphere,or even to suggest associations which are not to by the wordsas words. It seems clear that openlyreferred certainsounds tend to be appropriateto certainideas, while othersare inappropriate.Thus under the rightcircumstances soundand sensereinforce or activateeach other, and each seems to receivenew life,a higherlevel of intensity in the reader's or listener's consciousness. But the relationof kinds of sound to kinds of sense is extremelycomplex, and all formulations of this relation will appear too naive and too rigid. Nevertheless, formulations have been attemptedfromtime to time, and fromthe days of Plato it has been sporadicallyclaimed that the sounds of speech,besides its pitch and stress,have particularexpressive The poets themselves functions. have not usuallyhad the time or inclination to discussthe questionin detail,and Yeats himselfis illuminating but vague:3 All sounds . . . eitherbecause of theirpre-ordained energies or because of long association, evoke indefinable and yet precise . emotions However,we possess a few systematic modernattemptsat solving the question, in the theoriesof Sir Richard Paget,4 and Maurice Grammont.6While these M. M. Macdermott,5 cannot be systems followeduncritically, and theirtheoretical foundations appear in some respectsshaky,the observations
'In an early essay " The Symbolism of Poetry," in his Essays (Macmillan, London, 1924), p. 192-3. 'Sir R. A. S. Paget, Human speech (Kegan Paul, London, 1930), p. 135, 137, 154-5,and particularly p. 172-4. ' M. M. Macdermott, Vowel sounds in poetry (Kegan Paul, London, 1940), especiallyp. 46-75, 89-90. Maurice Grammont,Traite' de phonitique, 3rd edition (Paris, 1946), p. 384414; and his Petit traite' de versification frangaise,3rd edition (Paris, 1947), p. 130-141.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

143

embodiedin themnearlyall findparallelsin the experience of any sensitivelistener or readerof verse,and the two last are very usefulas guides. But to understandtheirtheories, and to be in a positionto examinetheirclaims,we requirea brief consideration of the physicalnatureof vowelsand consonants. It is understoodnowadays7 that each vowel, and each of the more vowel-like of the consonants, is characterised by the comparatively loud soundingof those of its overtoneswhich lie in certainregions of frequency or pitch. Whentheseregions formnarrowand well-defined zones, they are knownas " formants"; and a normalvowel is adequatelydistinguished from other normal vowels by the relativepitch of the two lowest " or" palatal " formants, usuallynumbered I and 2. The " front vowels (in English,and usingforfuture succinctness of reference a modified phonemic the notation,
/i/ of that in i m a g e s, /ey/ofthatin d A Y, /e/ of that in Emp eror's,

/iy/of the capitalised vowel-symbol in r ecE d e,

ofthatin m A n, /se/

in that order) forma series in which formants 1 and 92are at firstmaximallyapart, and togetherapproach a medium pitch-level. The "back" vowels (in the following order in British and perhaps in Irish English, certainly in Yeats' English: /u/ in fu ll (this sound is not in "Byzantium," exceptin the modified form offu ry-/fyuari/), /ow/in d o m e, /o/in A ii, fi o o r, /a/ in g on g, and (about the samelevel) /aa/ in StArli t) forma seriesin whichformant 1 rises,much as in the palatal vowels,but formant insteadof sinking 29, to meet it, risesalso, but keepingat no great intervalabove it. In /aa/, /a/, the two formants may almost fuse; they are said to be relatively saturated vowels,in that most of theirenergy is concentrated
See Sir R. A. S. Paget, op. cit., p. 42, 86-94, and the recent data in R. K. Potter,Kapp and Green,Visiblespeech (New York, 1947), passim.

/uw/ in moonlit,

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

144 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM "

in a verynarrowband of frequencies.The middle vowels (in Britishand perhapsin Yeats' English,the /;;/ in u n p u rg e d, /A/in drunken) tend to have formants1 and 2 somewhatapart above and below the mediumlevel of /aa/. Higher formants appear to be of more importance in these middle vowels,and similarly in the vowel-like consonants1,m, n, ng, a numberof formant bands take an important such as s, z, sh, part. In fricatives zh, f, v, th, and soft r, generalisednoise tends to fillin and swamp the formant bands; whilethe stops p, b, t, d, k, g, are chieflycharacterised by the explosionof noise after a very briefsilence. the palatal vowel nowthe methodofproduction, Considering series/iy,i, ey, e, Ve/(and we mightinclude the /a/ of the /ay/of n i gh t hereafter/se/) corresponds to a retreatof the highestpoint of the tonguefromthe front of the roofof the mouth;whilethe back series/uw,u, ow, o, a'/ and /aa/, correspondsto a somewhat similar descentfurther back, withmouth rounding throughout in Britishand Irish English, except for /aa/ usually. Method ofproduction is perhapsmoreimportant than acoustic structure in the consonants, but it is also more generally understood than in the case of the vowels and needs no discussion here. are We now in a positionto considerthe classifications of " classification Macdermottand Grammont.The " kinesthetic of Paget, based on the spatial and kineticimagesderivedfrom the shape and movements of the mouth and tongue,provides groupingswhich are too broad and associations too purely spatial, to be of much use here; thoughit is not irrelevant to the soundsof 1 5.8 9 is restricted The classification of Macdermott to vowels in Englishpoetry. It is based on observation of the vowels that predominate in particularpassages of verse whichare universally acknowledged as expressive, and on consideration of the
' See the analysis on p. 156. 9 See p. 142, note.

/a/ in aftEr,

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

145

pitch of formants1 and 2. Accordingto Macdermott,the " high-band " vowels,i. e. those whose formant 2 is relatively high-/iy, i, ey, e/-though they are the most common in English,tend particularly to dominate (in successful poetry) passages expressing ideas of height, unimsmallness, lightness, portance,ethereality, or sharpness,delibrightness, intensity cacy, peace, the idyllic;while" low-band" vowels,thosewhose formant2 is relativelylow-/uw, u, ow, o, a-/-dominate passages expressive of the contrary notionsof depth,largeness, weight, importance,corporeality, darkness, dullness, grossness, turmoil,corruption.The "mixed " vowels, of medium pitch- e, a, aa, a, ;3, A/-behave like high-bandvowels in a " high" passage and low in a " low " passage. A fourth group, the " deep-band" group,includesall vowels whose formant 1 is relativelylow-/iy, i, uw, u/, and probably/ey, ow/ and and emergesinto realityin passages where /o/ as supporters, thesevowelstogether predominate, passages usuallyexpressive of depthof feeling, tragicsituations, brooding tenderness, awe. It at once strikes one that manyof the associationsof these categoriesof vowels must derive froman unconsciousimage of the shape of the mouth and positionof the tongue,rather than fromany intuitionof theirharmonicstructure.Nevertheless the generalpicture of the associationsthemselvesis probably correct as far as it goes. Much depends on the environmental relation (actual or implied) of a passage to its surroundings (the restof the poem), or of a vowel to the phonemic systemof the language. And Macdermotthas littleto say about effects whichare confined to singlelines or parts of lines,or the possibleeffects of a particular sequenceof vowels. We shall have occasion to notice such mattersbelow. The classification adopted by Grammont (with examples Frenchbut also, in his Traitede phonetique, chiefly from from otherlanguages)10has a physicalfoundation apparentlyconstructed on the principle of echoic imitation, with some kinesthetic support,but is also well assisted by observation (of words as well as poetic usage), and has affinities dictionary with Macdermott's. Accordingto Grammont,the voyelles
10See p. 142, note.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

146 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM " aigiies (i and French u; in English,whereall the vowels are slackerthan in French,/iy,i/ are included,and we may add the last element of/ey/) expressshrillness, sharpness, intensity of feeling; the voyellesclaires (the aigilesand e, e, tenseeu, in; in English including/ey, e/, perhaps/le/) expresssmallness, lightness, delicacy, brightness, speed, gaiety,the idyllic; the voyelles eclatantes (e includingbroad eu, un, a includinga, oi, an, shorto) suggest tumultuous or resounding noises,greatness, power,glory,anger,pride,etc.; the voyelles sombresor sourdes (ou 6, on) suggest dullsounds, gloom, weight, brooding emotions. (The Englishequivalentsforthe sombreswould be /uw,u/,possibly /ow/;fortheeclatantes, mostoftheremainder, but theremustbe doubt about the status of /a/ and /aa/,and /se/could come in this category.Diphthongsand triphthongs are difficult, but perhapsmightbe placed withtheirprincipal element.) Of the consonants, the stops p, b, t, d, k, g, suggest sharp noises,jerky movements, vigorousemotions,agitation, the nasals suggestbleating, hesitation; the 1 suggests flaccidity; metallic sounds,liquidity, softness, and (after f) flow; r suggests grating, roughness, rasping, shuddering, bitterness, pain, terror; and (withr) rubbing; s, z suggest f,v suggestgentleblowing, the " cold " emotions, whistling, scorn,jealousy; ch, j (sh, zh) suggestwhispering, friction, rushing, grief;h suggestsbreath or wind. P. b, mn, and f,v, together suggestgrief, and t, d can be added to diversify the effect. There is something forbiddingly preciseand concreteabout these associations. Nevertheless, providedGrammont's correspondences are not too rigidly upheldto the exclusionof other possible associations,and providedwe are allowed to findan idea expressedby words whose sound has no correspondence whateverwiththe sense,the justnessof his observations must be admitted. Otherphysicalfactors have had littleconsideration yet: for it can be arguedthatit is the saturatedvowels,whose instance, is least distributed-/aa,a/-that are the most expresenergy sive of violence and vigour. There appears, indeed,to be no one unique clue to the expressive values of vowels and consonants; but theirgeneraleffects are easily recognised. The poet with a good ear uses them much as the musical

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

147

composeruses musical notes, althoughusually in far greater dilutionamong the competing systemsof emotionaland symbolicmeanings attachedto the wordsas words.Without directly analysing his medium,he becomes intuitivelyaware of its potentialities.Since a poem always has a symbolicand emotional pattern,the sound always carries more or less of a " programme."But over and above this,a good poem of lyric quality also possesses "pure " musical values, though these too are dilutedby its otheraspects.
V
VOWELS o0' BYZANTIUM: GENERAL PICTURE

AlthoughYeats as an Irishmanmust have thoughtof his poem as pronounced somewhat from differently British English, and did read his workswith some Irishnessin his broadcasts, in vowelsis not verysignificant. the difference I will not touch on these details,beyondnotingthat standardEnglish /A, oa/, and unaccented/i/ (as in drunken, empEror,imAgEs) tend to " (further become " darker back in the mouth,with formant 2 at a lowerpitch), and accented/aa/ and /i/ (exceptbefore r) brighter and morepalatalised. It will probablybe foundthat, if the poem is analysed on Macdermott's lines in detail, the general tone-levelof the vowels is "high-band," particularly those of V 6, 7 and the end of V 8, while11 3, 5, V 1, 4 and the restof V 8For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth A mouththathas Ao moisture and no breath Astraddle on the dolphin'smireand blood (" mixed" vowels hereitalicised) and
MArblesof the dAncing floor

That dolphin-torn, thatgong-tor (mented sea)

-are dominated by " low-band" vowels;and thatI 5, II 7, and V 3 almostqualifyas " deep-band " units: I hail thesuperhuman
A starlitor a moonlit dome disdains

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

148 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM" and

The golden smIthIEsof thE emperor

is aigu:

(the less " deep " vowels being merelyitalicised). us from thenight Amongthe latterlines,I 5 transports noises to the remoteand sublime stillnessof the dome, a typically " deep " subject; II 7 suggests the mystery of the revenant who has unwound" the windingpath " fromHades-another " deep " subject;and V 3 providesa transition from the excited highlevel of V 2 to the wide splendour of the forum appropri" vowels of V 4. Of the ately symbolised by the " low-band " lines, 11 3, 5 suggest the depths of remaining" low-band Hades; 1 V 1 sounds a sonorousnote to announce the last stanza and a totallynew image,that ofthe dolphins.V 8 in its " high-band " surroundings is used withgreatincancontrasting tatoryeffect comparableto the finalpassage of an orchestral work. In the light of the French classification, the same general conclusionsare reached. The general tone of the poem is dominatedby voyelles claires. Much of IV 2 and of V 2, 5-8
FlAmes12 that no faggotfEEds, nor stEEl has lit Spirit afterspirit! The smithiesbrEAk 12 the flood BrEAk 12 bitterfurIES of complexitY,13 Those images that yet Fresh imagesbeget, that gong-tor) (That dolphin-torn, mentedSEA.

The followinglines are predominantly eclatant: night-wAlkers' s o ng After(great cathedral) go ng; (I 3-5) A stArlit or (a moonlitdome disdains) For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth May unwind the windingpAth; A mouth that hAs no moisture . . . (II 3-6) PlAnted on the stArlitgolden bough,
'" Cf. " auch unter Schatten,"line 2 of R. M. Rilke's Sonette an Orpheus I, ix: the same kind of vowels is attached to the same kind of meaning. 12 Only the second element of this diphthong.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON CAnlike the co cks of Hades crow, scornaloud or, (by themoonembittered),
In glo ry ...

149

(III 3-6) begottenof flame, flames Nor stormdisturbs,13 come Whereblood-begotten spirits And Allcomplexities
Dying intoa dAnce, An Agonyof trAnce, An Agony . . . (IV 3-8)

(V 1) on thedolphin'smireand blood AstrAddle of the dAncing (V 4) MArbles floor That dolphin-torn, (mented sea) (V 8) thatgong-tor Here the eclatantes appear to be used in I-III, together with has been the shorterlengthof the fourthlines whose effect notedin section3, to weightand slow downthe middleof each openinglightlysketchesin voyelles stanza, while its long-line in clair claires a new picture,and its long final line reflects on this picture. Something of the majesty of the detachment dome, the supernaturalvisitant, and the golden bird (in echoed by contrastto the pettyfuryof life) is appropriately in middle these the of stanzas. In IV vowels theseresounding withtheirbrilliance, pointed the patternchanges. The flames, are depicted of intensevoltage within, shapes,and suggestion with an increase in aigu vowels (IV 2), then the eclatantes " spiritsseekingpurification, return withthe " blood-begotten the feverof life departs in IV 5 to the tune of clair vowels, eclatantes returnwith the shortlines (here thereis no obviI con onlysuggestthat the flat ous Grammontian explanation; forthe poet, the releasefrom that fever). A-soundsexpressed, In stanza V the excitementis at once worked up by the and drumming e&clatantes line unexpectedly filling trumpeting followed by the intenseaigiiesof V 2, like 1, the dark dolphins, the ridingspirits.After some variarevealing lightning-flashes ofetclatantand aigu continues. alternation tionin V 3, thefierce of V 6-7 is admirablyaided by movement The rapid hurrying the shrillshortvowels. The dark eclatantes of the last line in our ears long afterthe voice clang on with magical effect of the speakeris silent. But the sense of release in the last three shrill vowels may well be related to the pattern of
18

Italicised only, as a doubtfulinstanceeven in Yeats' speech.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

150 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM "

executea concertina1 and 2.14 The vowel-formants formants that gong, slip down movementduring That dolphin-torn, and then open steadilyaway from into -tor-, together slightly can be achieved Very similareffects in -mented sea. each other inthemelodic counter-movements musicby similar in orchestral in this line and the formants line of different instruments, imitatethe chordsof a sublimemusical close.1"

VI
CONSONANTS: GENERAL PICTURE

of r, as I recall it froma B. B. C. Yeats' pronounciation of him readinghis own poems,was a weak fricative, recording sounded in all positions,even aftera vowel retroflex, slightly and beforea consonant. I believe that l after a vowel and " syllabic" 1 (as in aLL, marbLEs) were pronouncedwith an less velar,less " dark" than in Britishor American intonation English. These are the only deviationsfromstandardBritish in thispoem as faras concerns Englishwhichare ofimportance soldiery,cathedral, its consonants. The lighter1.only affects all, hail, call, miracle,golden, metal, petal, steel, astraddle, because it does not, important marbles,dolphin,and is chiefly " vowelspreceding it, as would a " dark" 1,infect" high-band with a " low-band" resonance,or clair vowels with a sombre than " low" one; and as a syllableit is " high" and clairrather and sombre. It is worthnoting, too, that the Britishand Irish 1 is lighterthan the Americanone in words such as planted, The r affects all stanzas and is particularly complexities. glory, in of I 1-4,whichare discussed that sound-patterns important in the next section. and considering in this sectionthesepatterns, only Ignoring of sounds,we may say that stanza I is the generalfrequency imaGes), dominatedsuccessivelyby r, d and (dj) (solDIery, (z) and s, r again, and m, whilethereare a fewotheralliteralabial (b and p) . Stanza II is similarly dominated tions,chiefly
" See p. 143, and note 7. " Yeats was tone-deafto ordinarymusical pitch, but must have had an aural or moaning to appreciationof vowel-music. His peculiar method of murmuring himselfthe lines he was composingsuggeststhat he may have been listeningfor this.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

151

by m, sh and (dj), m again, th, and 1,withsome otherlabials (b and w). Stanza III (the goldenbird) is chiefly notablefor in hardg or k (hardc), 1,m, and b or p. In stanza alliterations IV (the marblefloor)m, 1,and f are the most frequent consonants. Thus in the first fourstanzas we have a gradualchange fromthe early varietyof alliterating consonants (suggesting the diversityand "complexity" of life and daytime), all, however, pronounced withthe tip or blade of the tonguenear the front of the mouth,and suggestive (vide Grammont) of agitation,friction, rushinghitherand thither, and the poet's furious scornofall this. The places of thesesoundsare steadily usurpedby the gentler m, 1,and th, of whichthe last perhaps suggeststhe bated breath with which the poet addresses,or speaks of, the revenant, and the othertwo suggestrelaxation and fluidity. The effect of the b and p is scarcelythat of grief, as Grammont would suggest, but theyimparta certainexplosiveness,a certainforceof emotion,to the poem. The outcasting,coughingk- and g-soundsin III express, perhaps,the golden bird's triumphant rejectionof any affinity with mere fleshand blood, a different, morepositivesort of scornethan that of the poet in stanza I. In IV the f and v suggestthe and fluidmovements insubstantiality of air and flames, and to my mind the combinations bi-, pl-, sl-, besides servingto fi-, rubricatethe word flameand hence to add to its effect, also expressthe whip-like contortions of a flame.16 The finalstanza has 1 and m in considerablenumber,but there is a great quantity of z- and s-sounds,particularly in combinationssuch as str-, sp-, si-; while other consonant combinations occursuch as bi-,fi-, pl-,br-, fr-.These combinations suggest,16 when taken together,breaking up, flinging down, tearingapart, casting out, spewingforth. The poet is in nihilistic indulging destructiveness againstlife, and themythof this finalstanza has morethan a suspicion makingimagery in it. of hysteria

18 Cf.

Sir R. A. S. Paget, op. cit., p. 148-153.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

152 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' "B YZANTIUM"

VII
PATTERNS OF CONSONANTS AND VOWELS

in thispoem wouldtake To analysein detail all the patterns many pages and much patience in the writerand, still more, in the reader,and it would probablynot be worthwhile. But the more important patternsdeservestudy. Such an investigationis illuminating; forit is through theirpatternsof sound that many poems make upon the reader17 theirfirst, unconscious,impact. In this respecta poem is like a face: one likes or dislikesit on sight, withouttroubling to analyse foroneself evokedby its lineaments, and their the associations history. Why certaintypes of patternshould be more stirring than othersis as yet an unsolved question. It is upon the same kindsofmelodyare more withthe questionwhycertain footing appealing than others,or that why certain arrangements of colour,mass and shape are more satisfying than others;but have been morestudiedand are nearersolution. thesequestions In European poetry (includingmodernAmericanand Latin American) such patterns are remarkably frequentwherever thereis anything or sensuousdescripresembling lyricalfeeling tion. For the purpose of their analysis one may distinguish two polartypes, whichmay be conveniently called the sequence and thechias'mus. In therigidsequencetheindividual elements, whichmay be all vowels,all consonants, or some one and some the other,are repeated,in what we can termeach memberof in the same order-abc abc (two members), the pattern, abode abode abode (three members), and so forth. Monotony is avoided by the elements being tightlyjuxtaposed in one memberor part of one member,and loosely elsewhere-for instance a-b-c . . . d-a-bcd (two members) -and by similar and or variations in the positionof tightenings loosenings; by relative to the stress (metrically the elements or not)regular forinstancea 'be a b 'c-and by one of the members escaping or by dissonanceof vowelsor the intrusion the stressentirely; ofsomeirrelevant ofone member; phoneme amongtheelements
17

A. E. Housman, The name and nature of poetry (Cambridge,1940).

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

153

or by combinations ofall thesevariations.In therigidchiasmus the order is exactly reversed-abc eba, abed deba, etc. In practicethe most commonpatternsare sequenceswithpartial inversion-forexampleabode acbde-and shifting-suchas in abode acdeb-and groupsof interlacing sequencesand chiasmi withone or moreelements in common; the variationsdescribed above add further diversity; and extrainstancesof an element further the pattern-forexample,abed acbcd would complicate be a truesequencebut forthe secondc. It mightbe supposed that patternsof this sort represent the effect of chance operatingon the selectionof words from the pool of language. The existenceof crude patternsin the speech employedin primitive ritualssuggeststhat this is not so, that, in fact,the patternsof modernpoetryare civilised refinements on those of primitive"magic," with the same function ofstimulating the sympathetic ofthe organism system " " (the markof poetry in A. E. Housman's sense).17 And the experience of the writer confirms that these patternsare what any poet with a good ear unconsciously selects as preferable, and are those whichexertthe maximumestheticeffect, in a favorablemilieu,on the reader or listener. A briefstudy of theiremployment in such a poem as Yeats' " Byzantium" is, a necessary therefore, step towardthe foundation of an esthetic of poetryin this one aspect that, so far,has largelyeluded18 our comprehension. It would be too much to claim that this poem makes,from the pointof view of its sound alone, a perfect organicwhole. I do not think that thereare any poemsin Englishwhichachieve this;certainly noneas longas " Byzantium." But an immensely tissueof sound runsthrough complicated the entirepoem,and formsan important part of it. Much of this fabricmust be ignoredhere; but it will be instructive to analyse in some detail the first two and a halflinesof the poem,fortheyafford a good exampleof a groupof complexinterlacing patterns, of obvious " magical" or incantatory power. The total pattern oftheselinesis so complicated that,in orderto exposeits more
18 But see Katharine M. Wilson, Sound and Meaning in English poetry (Cape, London, 1930), p. 231-345,for instancesof the " music" of words and of poetry, and of its connexionwith the meaning,with some reference to patterns.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

154 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM" significant features,it is necessary,firstto reformulate its elements more simply, withone symbolforeach element, and to extractfromit the more important secondly, of its constituent and interlacing subpatterns: The unpurged images of day recede; The Emperor's drunken are abed; soldiery recedes. . . Nightresonance Almosteverysoundin thispassage is repeatedseveraltimes. If one accepts voiced and unvoiced membersof a pair of consonantsas equivalent,and closely similarvowels as the same, thenonlythe secondu of unpurged, the f in of,and the have no echoes here. We may, however, ol of soldiery omit as the /a/in of,Emperor's (two), drunken, insignificant soldiery, abed, and resonance(two), and the two th sounds,thoughthe similarsituationof unpurgedand Emperor'sis pointedby the two the's. The significant elements may be consideredas (1) /i/ or /y/,including the unaccentedexamplesin imAgEs, rEcede; (2) /A/,including the doubtful pronunciation of a in are and the firstpart of the diphthongin night; (3) /e/, that of /ey/; (4) n/m/ including (ng), whichbecause of their recurrence afteraccented/A/ and betweenan accentedvowel and a p, may be feltas suballiterative substitutes foreach other; (5) p/b; (6) Yeats' r; (7) t/d-sounds; (8) zh-sounds;(9) s/zsounds. With one symbolfor each element,and using " N" for" any nasal," one could reformulate the total patternas
Na?idres- N - Ns risiids .
- dei risiid i aNb % rdjdiNidjis i eNb-r-rs draN-N s-dj-ri ar -bed

In short, the passage is a delicatevariationupon a stillhighly complextotal patternin i, a, n, b, r, d, zh, s, and e. The principalfeature is a patternformed by the n/i/ (ng), p, r,d, (zh), and (z) withthe /A/,/i/ofthe strongly accented wordsunpurged images,Emperor'sdrunken, in the order (conveniently the vowelshere,and the stresses) distinguishing

... a'12-3454, ili45i16,

L12-3-36,

43al1-1.
-L12-3,

in n/m, p, r of unpurged, Emperor's in the order

From this may be extracted as significant:(1) the subpattern

...
.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID i:. MASSON

155

12-3-3; (2) that in n/rn, d, (zh) of unpurged images,in the order 1- 232, 1- 23; (3) thatin m,repeatedvowelor syllable, where2 is /i/ in the first member, /ar/in the second. Each of these subpatterns is a sequence-type patternwith regular accentuation,but (1) has a "leg" composed of the third element,added to its second member,and (2) has an extra centralsecondelement, givingthe effect of a bracket. From other featuresof the total patternmay be isolated otherfragments. the tightchiasmus We may note,forinstance, in d, /e/,of day, bed, or the chiasmicbracketin /e/,p/b, r of EMPeROR'S (dRunkensoldieRy) aRe aBEd; or the complex relationin /i/,d, (zh), s/z-sounds, and r, of images, (day), recede,and soldiery.The last groupsuggests, the fever perhaps, and turmoil of daytimelife;but the effect of unpurged images the UN- repetition is possiblyappropriate to the sordidatmosphere impliedin the words. Most of these patternsare pure incantation. However, the last half-line, purged of rushing zh-sounds, gross/A/ and puffed-up p/b, suggeststhe gradual dyingaway of all this bestiality, thoughlingering as a " resonance " in the somewhat vibrant r's. It remains to notethe close echo of tRmperor's and resonancein theirvowels and rhythm, the interaction of m with p/b and of n with t/d, and the syncopatedeffect of re'sonance recedes (a formof disturbed sequenceifwe acceptthe suballiteration ofn and d) . The remainder ofthepoem can be considered without further incursion into such complexanalysis. The restof 1 3, and 1 4, their k/g-sounds cunningly led up to by the k of drunken, expressthe new atmosphere of nocturnalcalm and grandeur, and the musicalsoundsthatfillit,by a suave melodyofvowels rising(in formant 2) to the /iy/ofcathedraland sinking again far into the depths (while formant1 performs the opposite movement, close to formant 2 in After, gong,but slidingdown intodeeperabyssesin grEAt,cathEdral) . This magicis supported by a 123,13,2312,13,2 patternin t/d,k/g,r:
AfTeR GReaT catheDRal

(z), of images, Emperor's in the order (2) 1223,

. . .

1223,

. . . Emperor's drunken is little related to the meaning, though

nighT-walKeRs' song
Gong

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

156 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' " BYZANTIUM "

has also anticipatedthose of song,gong, The (ng) of drunken suballiterating withthe k/g-sounds. The grandeur of the darkervowels here is continuedin,the /aa/ of starlit,whilethe /ey/of disdains,and the patternin to the meaning 8, t/d of starlit ... disdains,are appropriate " disdains." But the roundedpoutingvowelsof moonlitdome mechanismwhich express,with the rn's, (with a kinesthetic 19 the round finds citationin Paget's theories) curveofthe dome, a Byzantineogivecupola whosepointedcentre is wellexpressed (again with supportfrom Paget) 19 by the centralsyllable-lit, the roofof withits briefshallowflick of the tongueaway from the mouth. Moonlit dome also forms,again appropriately, a chiasmusin m and t/d. The mouthfeelsroundthe shape of the dome. A simplerhyming sequence appears (with intrusions)in
ALL

ALL

thatMan is,

Mere COMpLeXItIES

and is linkedup witha complexpatternin (omitting some of the recurrences of /i/ and /y/) m, n, r, f/v-sounds, /yu/in All that MaN is, All MeRe complexities, The FURy aNd the MiRe

OF

huMaN

veiNS.

in whichsequencesin m, n, in m, r, in f/v,/yu/and in f/v,n are the chieffeatures.One gets an impression of twisting and twirling interlacing streams, appropriate to the verbal images. F, r, m, n continueinto stanza II with Before me stands. " man-shadeIt may not be irrelevant to the " apotheosis 20 that image (considered image as /imidzh/)containsthe m of man and the /-id/of shade (/sheyd/ or /sheid/),whileits zh-sound alliterates withthe sh ofshade. The m's,/ey/-sounds, and d-sounds cluster thicklyin II 1-2 and prepare for the patterns of II 3-6; in particular the repeated word shade increasesour awarenessof the sound-group /-eyd/, thus lesseningthe shockoftheunfamiliar in Hades' bobbinand suggesting that the " bobbin" has a naturalconnexion withthe " shade,"
19

-0See p. 139.

Op. cit., p. 146-8, 1792-3.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

157

and supportingthe poet's metaphor. The /ey/-assonances continuein the repeatedmay and in hail. The sequence n, nd in bobbiNbOuND . . . UNWiND is part of a sequence in n, a broad /a/ (part of a diphthong),and nd, withinversion of the first n in each member relativeto an /i/ or /y/,and similarinversion betweenthe /a/ and a w-sound/babinba-wnd ...
12 3 425

Anwa-ind/
243 125

with a suggestion, appropriateto the context, of confinement or the " descensusAverni" in the descending formants of the withone of release and resurrection /aw/of bound contrasted in the /ay/ of unwind, where formant2 rises steeply and formant1 falls away fromit. But the whole melodyof the vowels in 113-4 is almost as sweepingand impressive as that of I 3-4, and continuesalmost to the end of the stanza. It contains perhaps an echo of the verbal pun in " bobbin,"' "unwind," " windingpath "-the laboured upward climbing of the meandering track fromthe Underworld, and the slow unrolling ofa winding-sheet. The doubledth-rhymes and other th-alliteration suggest awe ofthe numinous and serve revenant, to unifythis parentheticalsection. The n-m-s chiasmus in NO Moisture . . . SUMMON, and other patterns, reinforce the syntaxand suggest a supra-logical dialecticin a manner reminiscent of Rilke's artistry.The greatlyaltered rhyme-vowel in the vowel of hail whichechoes,by reason of its superhuman; positionand its h, Hades ratherthan may; and this repetition of h, also in superhuman; these all serveto break unityof the rhyme-couplet and thusmake it clearerthat the parenthesis of II 3-6 is at an end. II 1-2 in syntaxand the use of repeated III 1-2,resembling in shifting words,differs the invertedfootfromthe beginning of the second to that of the firstline. Besides the complex in p/b,1,n, t/dof III 3pattern
PLaNTeD

12 34 4

ON

the sTarLiT

4 2 4

goLDeN

24 3 1

Bough

-the k/g-alliteration ofIII 1-2is carried on through therepetition of goldento reacha culmination in the triumphant energy of III 4

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

158 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' "BYZANTIUM"

can liKe the COCKS of Hades crow -somewhat smothering the seriesin p/b, 1, d, and m, which rise again in III 5-8,combining withthe k/g. The wordHades in III 4 suggests and artificial to us thatrevenant birdare types of the same thing, whilestarlit, and the k/gseries, also connect the bird to the nightscene of I 4 and the dome of I 5. The assonanceof the rhyme-words bough,aloud, at the expenseof their proper partnerscrow, blood, seems to be part of the cock-crow of the vowels. In contrastwith programme-music these resounding the flat short vowels of mEtal, diphthongs, common, pEtal,coMplExities, blood, suggestthe dreariness(to Yeats) of the achievements of ordinary life. It is worthnoting that the seriesin p/b,1,t/d,m, and k/gare all pulled together in the repetition of complexities in III 8. Stanza IV has a new type of rhythm in its opening: At This ushers mi'dnight. in a new arrangement ofthenowfamiliar in p/b,f/v,m, t/d,1,and n. Shrillvowelsand the alliteration use of st, f/v, and mobility of the fl,s to suggestthe brilliance flames, mustbe noted:
At mIdniGHt on thE Emperor's pAvementFLIt FLAmes thatno Faggot FEEdS, nor STEEl has lit,

Nor sTorm dISTurb S, FLAme S bEgotten OF FLAme

witha chiasmusin the /iy/, t/d,s/z of feeds,steel. IV 2-4 also containa sequencein f/b, g, t, withan intrusive b,d (alliterating with the t), in FaGGOT, BeGOTTen,BlOOD-BeGOTTen (1 ' 2-3, 1- 2- 3, 1l 3, 1-2 3) whichcontrasts withthe flame-patterns by its hard, rattlingsyllables,and has some relevanceto the earthinessof flavour of common "faggot "-fed flames and " blood-begotten " spirits not yet purgedof dross. But the use of p/b,k/g,and the dissonanceof come withits rhyme-partner reallyserve to mark IV 4-5 as a parenthesis. flame, The new and partlycrudelystresseddisturbedsequence in t/d,n, s in IV 6-7pointsa return to the subject (oftheflames):
Dying iNTO

AN agoNy

21

of TraNce

1 23

DaNce,

1 23

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVID I. MASSON

159

There is a good deal of subassonancein /ae/, /a/, /aa/ here.21 The inversions and tripping in line 6 suggestthe dance rhythm ofthe flames.Continuing line 8 risesin two the /a/-assonance, swoops of vowel-timbre (in its stressedvowels)An Agonyof flAme that cAnnot singe a slEEve 1 23 1 34 3

-which are most expressive, apparentlyof upward straining or of the attenuation in /se/, of the flames. The inversion k/g, n of agony,cannot,withthe -ot echoingfaggotin IV 2 seems, to carryon the seriesfaggot,begotten,blood-begotten some" of the sounds; but the what at the expenseof the " meaning chiasmusin f/v,1, s, and the vowels numbered2-4 above, in FLame. . . singea sLeeve,are evidently partoftheflame-images. The /ve/recursin V 1-astrAddle, which,with dolphinand a sequence-and-chiasmus in d, 1. The alliterations blood,forms in a frenzy of excitement. multiply yet further Assonanceand alliteration connectsmithIEswithspirit,and the repetition of break in V 2, 5 connects the marbled forumof IV to the " which,as Jeffares " smithies remarks,22 evidentlymade the goldenbirdof III (and are connected to it by the repetition of golden). The consonant suchas str,br,fr, complexes considered in the previoussection,increasefurther the frenzy of the last stanza. Almostall the important wordsof the restof the poem crowdinto this stanza, and patternsas such necessarily drop into the background, until the last threelines. A tightening sequence in f, r is heard in furies, fresh. The tempo quickens forthe last time in Those images that yet Freshimagesbeget whichprovidesa complexpatternin s (i. e. z-sounds), /i/,m from (withsuballiteration b, the resemblance beingheightened with/i/), t/d-sounds(including by the juxtaposition the " g " of images), sh/zh-sounds (withthe " g " ofimagesagain), and a suggestion of a multiplicity /e/,producing offlakesshowering down.
22

" See p. 149. See p. 136, note.

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

160 WORD AND SOUND IN YEATS' "BYZANTIUM

"

last line swingsout with In completecontrast the wonderful its reverberating rallentando and dark vowels, formingan in THAT dolphin-ToRN,THAT two-member impressive sequence 1 23 4 3567 1 23 d and n of gong-ToRmeNted, only disturbedby the intrusive 4 356 7 dolphinand the " tail " of the last t and d. The black /a/ links 7 3 1 4 and thus ties the the dolphinfrom V 1 and the gong from intrusive in the wholepoem in a loop (and the d, n of dolphin, sequence above, take their places in a species of tightening sequence with/a/ in whichd is to the g of gong as n is to its echoesthe m and /e/ofV 6-7,and ng) . The -me-in tormented the s of sea theirs's. I have alreadydiscussedthe remarkable volwel-music ofthisfinal linein sectionV. To sum up: this product of the later Yeats exhibitsin a superlativedegree the evocative sound-organisation which is one of the characteristic achievements of the poetryof civilization. It providesa finefieldforan investigation ofthe nature and effects of poetic music. In trying to explain the magic of " Byzantium,"however,I have no intention of explainingit away. To uncoverthe mechanism is not to claim a recipefor and the poet's synthesis poetry, is a truemiracle.
University of Liverpool

This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:54:30 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions