I am on vacation and I promised myself I would get reacquainted with poetry and W.B. Yeats in particular. I'd like to share an explication of his collection of poems entitled "Upon a Dying Lady."
UPON A DYING LADY
I
HER COURTESY
WITH the old kindness, the old distinguished grace
She lies, her lovely piteous head amid dull red hair
Propped upon pillows, rouge on the pallor of her face.
She would not have us sad because she is lying there,
And when she meets our gaze her eyes are laughter-lit,
Her speech a wicked tale that we may vie with her
Matching our broken-hearted wit against her wit,
Thinking of saints and of Petronius Arbiter.
II
CERTAIN ARTISTS BRING HER DOLLS AND DRAWINGS
Bring where our Beauty lies
A new modelled doll, or drawing,
With a friend's or an enemy's
Features, or maybe showing
Her features when a tress
Of dull red hair was flowing
Over some silken dress
Cut in the Turkish fashion,
Or it may be like a boy's.
We have given the world our passion,
We have naught for death but toys.
III
SHE TURNS THE DOLLS' FACES TO THE WALL
Because to-day is some religious festival
They had a priest say Mass, and even the Japanese,
Heel up and weight on toe, must face the wall
--Pedant in passion, learned in old courtesies,
Vehement and witty she had seemed--; the Venetian lady
Who had seemed to glide to some intrigue in her red shoes,
Her domino, her panniered skirt copied from Longhi;
The meditative critic; all are on their toes,
Even our Beauty with her Turkish trousers on.
Because the priest must have like every dog his day
Or keep us all awake with baying at the moon,
We and our dolls being but the world were best away.
IV
THE END OF DAY
She is playing like a child
And penance is the play,
Fantastical and wild
Because the end of day
Shows her that some one soon
Will come from the house, and say--
Though play is but half-done--
"Come in and leave the play."
V
HER RACE
She has not grown uncivil
As narrow natures would
And called the pleasures evil
Happier days thought good;
She knows herself a woman
No red and white of a face,
Or rank, raised from a common
Unreckonable race;
And how should her heart fail her
Or sickness break her will
With her dead brother's valour
For an example still.
VI
HER COURAGE
When her soul flies to the predestined dancing-place
(I have no speech but symbol, the pagan speech I made
Amid the dreams of youth) let her come face to face,
Amid that first astonishment, with Grania's shade
All but the terrors of the woodland flight forgot
That made her Dermuid dear, and some old cardinal
Pacing with half-closed eyelids in a sunny spot
Who had murmured of Giorgione at his latest breath--
Aye and Achilles, Timor, Babar, Barhaim all
Who have lived in joy and laughed into the face of Death.
VII
HER FRIENDS BRING HER A CHRISTMAS TREE
Pardon great enemy,
Without an angry thought
We've carried in our tree,
And here and there have bought
Till all the boughs are gay,
And she may look from the bed
On pretty things that may
Please a fantastic head.
Give her a little grace,
What if a laughing eye
Have looked into your face--
It is about to die.
Originally published in Yeats’s 1917 collection “The Wild
Swans at Coole,” The collection of poems “Upon a Dying Lady” visits the larger collection’s
theme of life, love, and death – an elegy to a young woman whose life
dramatizes the tension between passion, play, and responsibility (mainly vis a
vis religion). An adoring, admiration-filled
acquaintance is the speaker of this poem who is visiting a dying, unnamed woman. We know from Yeats’s letters that the woman in
question is Mabel Beardsley, a young actress and friend whose long, brave
battle with cancer gave Yeats a muse through which to examine bravery and
mortality. (Unterecker, pp. 145-146).
In the first poem, “Her Courtesy,” the poet describes her
kindness, her grace and her “lovely, piteous head.” The
poet’s admiration of the woman’s strength comes from her strength in the face
of her mortality. Her “laughter-lit” eyes,
her “wicked” tale, contrast with the poet’s “broken-hearted wit.” This character brings about the last line,
echoing both the saints and the mischief of Petronius Arbiter, a compatriot of
the Roman emperor Nero, purported to write “The Satyricon” and a teller of
ribald tales. (Johanides)
The second poem, “Certain Artists Bring Her Dolls and
Drawings,” relates how the young lady receives gifts of dolls and drawings, and
the last lines “We have given the world our passion / We have naught for death
but toys” conjures a darkly humorous moral of spending all of our passion in
life so that we only have our insignificant trinkets to offer when Death
appears.
The third poem, “She Turns The Dolls´ Faces To The Wall”
conveys a satirical view of religion as even inanimate objects must show
respect during mass and describes the priest as “baying at the moon,”
contrasting this with the playful nature of Longhi, a Venetian artist who had a
number of paintings depicting Venetians at play.
[i] Yeats echoes this vision of Venice
throughout, especially costume and galas, the “domino”
[ii]
(the half-mask worn over the eyes), the “red shoes,” etc., the last line
culminating in the wistful notion of taking refuge in play, leaving the world
behind.
The fourth poem, “The End of the Day,” continues the play
motif, but darkens when Death, the parent, calls the child in.
The fifth poem “Her Race” further exemplifies the poet’s
admiration of the young lady. She does
not decry the pleasures she’s experienced and uses her example of her brother
to be strong in the face of Death. In
Yeats’s letters, he writes that Mabel describes her brother as being the one to
introduce her to Heaven, although “they might not appreciate the introduction”
and that he had a “passion for reality.”
(Unterecker, p. 146).
The sixth poem “Her
Courage” wishes that when young lady gets to her “pre-destined dancing place”
she is visited by various persons of myth and history who exemplify her
character. These include Grania
[iii],
a passionate heroine from Irish mythology, and Diarmuid
[iv]
(Grania’s lover). There is a priest who with
“half-closed eyelids in a sunny spot” is murmuring about the Italian painter
Giorgione
[v],
whose paintings were notably void of devotional themes. This image contrasts with the earlier priest
baying at the moon and the backs of dolls – rather, this is a man getting beyond
his strict devotion to appreciate the tactile and the beauty of art unrestrained. There is Achilles, the famous Greek warrior,
Timor and Babar, fearless Mongolian leaders, and Bahram, a hunter in “The
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám” These and others are “all who have lived in joy and
laughed into the face of Death.”
[vi]
(Unterecker,
p. 146), (Khayyám
and Fitzgerald, p. 251)
The seventh and final poem, “Her Friends Bring Her a
Christmas Tree” begins by asking Death a pardon so that the poet and his
friends can bring in a Christmas tree to please her and then asks Death to give
her a little grace as she looks him in the face with her laughing eyes.
Yeats contains multitudes.
He has a bright spirit, a kind heart, a sharp wit and a keen
intellect. I enjoyed reading this poem
and learning its references and history immensely.
[ii] From
merriam-webster.com, a (1) : a long
loose hooded cloak usually worn with a half mask as a masquerade costume (2)
: a half mask worn over the eyes with a
masquerade costume
Bibliography
