BSc BA ADP English Notes Poem Politics (W. B. Yeats) Important Questions

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Questions No 1. "Yeats contrasts the reality of politics with the reality of love" _ discuss with reference to "Politics".

Ans. Yeats contrasts the reality of politics with the reality of love in his poem "Politics". On one side there are a young girl standing. On the other side there is a much travelled man and a politician. The traveller has seen the world with his own eyes and has got first hand practical knowledge about that. On the other hand, the politician is a theoretical fellow. He has read and thought much. Both of them (the traveller and the politician) are telling the poet about the political situation of the world at present and about the dangers of war. The poet does not take much interest in that dull discussion. He wishes to become young again so that he may love and embrace the girl standing at a side and leave the petty politics of the world altogether. The poet thus prefers "love" to "politics".

Question No 2. Critically evaluate "Politics" by W. B. Yeats. Or Write the critical appreciation of the poem.

Ans. This is a very sweet poem about a very sweet aspect of life: love. It tells us about the importance of love in human life and also about the un-importance of politics. The poet presents before us a very important issue and gives his own decision as well. The world politics is supposed to be a very important item for human consideration but the poet is not ready to give it as much importance. According to him there is a contrast between the reality of love and the reality of politics. The reality of love, according him, is more important than the reality of politics and political dangers.

The subject matter of the poem is deeply linked with human love. It tells us about politics, too. It is a social verse. The poet is bored of the talk of politics and wars and attends to a girl standing at a little distance away from him. He wishes to be young again and to embrace that young girl with full love, leaving away all the petty world politics and war-dangers.

The poet has put the subject-matter for our consideration in a very sincere and ingenuous way. The way of presentation is most modern and precise. There are no useless details and side-tracks in the poem. It is epigrammatic in style like good Latin and Greek classical poetry. It is, infact, a sweet lyric composed in iambic feet but with a lot of variation. We note that lines no. 9 and 11 are in iambic tetrameter and 10 and 12 have iambic trimeter as their rhythm. The rhyme scheme of the stanzas is a b c b with three stanzas of 4 lines each.

Many words of the poem are monosyllabic. Some of the lines are totally composed of such words, such as:

That has read and thought,  (line 8)

Of war and war's alarms,  (line 9)

and And held her in my arms.  (line 12)

The last two lines are the most forceful and leave a lasting impression on us. This is really a sweet and loveable poem.

Question No 3. How does the poet distinguish between the "travelled man" and the "politician"?

Ans. The "travelled man", according to eh poet, is one

.... that knows

What he talks about,

i. e., he has got first hand experience of life. On the other hand, the politician is the man.

That has read and thought,

i. e., he has got theoretical and not practical knowledge.

Question No 4. Why does the poet wish to be young again?

Ans. The poet wishes to be young again so that he can have full sentiments of love for the girl standing at a little distance and can embrace her with love, leaving all the petty politics and war alarms aside!