Among School Children

437 Words2 Pages
‘Life’s achievements often fall short of expectations’. How is this explored in ‘Among school children’? W.B Yeats wrote the poem ‘Among school children’ was at the age of 60 years old, which means he expressed his reflection upon his lifetime, creating a sense of regret whilst reminiscing. This reflection supports the statement ‘Life’s achievement often fall short of expectations’. The initial, basic interpretation I took was a simple comparison between the contrasting ages of him, being an older man, and the school children within the poem. The symbolic figure of Leda, a mythological figure raped by a swan, and also makes reference to hints of Hinduism. The lonely, questioning depiction of Yeats at the beginning of the poem introduces this feeling of regret and disappointment. After researching the details within the second stanza, I have come to realize that the figure seeming to be Leda can also be interpreted as Maude Gonne, a love interest of Yeats’s past. This reference reinforces Yeats’s regret and disappointment within their relationship, reminiscing on what could have been, and the young and beautiful Maud Gonne. This constant reference to the swan, being the underlying figure of Maud Gonne remains in the third stanza, emphasized particularly in the line ‘For even daughters of the swan can share, Something of every paddlers heritage’ referring to the god-like qualities of the Leaden child, daughter of Zeus. Yeats uses this as a connotation to this ‘god like’ power over men. Historical referencing is used within stanza 4 to portray a historical depth to the meaning of the poem. The line ‘Did Quattrocento finger fashion it’ links to the historical period of the fifteenth century renaissance art. This ‘finger’ image again refers to a god like image. Acting as a cyclical story line, we return to the aged view of Maud Gonne within the last
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