Sailing to Byzantium: Summary & Analysis

Sailing to Byzantium is one of the more mysterious poems written by Yeats. It tells the story of the poet as an old man who is sick and tired of living in the physical world in an ailing and aging body. He yearns for a spiritual escape. This escape takes the form of the mythical-spiritual cityscape of Byzantium. Yeats’ conception of Byzantium was based on his knowledge and beliefs about the actual ancient and medieval city, which was located in what is now modern-day Istanbul, Turkey. 

The poem is a homage to the immortal nature of the soul or spirit as exemplified in art in contrast to nature. In this article, I provide a rhetorical analysis of the poem “Sailing to Byzantium.” In addition, I explore the biographical-historical background of the poet to further contextualize the poem. 

Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with saints 6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai. An example of Byzantine art.

The full text of the poem

Here is the full text of the poem:

I

That is no country for old men. The young

In one another's arms, birds in the trees,

—Those dying generations—at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.

II

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing in God's holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.

IV

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come

“Sailing to Byzantium” was written by William Butler Yeats in 1926; however, it was first published in the collection October Blast in 1927 and then later republished in another collection by the poet titled The Tower in 1928. 

Stanza by stanza summary of “Sailing to Byzantium” 

Sailing to Byzantium is made up of four stanzas labelled I, II, III, and IV. Each stanza is complete in and of itself, but together they create a narrative thread of a distressed old man yearning to be free of his aged mortal form through a spiritual escape to the land of Byzantium.

Stanza I

 That is no country for old men. The young

In one another's arms, birds in the trees,

—Those dying generations—at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.

The first stanza makes it clear how unwelcome Yeats feels in the land of the physical and the living. The poem begins with litotes with the line “That is no country for old men.” The poet or persona in the poem feels unwelcome because of the constant reminders of the cycle of life and death that he is surrounded by. 

The poet is elderly, and he is approaching the death stage of the life cycle. The images and activities that he is surrounded by suggest youth, fertility, and bounty, all things that are now beyond him in his advanced age. He describes “The young/ In one another's arms, birds in the trees” (Lines 1–2).

They are also described as “dying generations.” However, caught up in the “sensual music” of the moment, they would not care or be aware that they too will eventually die. The poet feels himself trapped as his intellect is still intact and ageless, but his sick and aging body is a poor vessel for it. 

Stanza II

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

In stanza II of “Sailing to Byzantium,” the poet focuses on the division between physical life and spiritual life in an aged body. His aged body is described as a scarecrow in Line 10 (i.e., “a tattered coat upon a stick).

His only salvation is nourishing his soul, which he describes as the soul clapping “its hands and sing, and louder sing” (Line 11). This nourishment of the soul is seen as a kind of compensation for the physical decay that he experiences. 

This is why the poet says that the soul should sing for “every tatter in its mortal dress” (Line 12). The poet also says that this type of singing can only be achieved by studying “monuments of its own magnificence” in Line 13. Presumably, such monuments, whatever they may be, can only be found in Byzantium, which the poet uses as a justification for sailing and arriving in Byzantium. 

Stanza III

O sages standing in God's holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.

In Stanza III, the poet is appealing to “sages.” These sages are compared to saints found in the mosaics of the paintings in Byzantine cathedrals. He wishes for these sages to “be the singing-masters of my soul” (Line 20).  He also desires for his heart to be consumed away because it is stuck in the dilemma of being “sick with desire” while “fastened to a dying animal” (Lines 21–22). By this mystical process, the poet wishes to be inducted into “the artifice of eternity.” In other words, he expects to achieve a kind of immortality through reincarnation. 

Stanza IV

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

In Stanza IV, the poet explains what his version of immortality would look like. Immortality is described as finally escaping the life-death cycle of nature. This is why the poet mentions “once out of nature” in Line 25. He wishes to resemble a kind of mechanical bird made out of gold.

This creature of eternal art would be tasked with two responsibilities in the city of Byzantium.  The first would be to sing and keep the emperor of Byzantium awake with its song. The second would be to sing to the nobility of Byzantium “Of what is past, or passing, or to come” (Line 32). In short, he would be a kind of poet-prophet. 

Rhetorical analysis

Our rhetorical analysis of “Sailing to Byzantium begins with its form. The poem is divided into four stanzas, with each made up of eight lines. The rhyming scheme is regular throughout the poem and takes the form of ABABABCC, with a rhyming couplet ending each stanza. Such a rhyming scheme is known as ottava rima.  

The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter, which means that there are in all five iambs in a line, with the accent or stress falling on the second syllable in each foot. Iambic pentameter is often used by poets because of its ability to balance conversational tones of speech with musicality, which Yeats uses to great effect in the poem. 

The poem also relies heavily on imagery. We see this especially in the first stanza, where vivid descriptions are given of youth, bounty, and fertility. These vivid descriptions only serve to make the old man feel even more lonely, isolated, and out of place, as his sick and aging body means that he cannot participate: 

                                             The young

In one another's arms, birds in the trees,

—Those dying generations—at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

The stanza includes images of lovers embracing, salmon swimming upstream, and mackerels crowding the sea. The words used to describe these images are well-chosen. They are unique, while at the same time being rather accurate. For example, “salmon-falls” is used to describe salmon swimming and jumping upstream against the river rapids, as we are by now familiar with from images in popular media. 

The poet also makes use of other literary devices such as alliteration. This is seen in the line “Fish, flesh, or fowl.” The alliteration in the line emphasizes the word “flesh,” as the poet is describing failing in the flesh because of old age and contrasts it with the images of fertility and bounty surrounding and assaulting the poet's senses.  

The stanza also combines rhyme with assonance, that is, the repetition of close vowel sounds in words like “long,” “young,” and “song.” The poem is full of other sumptuous imagery and sound effects, all of which cannot be covered here. The table provides some examples of the literary devices employed in the poem.

Literary Devices	Definition	Examples
Alliteration	Repetition of initial consonant words	“of what is past, or passing, or to come” (Line 32)
Sibilance	Repetition of close “s” sounds	“I have sailed the seas” (Line 15)
Metaphor	Comparing one thing to the other when it is not literally applicable.	“An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick” (Lines 9–10).
Epistrophe	Repetition at the end.	“Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing” (Line 11).
Litotes	Denying the opposite of a claim instead of making an affirmative claim directly	“It knows not what it is” (Line 23).
Assonance	The repetition of closely placed vowel sounds	“Or set upon a golden bough to sing” (Line 30)
Symbolism	An object being used to represent an idea or concept	The mechanical bird in the last stanza represents an eternal spirit free of flesh.

The literary devices in the poem contribute to creating rich and imaginative imagery. The poet is describing a spiritual world of the imagination and uses metaphors and images appropriately to describe them. For example, in Stanza III, he describes the pain and agony of growing old and still yearning with sexual and other desires as having a heart “sick with desire / And fastened to a dying animal.” He is asking for the sages to consume his heart away with song until he becomes nothing but pristine spirit.

Keats, in his typical fashion, uses a number of terms that exhibit tasteful and skillful poetic phrasing. For example, in the last two lines of Stanza III, he requests that the sages “gather me / Into the artifice of eternity.” “The artifice of eternity” subtly suggests the final form that the poet desires to take “when out of nature.”

The word “artifice” suggests a crafted work of art. Likewise, “gathering” suggests the work of a potter or metal worker. The clay worker or potter has to gather clay into their hands before transforming it into a vessel. The same can be said of a metal worker, who has to gather the raw metal with his tool before heating, melting, and fashioning it into the final artistic form. 

More than that, the poet likening his decaying body into inert raw material such as clay or metal evokes the fact that a dead body eventually returns to clay or earth, from which metal is derived. This makes the phrase “artifice of eternity” quite apt while at the same time being unique and original to the poet. 

Themes in “Sailing to Byzantium” and a comparative analysis

The main theme in sailing to Byzantium is cultivating a spiritual life through art. Other minor themes include: 

1. Coming to terms with the weakness and isolation of old age

2. The relationship between art and the soul

These themes are closely related and all come together in the poem. The poet paints a vivid picture of just how isolating and miserable old age is, especially in the first stanza. Old age is portrayed as a frustrating experience where one may be full of the desire associated with youth, but nonetheless, the heart of desire is fastened to “a dying animal” and so can never be fulfilled. 

Yeats’ solution is relying on cultivating the fruits of the spirit or the soul, as it is something eternal, and completely giving up the flesh. This is mediated through art, as represented by “the artifice of eternity” — the magical mechanical golden bird. 

The poem, more than anything else, can be seen as a form of magico-religious escapism through literature or art. Yeats in his old age feels there is nothing left for him in the physical world and retreats into the mystical city of Byzantium, which represents a kind of magic-mythic cityscape where spiritual enlightenment and immortality are achieved through the medium of art and song. 

Sailing to Byzantium vs. “The Wild Swans at Coole”

In this regard, it would be interesting to compare “Sailing to Byzantium” with another poem by Yeats — namely, “The Wild Swans at Coole” (1917). The poems differ in terms of setting; however, in my opinion, at their core, they harbor major similarities.

Here is an extract from “The Wild Swans at Coole”: 

Unwearied still, lover by lover,

They paddle in the cold

Companionable streams or climb the air; [20]

Their hearts have not grown old;

Passion or conquest, wander where they will,

Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,

Mysterious, beautiful; [25]

Among what rushes will they build,

By what lake's edge or pool

Delight men's eyes when I awake some day

To find they have flown away?

‘The Wild Swans at Coole” is much more subtle than “Sailing to Byzantium.” The swans are portrayed as a symbol. However, Yeats never explicitly states what they represent. In the case of “Sailing to Byzantium,” we know that “the artifice of eternity” represents spiritual liberation from a dying body and achieving eternity through art — although we are not sure about how this magical process will occur.

“Wild Swans at Coole” expresses anxiety about old age, not nearly as strongly as in “Sailing to Byzantium,” but anxiety nevertheless. The poet sees himself as approaching the winter of his years. He is afraid that the coming of old age will see him lose the passion, youth, and eternal beauty that the swans symbolize. We can see “Wild Swans at Coole” as a prequel to “Sailing to Byzantium.” In the last stanza of the former, the poet wonders: 

Among what rushes will they build,

By what lake's edge or pool

Delight men's eyes when I awake some day

To find they have flown away?

Previously in the second stanza, the swans are associated with passion and conquest and are depicted as having hearts that “have not grown old.” In his old age, as depicted in "Sailing to Byzantium," the swans will no longer suffice. Like the swans, his heart of desire has not aged, yet it is out of place, stuck inside a dying animal. It is a source of misery, which he now wishes to be free of.

If we play along and accept "Sailing to Byzantium" as a sequel to "The Wild Swans at Coole," we can think of the poet in his old age as having awakened to find his swans not flown away but transformed from living flesh made up of passion and desire into mechanical art. In other words, they have been simultaneously reduced and elevated to a fine work of precious and divine art, and nothing but art, to serve as a fitting vessel for the soul. 

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Historical-biographical context

Yeats conceptualization of Byzantium should not be considered in a vacuum. It was based on a number of factors. They include the following:

1. The poets’ health and age at the time

2. His unique views on the historical city of Byzantium

3. His social elitism and conservative politics

Yeats was about 61 when he wrote the poem. This is not particularly old, but at the time he was sick and went to Italy to convalesce in that country’s relatively better weather. It is there that he encountered much of Byzantine art, which is featured in the poem. 

Yeats have very peculiar views on Byzantine art and religion, and he was highly attracted to these aspects of Byzantium. Byzantium is an actual historical city that stretched from ancient to medieval times.

It refers to both an ancient Greek city, later renamed Constantinople by Emperor Constantine I and is now known as Istanbul. The Byzantine Empire was the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and it continued for a thousand years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. 

Here is what Yeats had to say about his ideal city in his work A Vision (1925): 

“I think if I could be given a month of Antiquity and leave to spend it where I chose, I would spend it in Byzantium a little before Justinian opened St. Sophia and closed the Academy of Plato. I think I could find in some little wine-shop some philosophical worker in mosaic who could answer all my questions, the supernatural descending nearer to him than to Plotinus.” 

Plotinus was a Greek Platonist philosopher. Here, Yeats is romanticizing the ordinary mosaic painter as being superior to Greek philosophers in their understanding of matters of the soul and spirit because of the nature of the art that they are engaged in. According to Yeats, in "early Byzantium, maybe never before or since in recorded history, religious, aesthetic and practical life were one, that architect and artificers . . . spoke to the multitude and the few alike."

In a draft script for a BBC broadcast, he explicitly states the spiritual value and symbolism of Byzantium in the poem that he plans to write: 

I am trying to write about the state of my soul, for it is right for an old man to make his soul, and some of my thoughts about that subject I have put into a poem called 'Sailing to Byzantium'. When Irishmen were illuminating the Book of Kells, and making the jeweled croziers in the National Museum, Byzantium was the centre of European civilization and the source of its spiritual philosophy, so I symbolize the search for the spiritual life by a journey to that city.

Yeats is linking the historic significance of Byzantium with the personal spiritual symbolism that he places on it. Lastly, the poem can be described as a piece of escapist art. The escapism was undoubtedly partly inspired by the frustrations and loneliness of old age. However, his elitism may have also played a role.

In the poem, the poet imagines himself entertaining the emperor of Byzantium and the lords and ladies of Byzantium. There is no mention of ordinary folk. In his conception, craftsmen serve the nobles and elites or enlightened aristocracy of a society. This view was at odds with the world and reality that Yeats resided in. 

Ireland was a Catholic nation, and Yeats belonged to an Anglo-Irish protestant aristocracy. His socio-economic background and class meant that he was instinctively opposed to democratic movements that would threaten the status and property of his class, even though he fully supported Irish independence and nationalism.

Faced with the growing democratization in his beloved Ireland, the poet had no choice but to resort to the kind of elitist escapism featured in the poem, where he becomes an immortal work of art entertaining the enlightened lords and ladies of Byzantium. But it would not be fair to Yeats to reduce his poem to a product of escapist conservative politics.

Sailing to Byzantium in its mission of paying homage to the immortality of the transcendent spirit or soul as represented through the medium of art is similar to and as accomplished as the poems of John Keats in works such as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" or "Ode to a Nightingale." Although approaching the subject via different perspectives and philosophies, both poets succeed in transporting readers beyond the limitations of an inadequate physical and natural world and into the surreal world of immortal spirit mediated through art.

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, May 13). Sailing to Byzantium: Summary & Analysis. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/sailing-to-byzantium-summary-analysis