📖 Poem-by-Poem Study
Poem 1 · Crossways, 1889
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
A longing to escape to an idealised, pastoral peace. Written in London, full of homesickness — one of Ireland's most beloved poems.
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Poem 2 · The Wild Swans at Coole, 1917
The Wild Swans at Coole
Fifty-nine swans at Coole Park trigger a meditation on ageing, loneliness, unrequited love and the painful passing of time.
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Poem 3 · Responsibilities, 1914
September 1913
A savage attack on the materialistic Irish middle class who have forgotten the heroism and sacrifice of Romantic Ireland.
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Poem 4 · Michael Robartes and the Dancer, 1921
Easter 1916
Conflicted elegy for the martyrs of the Easter Rising — the ordinary people who became extraordinary through sacrifice.
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Poem 5 · The Tower, 1928
Sailing to Byzantium
An old man sails away from mortal Ireland to the eternal holy city — a meditation on art, soul, immortality and the ageing body.
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Poem 6 · Last Poems, 1938
An Acre of Grass
At 71, in his final home, Yeats rejects quiet decline and prays for the passionate frenzy needed to create great art in old age.
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🛠️ Revision Tools
All 6 Poems · Quote Drill
Flashcard Drill
Test every key quote from every poem. Flip-cards organised by poem — quote on the front, technique & analysis on the back.
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Cross-Poem Connections
Thematic Links
How the poems connect across shared themes — time & ageing, nationalism, art & immortality, love, nature, and the tension between body and soul.
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Quick Tip for the Exam 📝
Always link poems together in your answers. Examiners reward students who can see Yeats's work as a whole — his consistent tensions between youth/age, body/soul, Ireland's past/present, and personal/public life. Use the Thematic Links file to practise connecting poems across these recurring conflicts.
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