An Immortal Halcyon Life: Formalistic Approach to Byzantium Poems

The spiritual quest towards peace may not happen in all people's life but some. Those experiencing such a journey may not have talked about it directly although they mostly reflect it in their works of art in case there are scholars. William Butler Yeats, the Irish poet and intellectual, experienced such peace and reflected it in his works of art. The so called Byzantium poems-"Sailing to Byzantium," and "Byzantium"- reveal his departure from a mortal world to an everlasting peace. He uses figurative language to describe his reasons for this travel by presenting some facts about the place his is currently living and the ideal place he has been looking for. In this article, the formalistic approach has been applied to scrutinize his two poems to show how he tends to illustrate his quest from a mortal world to an everlasting peace.