more, All William Butler Yeats poems | William Butler Yeats Books. 21And what rough beast, its hour come round at last. Something about mermaid lore is as devastatingly romantic as the image of sunken Spanish galleons, laden with gold, heaped at the bottom of the sea. But perhaps the most frightening mermaid-type beings were the water demons, who were said to snatch children off the banks of rivers or streams, and suck them into the water to devour them. In this clip, Yeats reads one of his most famous poems in his distinctive tone. If a sailor, long at sea and lonely as salt, succumbed to the charms of a dugong or manatee, of a seal or other sloe-eyed creature of the sea, of her singing. How could I praise that one? Dominic West (of The Wire fame) reads the poem. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs LitCharts Teacher Editions. Sometimes. Instead of the symmetry of four stanzas, there are but three. She thinks it is a child, and shrieks to it. Dont have an account? His elaborate iconography takes elements from Irish
toilette What, precisely, is the nature of seduction? Why is it such a touchstone in times of chaos? A.S. Byatt, Yeats: The Tower, Introduction to Poems of W.B. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Not all mythical sea beings possess such weaknesses, however. "A Man Young And Old: III. "Byzantium" is Irish poet W.B. (the comb and mirror), results from wishful thinking or, if you like, embarrassment, on the parts of sailors and seamen who perpetuate these myths. Picked him for her own, Yet this association, with . Get the entire guide to The Second Coming as a printable PDF. pinkmonkey free cliffnotes cliffnotes ebook pdf doc file essay summary literary terms analysis professional definition summary synopsis sinopsis interpretation critique A Man Young And Old: III. for a customized plan. BIBLIOGRAPHY The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem. He is distraught, and observes the death of the hare. Legend has it that any mortal man who manages to steal the selkie's skin will have power over her; indeed, she has been known to marry and bear children to mortal men who manage the theft. The Mermaid by William Butler Yeats A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown. Yet it did not attain what Dwan calls its problematic ubiquity until some time after the second world war. Study Guides, William Butler Yeats and Yeatss Poetry Background. In the last six sections, the speaker explores the ambivalence of old age. Dominic West (of The Wire fame) reads the poem. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. If you liked this Yeats Mermaid Poem you may also like My PoemThe Sirens Call and my Rhyming CoupletDeadly Siren Song, You can also check out my SEA POETRY section with Sea Poems I wrote, You may also like William Butler Yeats and The Poetry of Fairies, Such a sad poem. mermaid, masculine merman, a fabled marine creature with the head and upper body of a human being and the tail of a fish. Written in 1919 soon after the end of World War I, it describes a deeply mysterious and powerful alternative to the Christian idea of the Second ComingJesus's prophesied return to the Earth as a savior announcing the Kingdom of Heaven. The second, longer stanza imagines the speaker receiving a vision of the future, but this vision replaces Jesus's heroic return with what seems to be the arrival of a grotesque beast. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. One disadvantage is watching one's friends go mad, but the speaker is still able to laugh (albeit not maliciously) at their expense. Each Uisge, a water horse of the Highlands. Background & Life. The Mermaid, A Man Young And Old: III. The Booker Prize-winning novel Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Debt to Yeats Nick Offerman in the TV tech thriller Devs. Women care now as much for the speaker as they do for the braying of a donkey. The age of Christ (twenty centuries of stony sleep) was coming to an end and a new era antithetical to progress and reason would begin with the birth of the rough beast in Bethlehem. The Second Coming! A lot of money has been made from inspiring ecstasy at the contemplation of ruin. Chicken of the Sea, Surely some revelation is at hand; a mystical theory of the universe, which explained history, imagination,
Inc., 1993). far from his poems, even when they seem obscurely imagistic or theoretically
Summary. A detailed summary and explanation of Section I, Stanza 1 in In Memory of W.B. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. The Village of The mermaids' is confusing for many reasons. murduchu, meaning "song of the sea," or "sea chant." Forgot in cruel happiness
notwithstanding, mermaids are, by and large, an unsavory lot. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. Jordan Reid Berkow ed. The implication is that these creatures, for all of their seductive powers, have rather simplistic weaknesses that allow humans to control them. mythology, Greek mythology, nineteenth-century occultism (which
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, Laughed; and plunging down The 70-year-old Yeats was a Nobel prize-winning poet of immense stature and . Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Yeats himself was not exactly SDP material. That even lovers drown. The life and poetry of William Butler Yeats quiz, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Picked him for her own, Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago . Here's where you'll find analysis of the literary devices in Yeats's Poetry, from the major themes to motifs, symbols, and more. The Mermaid Analysis William Butler Yeats itunes audio book mp4 mp3 mit ocw Online Education homework forum help . or ridiculous. When Gordon Gekko quipped, So the falcons heard the falconer, huh?, in the film Wall Street (1987), it must have been assumed that more than a few viewers would clock the reference. portrays the magical island as shrouded in mist, accessible only across a formidable lake. himself into art, but not in a merely confessional or autobiographical
anachronistic for a poet who died barely sixty years ago. By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) 'The Little Mermaid' (1837) is one of the most layered and fascinating fairy tales written by Hans Christian Andersen. Change). Aging occurs during "The Empty Cup." Hardly are those words out, 12When a vast image out ofSpiritus Mundi, 13Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert. You will be identified by the alias - name will be hidden, A Man Young And Old: 4. She lies in the straw, filthy, dehydrated and pathetic. The Second Coming in Popular Culture In April 1936, three years before his death, WB Yeats received a letter from the writer and activist Ethel Mannin. (The poet, Yeats
Events conspired to put Yeats in an apocalyptic frame of mind. Yeatss
The glimmer of hope in this poem is in "The Secrets of the Old," in which no positive secrets are presented, only negative ones. Is this because of some vestigial mermaid lore that has permeated the legends? If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Mythic Ireland, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992). Similar divine or semidivine beings appear in ancient mythologies (e.g., the Chaldean sea god Ea, or Oannes). People weren't convinced for very long, but they were hoppin' mad when they found out they'd been duped. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. Hatred born from intellectual opinions is especially odious, the speaker says, and so he hopes that his daughter will come to distrust opinion on principle. Analysis Of The Village Of The Mermaids man walking away from the viewer and on the other side of the wall there are mermaids. Yeats Share this quote: Like Quote Recommend to friends Friends Who Liked This Quote During her pregnancy, his young wife Georgie Hyde-Lees had been stricken by the Spanish flu that was burning through Europe. Why did he use? The lines are regularly used as rhetorical tactics in the defence of anybodys sanity against anybody elses enthusiasm, he complained. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Yeats," it's a fair bet that Auden is describing Yeats's death here . Traditionally, hair cutting induces impotence. Pressed her body to his body, The speaker is in such pain at his unrequited love that he longs to call out. Yeats responded instead with a reading recommendation: If you have my poems by you, look up a poem called The Second Coming, he wrote. Poems of W.B. Renews March 11, 2023 In pop music, artists as diverse as the Roots, Zomby and Cristina have released records called Things Fall Apart. These include the Little Mermaid's tongue, or the loss of her voice (remember Ariel as a mute, ditsy blonde, in Disney's version? In several of the folk tales he recountsin the men who . TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. The Mermaid Analysis William Butler Yeats critical analysis of poem, review school overview. The old should be hidden from the rest, so that they will not see aged bodies. The Mermaid A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown. No poet of the twentieth century more persuasively imposed
When a vast image out of PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. In A Vision, Yeats expresses the idea more simply: "After an age of necessity, truth, goodness, mechanism, science, democracy, abstraction, peace, comes an age of freedom, fiction, evil, kindred, art, aristocracy, particularity, war" (52; see also 263, 277; AV-1925 210-215). Mary Reilly) called "Sea Lovers," it is the mermaid that does the castrating -- of a fisherman who catches her in his net. You can view our. Mermaids. relate to the poem in question. Sponsor Since he did so, he cannot do a thing, because one must be lunatic to touch the moon. The only barriers to the wind outside, surging in from the Atlantic Ocean, are a hill and a woodland, which the speaker refers to as "Gregory's Wood." He has spent the past hour pacing and praying in a . Youve successfully purchased a group discount. William Butler Yeats is a poet who was born in 1865 and died in 1939. Copyrighted poems are the property of the copyright holders. All things have begun to break and fall apart is distilled into Things fall apart; The centre has lost becomes The centre cannot hold. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. The Mermaid by William Butler Yeats - Famous poems, famous poets. so our little joke fizzled (placing the half-nude doll with the shimmery green tail on the counter amid the sandwich fixings when Mom's back was turned -- just like on the TV commercial!). And The darkness drops again; but now I know A mermaid found a swimming lad, How many fairy tales, I wonder, are created with these pragmatic applications in mind? The taboos surrounding sex between humans and animals are just too deeply ingrained for the mermaid to remain a mere mammal in the eyes (and hearts) of those men compelled to make love to her. century; his themes, images, symbols, metaphors, and poetic sensibilities
Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. experience and interpretive understanding. W.B. In European folklore, mermaids (sometimes called sirens) and mermen were natural beings who, like fairies, had magical and prophetic powers. "Mermaids" is not exactly good, but it is not boring. Some time before that must have been when I saw There is an inescapable connection to water that is simply not true of other elements, like fire or air, where the Arthurian sorceresses are concerned. Whether or not it is Yeatss greatest poem, it is by far his most useful. Barbie's more diminutive, cinnamon-haired teenage nemesis, known as Dawn, was the heroine of our summer afternoons. The Breton and Welsh names for water spirits are Spiritus Mundi Pressed her body to his body, The poet longs for youth and for an unnamed woman, presumably Yeats's lifelong love interest, Maud Gonne. Written in 1919 and published in 1920, The Second Coming has become perhaps the most plundered poem in the English language. All poems are shown free of charge for educational purposes only in accordance with fair use guidelines. It may also be true that the elusivity of these human-like sea creatures also added to the myth. It was written some sixteen or seventeen years ago & foretold what is happening. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. He found the metaphors to express it via hundreds of automatic writing sessions, during which Georgie convinced her husband that she was channelling the wisdom of Controls and Instructors from the spirit realm. First Love Although, like the moon, she was murderously beautiful, in the beginning she seemed like a real human being. He was part of a really artistic family . That even lovers drown. One thing that confounds my love of the English painter Waterhouse is that he uses the same model for so many of his paintings, from his famous The Mermaid, to La Belle Dame Sans Merci, to Circe, to Ophelia. Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert 18The darkness drops again; but now I know. It grows easily, and many human populations have relied on it as a food source. Mind and delighted mind; And one because her hand Had strength that could unbind What none can understand, What none can have and thrive, Youth's dreamy load, till she So changed me that I live Labouring in ecstasy. That twenty centuries of stony sleep Yeats's Voice bio 16 / 359 font settings 0 report poem error Mesoamerican cultures, including the Aztecs, harvested it up until Spanish . From Oedipus At Colonus, A Man Young And Old: 11. In the final version, every phrase has vigour and weight. Not affiliated with Harvard College. This, along with the indication that the love is not quite human, is ominous. $24.99 . But after making her into a struggling actress in New York City, an alcoholic millionairess in a Hollywood penthouse, a boy-crazy teenager like my friend (she was four years older than me, and I wasn't digging this French-kissing thing), and various other The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Its on its way, and its a good deal rougher than that fellow Yeets [sic] ever could have imagined. There are, of course, the more psychologically complex manifestations of the mermaid figure; namely Melusine and Morgan le Fay. Nimue, a young acolyte priestess, drowns herself when a love spell she creates rebounds back upon her. Quick fast explanatory summary. The speaker starts by describing the storm that rages outside while he watches his daughter sleep in her cradle, beneath her blanket. A centuries-old mummified "mermaid" that scientists recently revealed to be a gruesome doll of animal parts is even weirder than previously thought, new findings show. A Man Young And Old 3 The Mermaid - poem by William Butler Yeats | PoetryVerse William Butler Yeats A Man Young And Old: 3. Oh of course yes. There are numerous accounts from sailors about mermaid sightings, if no concrete proof. Written 100 years ago, Yeatss poem has been absorbed into the cultural bloodstream from Chinua Achebe to The Sopranos, Joan Didion to Gordon Gecko. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. to his own vision protect his poems from all such accusations. Written in 1919 soon after the end of World War I, it describes a deeply mysterious and powerful alternative to the Christian idea of the Second ComingJesus's prophesied return to the Earth as a savior announcing the Kingdom of Heaven. "Poems of W.B. The poem traces the speakers movement from youth to age, and the corresponding geographical move from Ireland, a country just being born as Yeats wrote, to Byzantium. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Yeats: The Tower. Instant PDF downloads. great poetic project was to reify his own lifehis thoughts, feelings,
Both are beyond his reach. After a moment away from the specifics of the speaker's own lover, we return to her in "the death of the hare.". SparkNotes PLUS Gwragedd Annwn Shortly before running for president in 1968, Robert F Kennedy warned: Indeed, we seem to fulfil the vision of Yeats. In 1979, Labour grandee Roy Jenkins quoted it at the climax of his celebrated Dimbleby lecture about the radical centre, a speech that paved the way for the launch of the SDP. for a customized plan. "A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him up for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown." W.B. on 50-99 accounts. Barnum. Visions of crisis south Vietnamese flee Saigon in 1975. his personal experience onto history by way of his art; and no poet
Are full of passionate intensity. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Contact us A mermaid found a swimming lad, (LogOut/ Michael Dames, Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart (1958) enshrined it in the vocabulary of African independence. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. The moon tells her what she dared not think when the thoughts were too powerful, enough to drown an old lover. was another movie I loved, with its ballet version of Sometimes it can end up there. Yeats: The Tower literature essays are academic essays for citation. Fintan OToole has proposed the Yeats Test. I took satisfaction in certain public disasters, felt a sort of ecstasy at the contemplation of ruin.. After Achebe and Didion, lines from the poem popped up with growing frequency in coverage of China, India, Africa, Indonesia, Northern Ireland and Britain. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! More later. I have written of the same thing again & again since. Yeats, View our essays for Poems of W.B. There is a recent episode of "The X Files" that deals with the Fiji Mermaid, along with other assorted sideshow freaks -- quite the best episode I've seen all year. Several of these have connections to Arthurian legend, but it is his portrayal of the mermaid which is somehow more magical than any other heroine he has painted from the annals of myth. Laughed; and plunging down Poems of W.B. Font size: If their caps are stolen, they can no longer sing. Analysis, Summary, overview, explanation, meaning, description, of A Man Young And Old: III. The way the content is organized. A Reading of the Poem There's a Waterhouse, a Howard Pyle, an old That is, after all, where she takes us, isn't it? I have never been inordinately fond of water, the ocean, or swimming. If I were alone I would cry like a peacock or sing a stone a lullaby, for that is natural for one who lives only in memory. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Moreover, Anne was born in the midst of the Anglo-Irish war, lending a tumultuous background to the momentone . The symbology of this story is intriguing. The Question and Answer section for Poems of W.B. 20Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmund Dulac, The Anglo-Irish War and the Irish Civil War, Read the Study Guide for Poems of W.B. Auden. Poems of W.B. "The Mermaid Theory" is the 11th episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and the 123rd episode overall. Many cultures tell of beings that are half human, half sea creature, most notably the selkies (or sealchies) of Ireland and Scotland. She is allergic to chlorine, terrified of deep water, and will not eat mollusks. 17Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. Laughed; and plunging down
Definition terms. Alas! His thematic focus could be sweepingly grand: in the 1920s
Helen once lay in his now wasted arms. Tags: Short Poems Rate this poem: Report SPAM Log in or register to post comments on 50-99 accounts. Valerie Martin, "Sea Lovers," Sailing to Byzantium: William Butler Yeats. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% I summon to the winding ancient stair; Set all your mind upon the steep ascent, Upon the broken, crumbling battlement, Upon the breathless starlit air, Upon the star that marks the hidden pole; Free trial is available to new customers only. manner; he was not interested in the common-place. He wants to feel young inside rather that than old. William Butler Yeats, hearts core, even when they threatened to render his poetry clichd
short summary describing. Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry Yeats started his long literary career as a romantic poet and gradually evolved into a modernist poet. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Disney Top Trumps Princess Card Summary Comp Cinderella The Little Mermaid Ari at the best online prices at eBay! This fascination, attraction, call it what you will, began in childhood, but I really have no idea why it has persisted so long. "Human Dignity" makes her rejection explicit, and the rhyming verse now seems forced, out of joint with the speaker's feelings. The only brand of tuna in the house was not morgan, respectively. The speaker has old secrets. Have a specific question about this poem? The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere Rosalie K. Fry, Dont have an account? By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Although, like the moon, she was murderously beautiful, in the beginning she seemed like a real human being. The dynamic ambivalence of The Second Coming, mingling horror with excitement, explains its embrace by popular culture. The first stanza is a series of punchy declarations about a crisis of authority, almost as if Yeats were an op-ed writer in full thunder. 20% William Butler Yeats and Yeatss Poetry Background. Yeats's great poetic project was to reify his own lifehis thoughts, feelings, speculations, conclusions, dreamsinto poetry: to render all of himself into art, but not in a merely confessional or autobiographical manner; he was not interested in the common-place. The video was titled ' Mermaid Sighting in Kiryat Yam ' and had a description saying: "Strange footage shot by a young boy shows him and his . The Erotic World of Faery, (Australia: Cardinal Books, 1972; Sphere Reprint, 1989). It is instead a "manifold illusion." It is an imaginary experience had in tandem throughout human existence. This poem is addressed to her. I checked this book out repeatedly -- it was titled simply The legend of the selkie (the Orkney and Shetland version of the roane) is so ancient and so pervasive, however, that one must scratch one's chin in wonder at its origins. 20% She eventually returns to the sea, but only after much hardship and brutal treatment. But surely the two emotions are entangled. This might also help explain the legendary seductive prowess of the mermaid's beauty, and the often deadly lure (isn't that what fishermen call their bait?) n April 1936, three years before his death. Hardly are those words outWhen a vast image out of Spiritus MundiTroubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desertA shape with lion body and the head of a man,A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,Is moving its slow thighs, while all about itReel shadows of the indignant desert birds.The darkness drops again; but now I knowThat twenty centuries of stony sleepWere vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? Crucial to The Second Coming was the symbol of the gyre (a cone or spiral) and Yeatss conviction that history moved in 2,000-year cycles. Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid, a film from the 1950s starring Ann Blyth. The Irish name for a mermaid is Continue to start your free trial. -- William Butler Yeats. (one code per order). (LogOut/ The speaker finds a cup that is dry and becomes crazy, unable to sleep. Want 100 or more? This productive vagueness, says David Dwan, an associate professor of English at Oxford University, is what makes the poem ever-relevant. Ouch. Summer And Spring, A Man Young And Old: 9. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! The beast that has blandly set out for Bethlehem slouches instead. Peabody is obviously attracted to her, yet bumbles about, embarrassed by her potent sexuality. So many allusions in mainstream entertainment cannot be intended solely for the amusement of their writers. In 2022, researchers . William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) - 1939 (Menton) A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Purchasing Want 100 or more? Contact us Since then, the poem has been invoked by Jordan Peterson and Slavoj iek, ransacked for anti-Trump song titles by Moby and Sleater-Kinney, recited in the season finale of Alex Garlands Devs, and quoted six times in parliament. Mermaids. . Free shipping for many products! Please wait while we process your payment. If we have inadvertently included a copyrighted poem that the copyright holder does not wish to be displayed, we will take the poem down within 48 hours upon notification by the owner or the owner's legal representative (please use the contact form at http://www.poetrynook.com/contact or email "admin [at] poetrynook [dot] com"). For many years, he was in love with a beautiful actress, Maud Gonne. Charles de Lint, "Our Lady of the Harbor," Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! pinkmonkey free cliffnotes cliffnotes ebook pdf doc file essay summary literary terms analysis professional definition summary synopsis sinopsis interpretation critique A Man Young And Old: III. The poem's first stanza describes a world of chaos, confusion, and pain. Renews March 11, 2023 With its distinct imagery and vivid description of society's collapse, "The Second Coming" is also one of Yeats's most quoted poems. Yeats felt that he no longer belonged in Ireland, as the young or the young in How does the very short poem, The Spur give more insight on how the poet wants to grow old? Chinua Achebe's acclaimed novel, Things Fall Apart, is set in the early 1890s, around the time of the European colonization of Africa. The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; The young man begins with wild hope, the form of the poem in a childlike AABACA rhyme scheme (some of the rhymes being loose). to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. On 21 January, the revolutionary Irish parliament met in Dublin to declare independence while, in a quarry in Tipperary, members of the IRA killed two officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary. Yeats: The Tower Summary and Analysis of A Man Young and Old I. The taboos surrounding sex between humans and animals are just too deeply ingrained for the mermaid to remain a mere mammal in the eyes (and hearts) of those men compelled to make love to her. I also like fantasizing about mermaid treasure: salt-encrusted gems in nacreous jewel boxes that once held living sea creatures. by A.S. Byatt contains a beautiful and haunting metaphorical (and actual) version of this story, as imagined by a Victorian poet. To
laid out in his book A Vision (usually considered
for a group? The appeal of the mermaid mythos is complex, as its various components appeal to different minds, for different reasons. By 1963, the aphoristic couplet about the best and the worst was enough of a cliche to irritate the critic Raymond Williams. Wed love to have you back! We don't want to give anything away too soon, but since this poem is entitled "In Memory of W.B. Web. Aged men should not remember the delights of youth. Most of these beings were rather neutral, if not benevolent, towards humans, except when threatened or abducted. (read the full definition & explanation with examples). The Mermaid A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown. The speaker prays to be passionate about life in his old age rather than reasonable and predictable. Finding true love, and then losing it. Yeats, (New York, NY: MacMillan, 1989) goal is always to arrive at personal truth; and in that sense, despite