The Circus Animals' Desertion
Encyclopedia
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
published in Last Poems in 1939. While the original composition date of the poem is unknown, it was probably written between November 1937 and September 1938. In the preface
Preface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
, Yeats suggests that he intended the poem to combine his personal views and impressions with the customs and beliefs of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. The poem was the last work published in Yeats's final collection, with "Politics
Politics (poem)
thumb|right|Photograph of William Butler Yeats taken February 7, 1933."Politics" is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats written on May 24, 1938...
" following as an envoi
Envoi
In poetry, an envoi is a short stanza at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.-Form:...
. In the poem, the poet uses the desertion of circus animals as an analogy to describe his failure to find inspiration for poetic creation, and as he seeks a new inspiration, he uses aspects of Modernist
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
and Postmodern literature
Postmodern literature
The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain characteristics of post–World War II literature and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature.Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact...
in the poem that arises from the search.
The poem
The poem is an ottava rimaOttava rima
Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio....
consisting of 3 parts, the first and the last with 8 lines each and the second containing 3 stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
s of 8 lines.
The poem's opening lines suggest that the poet is searching for a theme, but in the process, he finds the "masterful images" of his earlier works. The reflection upon previous poetic creations appears again as the second part begins and the poet voices his frustration by stating "What can I but enumerate old themes".
The final lines of the poem conclude that the poet must "lie down where all the ladders start", which leads Michael O'Neil to suggest that the use of the word "start" indicates a new beginning taking place as the poem ends. The "foul rag and bone shop of the heart", O'Neil contends, is the paper upon which the poem is written, and he argues that Yeats gives "grandeur" to the gutter items of the poem, as the reimagining of "old kettles, old bottles, a broken can" as well as the "rag and bone shop of the heart", become "as masterful a set of images as any Yeats has created".
Critical reception
Kurt Koenigsberger describes "The Circus Animal's Desertion"" as the poet's attempt to "concede life's detritus," as the "beasts", which represent poetic imagination, disappear in his old age. He argues that Yeats uses the analogy of the circus animal to take the place of poetic work and becomes a spectator of his own imagination as he finds himself unable to conjure up a new theme for his poetry. In "Yeats and Postmodernism," Earl Ingersol describes the poem as being one of the early pieces of Postmodern literaturePostmodern literature
The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain characteristics of post–World War II literature and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature.Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact...
suggesting that "The Circus Animals' Desertion" is a poem about writing poems. He claims that the subject portrays a withdrawal from Modernist literature
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
and the themes of Yeats' earlier works.
Michael O'Neil argues that the poem attempts to fill the gaps between Yeats's emotions and the poetry they had inspired over his lifetime, as he was in his 70's when it was composed. O'Neil suggests that the poet is tired at the time the poem is written and is searching for a "new source of creativity", only in "The Circus Animals' Desertion", that inspiration comes from a critical analysis of his previous works.
In Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and Lyric Form, critic Helen Vendler
Helen Vendler
Helen Hennessy Vendler is a leading American critic of poetry.-Life and career:Vendler has written books on Emily Dickinson, W. B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, John Keats, and Seamus Heaney. She has been a professor of English at Harvard University since 1984; between 1981 and 1984 she taught...
suggests that the poem is a recognition of Yeats changing from one position in society to another as he moves from the prominent poet who plays the role of the ringmaster in a circus to an elderly man with writers block who must recycle the themes of his past works. Vendler analyzes the references of The Countess Cathleen
The countess cathleen
The Countess Cathleen is a verse drama by William Butler Yeats in blank verse . It was dedicated to Maud Gonne, Yeats' lifelong love.-Editions and revisions:...
and Oisin
Oisin
Oisin , is a common boy's name.-Origin:The name Oisin probably originated in the myth of Tír na nÓg.Oisin was the son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and was brand to the land of youth by beautiful Niamh.-McPherson and Ossian:...
throughout the poem and puts particular emphasis on the narrator's critique of his previous works, arguing that the tone of the poem is highly retrospective.