"Adam’s Curse" (1902)
This poem reflects on the nature of work and the laborious effort required to achieve anything worthwhile, be it poetry, beauty, or love.
Yeats uses a conversational tone, reminiscing about an evening spent discussing the toil behind artistic and personal pursuits.
"The Wild Swans at Coole" (1919)
This poem is a meditation on the passage of time and the changes it brings, contrasting the constancy of the swans with the poet’s own aging.
Set against the backdrop of Coole Park, the poem captures Yeats's feelings of loss and yearning for his youthful days.
"The Second Coming" (1920)
One of Yeats's most famous poems, it conveys a sense of chaos and the disintegration of modern society, heralding a new, unsettling era.
The imagery of a rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem to be born symbolizes the poet's foreboding about the future.
"Among School Children" (1927)
This poem reflects on aging, memory, and the continuity between youth and age, prompted by Yeats’s visit to a school.
It explores philosophical themes about the nature of existence and the unity of life’s stages, culminating in the famous line, “How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
Year-wise PYQs
