Among School Children

By William Butler Yeats.

I

 I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;

A kind old nun in a white hood replies;

The children learn to cipher and to sing,

To study reading-books and history,

To cut and sew, be neat in everything

In the best modern way—the children's eyes

In momentary wonder stare upon

A sixty-year-old smiling public man.

 II

 I dream of a Ledaean body, bent

Above a sinking fire, a tale that she

Told of a harsh reproof, or trivial event

That changed some childish day to tragedy—

Told, and it seemed that our two natures blent

Into a sphere from youthful sympathy,

Or else, to alter Plato's parable,

Into the yolk and white of the one shell.

 III

 And thinking of that fit of grief or rage

I look upon one child or t'other there

And wonder if she stood so at that age—

For even daughters of the swan can share

Something of every paddler's heritage—

And had that colour upon cheek or hair,

And thereupon my heart is driven wild:

She stands before me as a living child.

 IV

 Her present image floats into the mind—

Did Quattrocento finger fashion it

Hollow of cheek as though it drank the wind

And took a mess of shadows for its meat?

And I though never of Ledaean kind

Had pretty plumage once—enough of that,

Better to smile on all that smile, and show

There is a comfortable kind of old scarecrow.

 V

 What youthful mother, a shape upon her lap

Honey of generation had betrayed,

And that must sleep, shriek, struggle to escape

As recollection or the drug decide,

Would think her son, did she but see that shape

With sixty or more winters on its head,

A compensation for the pang of his birth,

Or the uncertainty of his setting forth?

 VI

 Plato thought nature but a spume that plays

Upon a ghostly paradigm of things;

Solider Aristotle played the taws

Upon the bottom of a king of kings;

World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras

Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings

What a star sang and careless Muses heard:

Old clothes upon old sticks to scare a bird.

 VII

 Both nuns and mothers worship images,

But those the candles light are not as those

That animate a mother's reveries,

But keep a marble or a bronze repose.

And yet they too break hearts—O Presences

That passion, piety or affection knows,

And that all heavenly glory symbolise—

O self-born mockers of man's enterprise;

 VIII

 Labour is blossoming or dancing where

The body is not bruised to pleasure soul,

Nor beauty born out of its own despair,

Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.

O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer,

Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

 William Butler Yeats

 William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, writer and one of the well-known figures of the English Literature. He was born on 13^th June 1865.  He was brought up as a member of the Protestant dominance. He began his works when he was 17.  Yeats published “John Sherman” and “Dhoya” He was considered as a pillar of the Irish literary association.  He had a great interest in spiritualism, and astrology.  He became a member of the paranormal research organization.  His significant work is “The Island of Statues” and “The Wanderings of Oisin” is in a lyrical form of Irish mythology.  His earlier works on poems were meditations on the themes of love subjects. For example “Poems (1895) and “The Secret Rose (1897).   He served as a Senator of the Irish State in 1922 and his language became very forceful. He retired from his position of senator in 1928 due to his ill health. When he was 69 he was recalled to life by the Steinach
operation. Later part of his life was full of vigor.

  He and Indian born Shri Purohit Swami, translated the Principal Upanishads from Sanskrit into English. And published in 1938. He dided in Menton France on 28^th January 1939 at the age of 73. 

 The summary

The speaker in this poem visits to a school and recollects his youth and reflects on his old age and changes of life.  Soon he realises even though the old age changes everyone form his beauty and freshness of youth, life is a whole part of everyone and every moment has its own meanings, enjoyment and prizes.

Detail analysis of the poem

I

 “I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;

A kind old nun in a white hood replies;

The children learn to cipher and to sing,

To study reading-books and history,

To cut and sew, be neat in everything

In the best modern way—the children's eyes

In momentary wonder stare upon

A sixty-year-old smiling public man.”

 The speaker begins, with his walk through the long schoolroom.  He questions the teacher  her as he walks around the classroom, the teacher wearing a nice old white hood as her uniform is a nun.  She answers all his questions.  The children are learning math, they are learning to sing, read and study history books.  They learn to cut and to sew clothing and they do all very neatly in the most up to date modern way.  But as the speaker walks the children look in momentary astonishment because the speaker who walks around the classroom is a sixty year old politician.

 II

 “I dream of a Ledaean body, bent

Above a sinking fire, a tale that she

Told of a harsh reproof, or trivial event

That changed some childish day to tragedy—

Told, and it seemed that our two natures blent

Into a sphere from youthful sympathy,

Or else, to alter Plato's parable,

Into the yolk and white of the one shell.”

 This part of the poem says about his dream about a woman (his lady love Maud Gonne) whose body is as beautiful as Leda (who was raped by Zeus in the form of a swam) who is a mythological character. He recollects his memories when this woman bent over a sinking fire and told a tale about a harsh scolding on her or a trivial event that would be ignored by an adult but these could fill a child’s day full of sorrow.   All these made the speaker to feel that two of them have become one due to understanding and the sympathy for each other and change the story that Plato tells, it is like they become like yolk and white of a single shell.  The speaker expresses his emotions over his memories.

 III

 “And thinking of that fit of grief or rage

I look upon one child or t'other there

And wonder if she stood so at that age—

For even daughters of the swan can share

Something of every paddler's heritage—

And had that colour upon cheek or hair,

And thereupon my heart is driven wild:

She stands before me as a living child.”

 This part says about the speaker’s thinking of the woman’s story of grief or anger when she said in her childhood age.  He looks upon one child or the other and wonder if the woman he thinks stood like these children when she was their age.  Even the half god daughters of Leda and Zeus can share something of common traits like common peddlers just like swans who have the same similarities. The poet wonders now whether she had the same color in her cheek or hair as these children. His heart is driven wild and he is so excited, as one of these children bears the image of her.

 IV

 “Her present image floats into the mind—

Did Quattrocento finger fashion it

Hollow of cheek as though it drank the wind

And took a mess of shadows for its meat?

And I though never of Ledaean kind

Had pretty plumage once—enough of that,

Better to smile on all that smile, and show

There is a comfortable kind of old scarecrow.”

 Now the poet thinks about her present looks. Her present image floats in his mind.  He wonders whether the Quattrocento the Italian painter crafted her face.  (The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento) even  in her old age her with hollow cheeks, she would look so pretty and mesmerizing, as she has drunken only the wind and consume only the shadows.  He thinks he was never of Ledaean kind with pretty plumage (feathers).  He stops thinking as that is enough and tries to focus on the present situation.  He smiles at the smiling children. Smiles are the door way for tranquility.  He wants to show them that he looks like an old scarecrow.  He is a kind and comfortable one.

 V

 “What youthful mother, a shape upon her lap

Honey of generation had betrayed,

And that must sleep, shriek, struggle to escape

As recollection or the drug decide,

Would think her son, did she but see that shape

With sixty or more winters on its head,

A compensation for the pang of his birth,

Or the uncertainty of his setting forth?”

 The fifth part of the poem discusses the thoughts of the speaker.  He imagines a young mother with her baby on her lap.  This baby has drunk the “honey of generation” from its mother’s milk, a drug that will make the baby to forget its own existence before it was born.  The baby should sleep or cry out to refuse the drug.  The poet’s agony is would such a mother think about her sixty years old son with grey hair (winters on his head) was worth the labor pain, or would she be happy to bring him up and sending forth into the world.

 VI

 “Plato thought nature but a spume that plays

Upon a ghostly paradigm of things;

Solider Aristotle played the taws

Upon the bottom of a king of kings;

World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras

Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings

What a star sang and careless Muses heard:

Old clothes upon old sticks to scare a bird.”

 The poet thought about Plato the great philosopher in this stanza.  The philosopher thought that, reality is like a froth of wave but the truth of nature is beneath the wave which is paradigm of things which is abstract and ideal.  But the philosopher Aristotle proved that physical objects are more real. He, as a famous master to the great Alexander the Great, Aristotle would punish the king of kings with a leather strap which is soaked in taws.  Then the world famous golden thighed (the man’s leg was literally made of metal) is Pythagoras believed that the stars in the sky create music while they move, which was heard by the Muses, goddesses of poetic inspiration. Pythagoras plays the same music upon a fiddle stick or musical instruments, but these music, they are not real music as they sound to scare a bird.

 VII

 Both nuns and mothers worship images,

But those the candles light are not as those

That animate a mother's reveries,

But keep a marble or a bronze repose.

And yet they too break hearts—O Presences

That passion, piety or affection knows,

And that all heavenly glory symbolise—

O self-born mockers of man's enterprise;”

 This stanza expresses the about nuns and moms worships images they see.  Nuns worship painting of saints by candles light whereas the mothers worship their children.  But for nuns religious statues made of bronze or marble give a sort of detached feeling to them. Certain statues break the heart of the people as a kind of unknown presence in such art, which can be felt through religious piety or affection which is the beauty of heaven.  They live, never die and they are created by themselves, they mock at the life style of human which are full of changes and unbalanced. The poet’s feelings towards the interdependence of human activities can be seen in this stanza.

 VIII

“Labour is blossoming or dancing where

The body is not bruised to pleasure soul,

Nor beauty born out of its own despair,

Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.

O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer,

Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,

How can we know the dancer from the dance?”

 The final stanza describes the beautiful things which are the works of people who bloom or dance with no bruises and to give happiness to the soul, beautiful things are created without suffering and to gain wisdom no need of non-stop work all through midnight.  The poet asks the chestnut tree the great rooted blossomer with beautiful flowers are you the leaf, the blossom or the trunk? Again he asks “O body which dances to the music and which gives pleasure to the eyes, how we will separate the dancer from the dance?”

 Literary devices

 Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter in a group of words.

 "I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;

A kind old nun in a white hood replies;

The children learn to cipher and to sing,
To study reading-books and history"

 The /k/ and /s/ are the good examples as they appear very casually instead of giving a high pitch to the poetic flow. The “q” in questioning and “k” in kind have share sounds.  The /s/ in “cipher”, “sing” and “study” explains the school subjects of the children with great simplicity.

 “O” appears in “O chestnut tree”, “O body”, and “O brightening glance” and it brings out the sudden emotions of the poet.    The /b/ sound in “blossomer”, “Blossom”, “bole”, “body” and “brightening” brings the lyrical qualities of poem.

  More examples could be given such as  “sing, study, sew”, “ modern and momentary”, “ sixty and smiling”,” body and bent”, “tale, told, trivial and tragedy”, “Plato’s and “parable”, swan and something “, “ sleep and struggle”, “star and sang” etc..

 

Allusion is meant to call something to mind indirectly.

 “Ledean body” a mythological character. “Daughters and swan”, “Quattrocento” –mythological character, “Plato, “Solider Aristotle”, “golden thighed Pythagoras”, “careless Muses”, “sticks to scare a bird”.

 Metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make comparison with its common character.

The poet has used number of metaphors in this poem to bring out his deeper thoughts.

 For example “it seemed that our two natures blent – he shows that both become single in nature.

“Into the yolk and white of the one shell.” Their combination looks like yolk and white.

“And I though never of Ledaean kind had pretty plumage once”-  the beauty of his lover is compared to the beauty of Leda

. “And show, there is a comfortable kind of old scarecrow” – comparing to an old scarecrow as he doesn’t look like Leadean kind.  But he is kind in nature to share and love his fellowmen.

 “Old clothes upon old sticks to scare a bird”- great philosophers each differ in their views. Their philosophies could be heard in heaven by Muses but soon they too become weak and old to scare bird. Comparison to sticks and old clothes.

 “O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer,

Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?

O body swayed to music,

O brightening glance

How can we know the dancer from the dance?” – Beauty and perfection exist not separately, they are present due to the harmony in the nature.  Dancing movement cannot be separated from the dancer just as the human life could not be completed without the consciousness of sadness and joy, but they exist around the life cycle so as to complete the purpose of harmony.

 Simile is a figure of speech used to compare one thing with another thing of different kind.

 “Hollow of cheek as though it drank the wind” for the poet even at the old age his lover would look amazing like Leda with her hollow cheek.

 “Images, but those the candles light are not as those, that animate a mother’s reveries”

The worship of nuns with the candles to the saints and their holy statues are to attain peace and harmony, but for the mothers the memories of her children would bring peace and perfection.

 Rhetorical Questions

 A question formed in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get answer.

 For example “Did Quattrocento finger fashion it?”   The speaker wonders and questions himself whether she was the art of Quattrocento the Italian artist. 

Hollow of cheek as though it drank the wind- still he considers her as the prettiest woman even though her appearance changed with hollow of cheek.

 “What youthful mother, a shape upon her lap

Honey of generation had betrayed,

And that must sleep, shriek, struggle to escape” – the hardships of the mother is explained with a questions.  Their pregnancy and birth to a child is a rebirth to the mother. But the speaker questions are their struggle and shriek and pain worth? Mothers forget their pain once they see the child in their hands and then their life goes around their children.

 ”O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer 

Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?

O body swayed to music,

O brightening glance

How can we know the dancer from the dance?”

 The poet wonders whether the chestnut is a part of leaf or bole or the whole part.  They are not separated, they are the whole live in harmony and add beauty to the nature.  The dancing body to the music cannot be separated.  How can we separate the dancer from the dance?

 Parallelism is a device which expresses several ideas in a series of similar structures

 “Plato thought nature but a spume that plays

Solider Aristotle played the taws

Fingered upon a fiddle stick or strings” these lines give various ideas of the great Plato and Aristotle make the readers to view the poem in a different way.  But the poem is a recollection of his and her memories.

 “How can we know the dancer from the dance?” different idea is presented to relate the thoughts of the poet.

  Form – eight line stanza rhymes ABABABCC. This form originates from early Italian Renaissance pets. It is called ottava rima.

 Meter – the poem is written in iambic pentameter. It has five iambs with a da DUM rhythm per line.

(A line should have five feet that with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, we know that it's a verse written in iambic pentameter. When the whole poem is written with the same rhythm, we can say that the poem has iambic pentameter)

Setting

A school where the children are taught by the nuns and priests.  The atmosphere changes the mood of the poet to recollect his lover and he is excited to think about her.

 Themes

Innocence and experience

The poem starts with the visiting of the speaker to a school.  His experience in life gives him a status and as a senator he visits the school, there he could see the smiling children who make him to contemplates life and the movement of the life and the continual process of life with its changes and challenges.  The innocent faces of the children make him to recollect and realise the continuous process of life which never stop its life cycle.  Dancing movements can’t be separated from the dancer as the life can’t be separated from anyone for it is the beauty of existence.

The speaker is old when he visits the school, he tells how important the shifting of life from age to age. One of the good things of old age is the wisdom.  Age and experiences give wisdom.  When he stands among the innocent children he thinks about the life and various philosophical views related to life.  A complete contrast in the situation.  He is experienced among the innocent children.  He is a learned man with status with the innocent kids who learn to read and write.

Reality of age and life

One of the important theme of the poem is aging and decay are part of life and cannot be separated.  Accepting the reality of life makes a person to life fully.   The images of chestnut tree and its parts present the stages of life.  The life undergoes various process with time.  One must have the courage to accept the reality of life to enjoy and embrace the changes and challenges of life.

Conclusion

“Among School Children” is an allusive master piece which involves various mythological characters such as Leda, Swan and paddlers to bring out the message of the poet.  It reflects the careful and scholarly construction of the poet.  The poem is sprinkled with images such as the mothers and the nuns to reflect the realities of life.  The poet’s recollection of past brings out the present state of wisdom to accept the reality of real beauty of life.

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