On Being Asked for a War Poem by William Butler Yeats

 On Being Asked for a War Poem:

           'On Being Asked for a War Poem' is written by William Butler Yeats. (To know more about William Butler Yeats and his other poem please visit this blog. http://avanijani18.blogspot.com/2022/12/poems-of-wbyeats.html )

  When we first look at the title, the very first question strikes in our mind that “Who asked for a war poem?”. Through some research one will surely come to know that, that person is - American novelists, Henry James and Edith Wharton – who were good friends and who both came to live in Britain – who approached him: Wharton was editing an anthology, The Book of the Homeless, the profits from which would go towards helping refugees of the war. That anthology appeared in 1916, complete with Yeats’s contribution, which appeared under the alternative title ‘A Reason for Keeping Silent’.

Poem :

I think it better that in times like these

A poet's mouth be silent, for in truth

We have no gift to set a statesman right;

He has had enough of meddling who can please

A young girl in the indolence of her youth,

Or an old man upon a winter’s night.

This is the poem which echoes Irony of poet and sounds like- “Sorry not Sorry” Yeats responds by declining to write about the war, saying that giving advice to politicians isn't really the point of poetry, and then suggests that he writes not for political causes but for people such as old men and young women, who have leisure to read poetry for itself.

In this poem Yeats tells us while shouting silently that he is Being muted by politicians and even citizens don't want to hear reality and they're busy in trivial matters.The final two lines are the only ones which might cause some real head-scratching from readers (and critics), but Yeats appears to be making an appeal to the broad readership that poetry enjoyed: young girls might enjoy his romantic verses about old Ireland, while an old man might enjoy the ballads.

For Surreal imagination used by W.B Yeats in this poem visit this link http://avanijani18.blogspot.com/2022/12/surreal-imagination-used-by-wb-yeats-in.html