Sailing to Byzantium and The Oven Bird
In both "Sailing to Byzantium" by Yeats and "The Oven Bird" by Frost, the bird represents the art of poetry and its value. In "Sailing to Byzantium" Yeats realizes that the value of poetry has been diminished and lost, and therefore wants to go to Byzantium in hopes of regaining its value. "The Oven Bird" also states how the value of poetry has been diminished because there are not pretty things to be writing about anymore. Through the bird and its singing, both poems recognize how the value of poetry has been lost. In "Sailing to Byzantium" Yeats recognizes how poetry is a diminished thing and how the generation of poetry as a beautiful art is dying out. He wants to sail to Byzantium in order to go to a Utopian society where everyone can be a poet and where the value of it is regained. Where he is leaving "is no country for old men" for they realize that poetry is not what is was before and its value is bein
It is supposed to be an escape from reality but no longer is. Yeats is recognizing how poetry is supposed to be an expression of yourself as an individual, and that that has been lost. "The young in one another's arms, birds in the trees-those dying generations-at their song" expresses that the ideal of poetry being a beautiful expression of art is dying away. Through the poems Frost and Yeats express through their use of the bird and singing that poetry is no longer such a beautiful thing. Overall "Sailing to Byzantium" portrays that in order to regain the value of poetry, one must "sail away" to a Utopian society where everyone is an artist and poetry is a beautiful thing. They are more being taught to memorize it and accept it rather than learn to appreciate it. "Nor is there singing school but studying monuments of its own magnificence" meaning that the people are not being taught the value of interpreting poetry for themselves or learning how to be a great poet as an individual artist and thinker but instead they are being taught to conform and just accept what poetry is. Since Yeats can no longer escape from reality he knows that he needs a Utopian society where poetry and art regain value. "The Oven Bird" also recognizes that poetry is losing its value. Through the "Oven Bird" Frost expresses that poetry is no longer a beautiful escape because there is nothing beautiful to write about anymore and he questions what to make of this. It is supposed to be an escape from reality, however, with this value lost, there is no way to escape through this art. The oven bird is one that makes its nest on the ground, and is covered with dust; a very humble subject for a poem. Frost is like the bird for he is writing this near the end of his career as he knows he is losing his creativity and is questioning "what to make of a diminished thing" like the bird. Both poems affirm that poetry has lost its value.
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