"Byzantium" is Irish poet W.B. Yeats's meditation on the relationship between mortality and immortality, the physical world and the spiritual world, and humanity and art. In this complex, mysterious poem, the speaker's visions of the sacred city of Byzantium trace a "winding path" that leads from messy, emotional human life to the serenity and perfection of great art. Art, the poem suggests, is paradoxical: even artworks that seem to touch immortal perfection need to be made by mortal human hands. Yeats first published "Byzantium" in his 1930 collection Words for Music, Perhaps, and Other Poems.
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The Full Text of “Byzantium”
The Full Text of “Byzantium”
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“Byzantium” Summary
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“Byzantium” Themes
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Art, Transcendence, and Immortality
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-40
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The Relationship Between the Body and the Soul
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-40
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Byzantium”
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Lines 1-4
The unpurged images ...
... great cathedral gong; -
Lines 5-8
A starlit or ...
... of human veins. -
Lines 9-12
Before me floats ...
... the winding path; -
Lines 13-16
A mouth that ...
... death-in-life and life-in-death. -
Lines 17-20
Miracle, bird or ...
... of Hades crow, -
Lines 21-24
Or, by the ...
... mire or blood. -
Lines 25-27
At midnight on ...
... begotten of flame, -
Lines 28-32
Where blood-begotten spirits ...
... singe a sleeve. -
Lines 33-37
Astraddle on the ...
... furies of complexity, -
Lines 38-40
Those images that ...
... that gong-tormented sea.
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“Byzantium” Symbols
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The Golden Bird
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 17-24: “Miracle, bird or golden handiwork, / More miracle than bird or handiwork, / Planted on the starlit golden bough, / Can like the cocks of Hades crow, / Or, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud / In glory of changeless metal / Common bird or petal / And all complexities of mire or blood.”
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Byzantium
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-8: “The unpurged images of day recede; / The Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed; / Night resonance recedes, night-walkers' song / After great cathedral gong; / A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains / All that man is, / All mere complexities, / The fury and the mire of human veins.”
- Lines 25-32: “At midnight on the Emperor's pavement flit / Flames that no faggot feeds, nor steel has lit, / Nor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame, / Where blood-begotten spirits come / And all complexities of fury leave, / Dying into a dance, / An agony of trance, / An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.”
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The Shade
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 9-16: “Before me floats an image, man or shade, / Shade more than man, more image than a shade; / For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth / May unwind the winding path; / A mouth that has no moisture and no breath / Breathless mouths may summon; / I hail the superhuman; / I call it death-in-life and life-in-death.”
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“Byzantium” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Paradox
Where paradox appears in the poem:- Lines 1-40
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “The,” “images,” “recede”
- Line 2: “The”
- Line 3: “Night,” “recedes,” “night”
- Line 5: “starlit”
- Line 6: “All”
- Line 7: “All,” “complexities”
- Line 8: “The,” “fury,” “the,” “mire”
- Line 9: “image”
- Lines 9-10: “man or shade, / Shade more than man, more image than a shade;”
- Line 11: “Hades'”
- Line 12: “unwind the winding”
- Line 13: “mouth,” “no breath”
- Line 14: “Breathless mouths”
- Line 15: “I”
- Line 16: “I,” “death-in-life and life-in-death”
- Lines 17-18: “Miracle, bird or golden handiwork, / More miracle than bird or handiwork,”
- Line 19: “starlit golden bough”
- Line 20: “Hades”
- Line 23: “bird”
- Line 24: “complexities,” “mire or blood”
- Line 26: “Flames,” “nor”
- Line 27: “Nor,” “flames,” “begotten,” “flame”
- Line 28: “begotten”
- Line 29: “complexities,” “fury”
- Line 31: “An agony of”
- Line 32: “An agony of”
- Line 33: “mire and blood”
- Line 34: “Spirit after spirit,” “The smithies”
- Line 35: “The golden smithies”
- Line 37: “furies,” “complexity”
- Line 38: “images”
- Line 39: “images”
- Line 40: “That,” “that”
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Lines 1-8
- Lines 17-24
- Lines 28-32
- Lines 33-37
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Lines 4-5: “After great cathedral gong; / A starlit or a moonlit dome”
- Lines 17-24: “Miracle, bird or golden handiwork, / More miracle than bird or handiwork, / Planted on the starlit golden bough, / Can like the cocks of Hades crow, / Or, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud / In glory of changeless metal / Common bird or petal / And all complexities of mire or blood.”
- Lines 25-26: “At midnight on the Emperor's pavement flit / Flames that no faggot feeds,”
- Line 35: “The golden smithies of the Emperor!”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 3: “resonance recedes”
- Line 4: “great,” “gong”
- Line 5: “dome disdains”
- Line 6: “man”
- Line 7: “mere”
- Line 8: “mire”
- Line 11: “bobbin bound”
- Line 12: “unwind,” “winding”
- Line 13: “mouth,” “moisture”
- Line 14: “mouths may,” “summon”
- Line 15: “superhuman”
- Line 20: “Can,” “cocks,” “crow”
- Line 23: “Common,” “bird”
- Line 24: “complexities,” “blood”
- Line 25: “flit”
- Line 26: “Flames,” “faggot feeds,” “steel”
- Line 27: “storm”
- Line 28: “blood-begotten”
- Line 30: “Dying,” “dance”
- Line 32: “singe,” “sleeve”
- Line 34: “Spirit,” “spirit,” “smithies”
- Line 36: “floor”
- Line 37: “Break bitter,” “furies”
- Line 40: “torn,” “tormented”
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“Byzantium” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Recede
- Unpurged
- Soldiery
- Abed
- Night-walkers
- Disdains
- Mire
- Shade
- Hades' bobbin
- Embittered
- Flit
- Faggot
- Begotten
- Singe
- Astraddle
- Smithies
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “The unpurged images of day recede;”; Line 3: “Night resonance recedes”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Byzantium”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Byzantium” Speaker
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“Byzantium” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Byzantium”
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More “Byzantium” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
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A Brief Biography — Learn more about Yeats's life and work at the Poetry Foundation's website.
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Yeats's Influence — Listen to a radio program discussing Yeats's complex legacy as an artist and a thinker.
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A Celebration of Yeats — Read an article about the 2015 celebration of Yeats's 150th birthday.
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Yeats's Voice — Listen to a recording of Yeats performing his own poetry and get a feel for his sense of music.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Butler Yeats
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