In Memory of W.B. Yeats Isolation Quotes

You've probably heard it said that everyone dies alone. In Auden's poem, that includes Yeats.  These lines make it clear that death is never something anyone can share with you. It's a private, isolated and isolating experience, and Yeats goes through it on his own.

Wow, talk about a damning critique of society. Not only is everyone locked in their own "cell" of isolation, but even worse, everyone is convinced that his or her isolation is actually a form of freedom. It's not exactly what you want to hear about yourself, is it?

The landscape of human life seems especially bleak in these lines, which suggest that our busy days and constant occupations are actually small and insignificant.  Wondering what this has to do with Yeats? Well, we're guessing it has something to do with the task the Yeats set for himself: depicting the possibilities latent within this horrible, soulless life.

War is on the horizon, and Auden is staring it straight in the face. These lines seem to be calling out the poem's readers. Yeats could see it. Auden sees it. What's keeping the rest of the world from realizing how screwed up their current situation is?

There's no grand transformation at the end of this poem. Yeats doesn't work wonders and magically change the world into a shiny, happy place.  Things are pretty much as bleak as when Yeats began to write. But that doesn't mean his work wasn't valuable, as the end of the poem suggests.

See? There's still hope out there. Even after Yeats's death, his poems can continue to influence new readers. That's a version of immortality, even if it's a conditional one.