The Relevance Of Yeats' Work In A Modern Cultural Context
Although this selection of Yeats poetry is almost a century old, the values in the dominant reading of each is still relevant to today’s culture as our society continues to experience the same dilemmas but on an even large scale. For this reason, the insight into the human condition from Yeats’ time remains unchanged. The state of our environment, the indifference and apathy felt by today’s youth in regard to their own society and the ever relevant concept of love and regret essentially form the modern applications for the three poems.
In a time where youth are detached from society, feeling they have no opportunity to influence it, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death may strike a chord with teenagers. The dominant, literal reading of the Airman’s predicament offers an almost parallel experience to that found by much of today’s youth. For example, today’s crises including war, climate change and health evoke an apathetic attitude in today’s youth which is remarkably similar to that of the pilot. The coping mechanism of escapism that the pilot uses can also be found in modern youth albeit in the form of dangerous driving and alcohol and substance abuse, rather than erratic flying techniques. Together, these similarities give youth an opportunity to empathise with the Airman’s situation, proving the poem to be highly relevant.
When You Are Old contains values of love and regret which are timeless elements of the human condition, thus it would be relevant to almost any cultural context. As society slowly distorts the value of love though, the more general notion of missed opportunity, whether that be love, career or otherwise arises as a valid dominant reading for a modern cultural context. In this sense, When You Are Old has a distinct appeal to a generation basking in opportunity but lacking in direction, as it emphasizes the regret that comes from a missed opportunity. Thus, the dominant reasoning in today’s cultural context provides inherently the same message as it did a hundred years ago - to seek out the best option in order to avoid regretting a missed opportunity.
The importance of man’s connection to nature, emphasized in The Lake Isle of Innisfree is possibly more relevant today than it was in Yeats’ time. With almost all reputable sources citing climate change a serious issue that must be addressed, Yeats’ contrast between nature and the city and his determination to return to nature echoes within today’s shift towards environmental consciousness. Also, as Celtic heritage has dispersed across the world since Yeats’ penned the poem, today there exist a vast demographic who continue to yearn for this connection to the land, much as Yeats did.
From this short insight into Yeats poetry in today’s cultural context, the themes and values of apathy, man’s connection to nature, and love and regret transpire in full to today’s cultural context. Thus, it is obvious the values in the dominant readings of the poems are as relevant and occasionally, more relevant, than they were when Yeats first wrote them. When this is considered it is evident that elements of the human condition that govern these issues remain unchanged in the past century.