The Man and The Echo

1. The Man and The Echo W.B. Yeats

2. Analysing the Poem • The title • Multiple readings • Reading it out loud • Notes on what it is about • Themes • Language • Structure • Form • Imagery • Critical Opinions/Reviews

3. The Title…what does it reveal? ‘The Man and The Echo’ • The definite article “the” (“the man . . . the echo”), as opposed to the indefinite article “a” suggests that the speakers here are universal representations – ‘the man’ stands for everyman; he is symbolic/a metaphor for all of mankind. • Hints to the upcoming dialogue between the two…notice how the articles parallel. The stresses don’t, however. • Lack of adjectives highlights the starkness of the speaker in the poem; the frankness and rawness • Notice the division between the two…does this suggest a prior conflict???

4. What the poem is about? • This poem was written in 1938, which is the same year that Yeats’ died…What do people do prior to their death? How and why may this be relevant? • The inability to control the interpretation of what we communicate…the conflict between irresolvable internal conflicts between one's body and spirit…control…is there a such a thing? • Reflective; philosophical undertones • In search of wisdom; search for true

5. Analysis…Stanza One Man. In a cleft that's christened AltUnder broken stone I haltAt the bottom of a pitThat broad noon has never lit,And shout a secret to the stone.All that I have said and done,Now that I am old and ill,Turns into a question tillI lie awake night after nightAnd never get the answers right.Did that play of mine send outCertain men the English shot?Did words of mine put too great strainOn that woman's reeling brain?Could my spoken words have checkedThat whereby a house lay wrecked?And all seems evil until ISleepless would lie down and die. • Initial Reading • 1st person; narrative • Elements of religion; the holy • Use of End Rhyme • Reflective • Melodic tone and pace • Strong sense of place in opening stanza; existence is questioned

6. Analysis…Stanza One • Difficult words/phrases • ‘cleft’—spit in a rock formation • Admission to Christian church • Alt” here refers to rocky fissure at Knocknarea, County Sligo. Man. In a cleft that's christened AltUnder broken stone I haltAt the bottom of a pitThat broad noon has never lit,And shout a secret to the stone.All that I have said and done,Now that I am old and ill,Turns into a question tillI lie awake night after nightAnd never get the answers right.Did that play of mine send outCertain men the English shot?Did words of mine put too great strainOn that woman's reeling brain?Could my spoken words have checkedThat whereby a house lay wrecked?And all seems evil until ISleepless would lie down and die. • Allusions (reference to another text/topic) • “that play of mine” is a reference to ‘Cathleen niHoulihan’ (1902). This was a one act play in which a woman, who is the personification of Ireland, incites a young bridegroom to an armed rebellion and death. • ‘certain men the English shot’ refers to the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. Here Yeats is pondering whether or not it was him who caused them to act in rebellion; he questions whether or not it was the words in his play. • “that woman’s reeling brain” is a reference to Margot Ruddock, a woman Yeats had an affair with and mentored. Yeats’s feedback to her was, “I do not like your recent poems . . . You do not work at your technique . . . You take the easiest course . . . Because, damn you, you are lazy”. She later went insane. • “a house lay wrecked” refers to Coole Park which was sold in 1927 and subsequently destroyed. Yeats questions whether or not his ‘words’ could have saved the park.

7. Analysis…Stanza One (continued) Man. In a cleft that's christened AltUnder broken stone IhaltAt the bottom of a pitThat broad noon has never lit,And shout a secret to the stone.All that I have said and done,Now that I am old and ill,Turns into a question tillI lie awake night after nightAnd never get the answers right.Did that play of mine send outCertain men the English shot?Did words of mine put too great strainOn that woman's reeling brain?Could my spoken words have checkedThat whereby a house lay wrecked?And all seems evil until ISleepless would lie down and die. • Connotations and Images Created by Language • ‘I halt’—sudden reflective action; personal pronoun begins to reveal his internal struggle • ‘pit’—sense of place established; alludes to the dreary end; the depths the speaker’s soul; still, silent place • ‘broad…lit’—largest, strongest light doesn’t see this location; the light of day fails to touch this ‘world; His need for answers mirrors the journey to the Oracle of Delphi. • ‘shout’—the verb oozes rage…it awakens the silence/stillness within the ‘pit’; the speaker’s action in the pit are cathartic (he/she receives psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions). Notice how it contrasts the ‘stillness’ of his journey. • ‘all’—the absolute dissolves any ambiguity the speaker has; the speaker is haunted by his past • ‘old and ill’—description establishes the age of the speaker; is the speaker repenting? • ‘night after night’—the speaker wallows repeatedly in his/her sadness; repetition reveals his/her consumption • ‘answers right’—bewilderment/puzzlement • ‘play…words…words’—questions self, actions; there is a binding ownership in his level of responsibility; the focus on his words…does he actually have the ability to control how people perceive his words?? Death is the only answer to resolve the conflict his words have caused. Intense level of guilt.

8. Analysis…Stanza One (Continued) Man. In a cleft that's christened AltUnder broken stone I haltAt the bottom of a pitThat broad noon has never lit,And shout a secret to the stone.All that I have said and done,Now that I am old and ill,Turns into a question tillI lie awake night after nightAnd never get the answers right.Did that play of mine send outCertain men the English shot?Did words of mine put too great strainOn that woman's reeling brain?Could my spoken words have checkedThat whereby a house lay wrecked?And all seems evil until ISleepless would lie down and die. • Form and Structure • Comprised of Rhyming Couplets—used to enhance memory of the key words, also used in narrative poetry; also the rhyme emphasizes the ideas of each word…links to these two ideas are seeded within the memory of the reader; most basic type of rhyme. • Use of Enjambment—the visual and spoken ‘running’ of the cathartic act. • Eye Rhyme—the visual does not match the pronunciation; this anomaly is expressed with purpose…Why has this line be highlighted? Is the speaker reflecting? Does this conflict act as a metaphor for the conflict within the speaker? • Use of commas—force a halt in the pace…the focus is on the previous spoken word…the meaning is internalized • Trochaic (Feet) Tetrametre (Line Length)—stressed(/) and then unstressed (x) in four metric feet (eight syllables) …the speaker is literally venturing down; the speaker is digging into the depths of his soul.

9. End of Stanza One, The Echo’s Response, the Man’s Reaction Form and Structure There are two readings of the Echo’s first line. 1) It works in harmony with the man’s “That were to shirk” because it completes the syllabic line of eight syllables. In this regard, the the call (the man) and response (the echo) suggest agreement…There is a relationship, when spoken, contains harmony. 2) The lack of harmony in the echo’s response is in the fact that it does not read as a complete line. This is caused by the response being a separate line by itself, as well as the fact that the aabbrhyme scheme is disrupted by adding an extra a rhyme when we are expecting a b rhyme. This contradiction in harmony reflects the nature of Echo’s voice, for it was once part of and then separate from Man’s voice. Thus, it functions in both forms at once. This is illustrative of Man’s subconscious voice and as an independent, external reinterpretation of that voice. And all seems evil until ISleepless would lie down and die.Echo. Lie down and die.Man. That were to shirkThe spiritual intellect's great work,And shirk it in vain. There is no releaseIn a bodkin or disease,Nor can there be work so greatAs that which cleans man's dirty slate. Language/Allusion ‘Bodkin’—mostly likely means knife or dagger; Refers to Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech…he is questioning who he is

10. End of Stanza One, The Echo’s Response, the Man’s Reaction (Continued) And all seems evil until ISleepless would lie down and die.Echo. Lie down and die.Man. That were to shirkThe spiritual intellect's great work,And shirk it in vain. There is no releaseIn a bodkin or disease,Nor can there be work so greatAs that which cleans man's dirty slate. • ‘Sleepless’—superfluous use of language…perhaps used to keep the metre; perhaps used further illustrate the controlling/invading nature of his thoughts • ‘lie down and die’—this is quite ambiguous. Yeats could mean that he feels that death is the only way to escape his guilt and regret; or, that death would diffuse the future turmoil his writing may cause. • ‘lie down and die’--the echo answers both dilemmas…but in a way doesn’t, for the echo’s response is taken out of context.; we soon see this in the next stanza

11. Stanza Two • ‘shirk’—means to avoid…we get a sense that the speaker is trapped, lack of escape from the turmoil; the speaker follows this turmoil with the factual statement ‘There is no release’. • ‘Man’s dirty slate’—sense of hopelessness continues. The collective noun ‘man’ has now been adopted by Yeats. He is explicitly talking about mankind; broader philosophical issues are now being discussed; as opposed to a personal, cathartic act. • ‘Wine or love drug him to sleep’--Yeats expresses his disapproval for using drugs, woman and love to lessen life’s pains. One must have the courage to endure life’s hardships and that a physical death will not resolve the woes of the wearied and sorrowful. Thus, the belief is that a person must bear the pain—giving into suicide to disease (drugs, alcohol) is cowardly. • Look for the use of commas, connectives, the adoption of first person (this has been reintroduced) Man. That were to shirkThe spiritual intellect's great work,And shirk it in vain. There is no releaseIn a bodkin or disease,Nor can there be work so greatAs that which cleans man's dirty slate.While man can still his body keepWine or love drug him to sleep,Waking he thanks the Lord that heHas body and its stupidity,But body gone he sleeps no more,And till his intellect grows sureThat all's arranged in one clear view,pursues the thoughts that I pursue,Then stands in judgment on his soul,And, all work done, dismisses allOut of intellect and sightAnd sinks at last into the night.

12. Stanza Two (Continued) Man. That were to shirkThe spiritual intellect's great work,And shirk it in vain. There is no releaseIn a bodkin or disease,Nor can there be work so greatAs that which cleans man's dirty slate.While man can still his body keepWine or love drug him to sleep,Waking he thanks the Lord that heHas body and its stupidity,But body gone he sleeps no more,And till his intellect grows sureThat all's arranged in one clear view,pursues the thoughts that I pursue,Then stands in judgment on his soul,And, all work done, dismisses allOut of intellect and sightAnd sinks at last into the night. • ‘all work done, dismisses allOut of intellect and sightAnd sinks at last into the night.’—the closing of this stanza suggests that the act of purgation, the cleansing of the soul, darkness, finality and acceptance is to come.

13. Stanza Three Echo. Into the night.Man. O Rocky Voice,Shall we in that great night rejoice?What do we know but that we faceOne another in this place?But hush, for I have lost the theme,Its joy or night-seem but a dream;Up there some hawk or owl has struck,Dropping out of sky or rock,A stricken rabbit is crying out,And its cry distracts my thought. • ‘Into the night’—here the Echo’s words, like earlier, link directly, to what Yeats previously stated regarding the inevitability of fate…The sinking into the darkness of the night are emphasized/reinforced and magnified through the Echo’s response. • ‘O Rocky Voice’—long ‘o’ sound is used by Yeats to convey morning/sense of unease; the powerful uncertainty of the phrase ‘Rocky Voice’ seems to be exclaimed…This is the start of Yeats asking the Echo a philosophical question.

14. Stanza Three Continued • ‘we’—the collective pronoun; his conversation with the echo; he’s questioning the stupidity of the physical. • ‘hush’—Yeats has lost the plot…Has he? • ‘joy of night’—implies that the joy can not be found in world in which he lives…the physical word • stricken rabbit—notice what the hawk and owl, two birds of prey, do to the rabbit. This is symbolic. The birds act in the present moment. However, the cry of the rabbit distracts Yeats’ philosophical thoughts. This rather anti-climatic. Man. O Rocky Voice,Shall we in that great night rejoice?What do we know but that we faceOne another in this place?But hush, for I have lost the theme,Its joy of night-seem but a dream;Up there some hawk or owl has struck,Dropping out of sky or rock,A stricken rabbit is crying out,And its cry distracts my thought.

15. Task • Make a PowerPoint that discusses the: • Themes • Language • Structure and Form • Imagery Prepare a Ten minute Presentation with your group.

16. Groups • ‘Sailing for Byzantium’ • Emily, Fleur, Megan T, Eleanor • Mark, Millie, Charlie H., Eshter • Grace, Imogen, Rachel • ‘The Cold Heaven’ • Megan E, Ladi, Dan, Charlie K. • Laura, Rebecca, Megan W, MJ Due: