Reply To: Assignment on “The Apparitions” by William Butler Yeats

[Aramide]

Answer to (a)

 

In the second stanza , the poetic persona embarks on a self introspective journey where he expresses how he finds comfort in loneliness ” I have found nothing half so good as my long – planned half solitude” this portrays That nothing as ever made the poetic persona feel half as good as his long planned solitude, the “long planned half solitude” means in as much as the poetic persona loves to be alone ,he also enjoys the company of friends who won’t judge him when his words don’t sound so intelligent to them .

 

 

 

Answer to (b)

 

The speaker expresses that old age comes with several attributes one of which includes loneliness and disillusionment. As old people move closer to death they usually want to be alone so as to not be judged .

     Then the poetic persona went further to say that old people tend to have sleepless nights ” his empty heart is full ” which results in them hallucinating and seeing dead people.      Severally,the poem emphasis on how life is vanity through ” a coat upon a coat – hanger ” and that death is inevitable for all humans .