Index The Symbolism of Yeats's Rose in the PoemA Level of Intimacy with the Rose Through the Personification of the SymbolConclusionIn “To the Rose on the Rood of Time", the speaker asks the Rose to come closer to him as he sings of ancient Irish stories, such as Cuchulain's fight against the sea, the Druid and Fergus, and Rose's sadness. He again invites the Rose to him but he asks to keep a certain distance so as not to lose sight of the real world. With the intention of singing the times gone by, he turns to the Rose again in the last line. William Butler Yeats states the importance of finding beauty without delude yourself; its message looks to the past in some of its references and allusions, but is also informed by a timeless yet tempered optimism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Yeats's Symbolism of the Rose in the Poem Through the symbol of the rose, Yeats conveys the beauty of ancient Ireland. He begins the poem by proclaiming, “Red rose, proud rose, sad rose of all my days!” (Yeats 1). As a traditional symbol of love and beauty, the rose evokes Yeats's nationalistic vision of Ireland's past to associate with his homeland the same beauty that the flower represents. The red and proud qualities of the Roses also express the pride that Yeats himself takes in Ireland's history. However, by describing it as “sad”, Yeats also raises the idea of ​​the duality of the rose's beauty: the flower represents eternal beauty with its symbolic meaning that remains constant and unshakable, but also alludes to the fleeting nature of its beauty due to the short life of individual roses. For this reason, the rose represents both constancy and impermanence. This conveys Yeats' vision of Irish culture, with its beauty transcending time as its physical existence comes to an end. He therefore celebrates the history of Ireland but also mourns its passing, speaking of the sadness of the end of ancient Ireland. The pessimistic view of the present therefore shows his contempt for the current state of Ireland in contrast to the perfection of the past. Yeats links the Rose to Irish mythology to emphasize the symbol's role in embodying Ireland's past. It refers to the legends of the mythological hero Cuchulain, the Druid and Fergus. The mythological figures allude to the history and culture of Ireland that the speaker wishes to evoke. By developing the symbol of the Rose with these allusions, Yeats creates a clear association of ancient Ireland with eternal beauty. This connection demonstrates the characteristic power and strength of Cuchulain and Fergus that Yeats finds in Ireland, but also recalls their tragic end which mirrors that of Ireland. Cuchulain accidentally kills his son and, shocked to learn of his mistake, tries in vain to fight the sea; Fergus, after making a deal with his brother's widow that allows her son to rule for a year in exchange for her hand in marriage, finds himself betrayed and ultimately exiled. Remembering not only the greatness of these figures but also their disappearance, the allusions develop a duality similar to that of the Rose: Yeats perceives the greatness of Ireland's past as well as the tragic state of its present. Euphony in the phrases associated with the Rose creates a pleasant lyrical feeling surrounding the Rose. The first line of the poem contains almost entirely soft sounds, particularly with the repeated euphonious consonant r. The only hard consonant comes from “proud,” and yet an r immediately follows the p to soften it. This establishes from the beginning iharmonious sounds associated with the Rose. The alliteration in the first stanza further creates euphony, as Yeats describes the "stars... dancing in silver sandals upon the sea" (6-7). Not only are all the words in this sentence euphonious, but even the repeated s sounds contribute to the overall pleasant sound of the poem. The first stanza also ends with the Rose “wandering on her way” (12). The alliteration in “wandering” and “way” creates euphony through both the consonant w and vowel sounds in the sentence, thus developing the beauty of the rose and ancient Ireland to convey Yeats's loving tone towards the history of Ireland. Furthermore, the structure of the poem, written in heroic couplets with exact rhymes, also creates euphony. The rhythm and rhyme of this structure offers a pleasing regularity that remains consistent throughout the poem. Through euphony, Yeats continues to create a pleasant, even nostalgic, effect in relation to the Rose and Ireland's past. A level of intimacy with the rose through the personification of the symbol He continually asks the rose to come closer to him, and describes it as "wandering." (12). By attributing human qualities to the flower, Yeats emphasizes the reality of its beauty. In this way, he connects the speaker of the poem with the Rose, bringing them closer together to reveal the strength of the Rose's beauty. The personification therefore emphasizes Yeats's nationalistic perception of Ireland's beautiful past. Through the motif of time, Yeats creates a proud yet melancholy tone towards the past. He declares that the Rose lasts “all my days” and that he finds “in all the poor foolish things that live a day/Eternal beauty” (1, 11-12). This indicates the enduring significance of the Rose, which serves as a perpetual symbol throughout his life and will continue to have meaning until the end of his days. These references to such a long period of time reflect the enduring significance of the rose as a symbol of beauty to demonstrate Yeats's abiding love for ancient Ireland. The optimistic tone in speaking of the ability to find this kind of “eternal beauty” also conveys Yeats's confident tone regarding the attempt to manifest the past in the Ireland of the present. He continues to outline the “ancient ways” of Ireland, with the colons pointing to Cuchulain, Fergus, and the Druid. This modifies the "ancient ways" to denote Ireland's mythological heroic tradition, which Yeats views with pride, but also despondency, knowing that he cannot recreate Ireland's past as he wishes. The repetition of the phrase "Come here" expresses the speaker's desire to be close to the Rose. He states this twice in the first stanza, and the repetition emphasizes his earlier feeling of affirming his desire for the Rose's closeness. In the opening of the second stanza, however, he repeats the phrase three times in a row, in contrast to the other repetitions of "come closer" which occur in isolation. In this line, the phrase indicates a significant change in the poem that directly follows, and its repetition creates an increase in intensity in his desire for the Rose, until the hyphen and exclamation "Ah" counteract the original request, making yes, what a passion to quickly dissipate. The speaker realizes that he cannot afford such close proximity to the Rose, that he can no longer delude himself with such an idealistic desire to immerse himself completely in the past. This development within the single verse reflects the shift in the entire poem from the previous stanza exploring the beauty of the past to the second stanza examining human mortality. Yeats changes from a joyful attitude to a more solemn one when he realizes that the Rose cannot get too close to him. After realizing that the speaker must maintain a distance from the Rose, the motif of time evolves into that of mortality, a.