Sailing to Byzantium – Easy Summary, Translation & Full Guide

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A simple and copyright-free guide to “Sailing to Byzantium” by W.B. Yeats, including poet’s biography, poem text, Hindi translation, summary, theme and analysis.

About the Poet: W.B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in a family interested in art and literature. His father was a painter, and this artistic environment helped Yeats grow a deep love for poetry, stories and myths from a young age. Yeats spent his childhood between Dublin and London but he always felt emotionally connected to Ireland, its landscape, its people, and its traditions. This love for Irish culture strongly shaped his writing style.

Yeats was a major voice in the Irish Literary Revival, a movement that tried to rebuild and protect Irish art, literature, folklore and identity. He worked with several writers and thinkers to bring back interest in Irish myths, legends and drama. He also helped start the Abbey Theatre, it was the national theatre of Ireland which played a very important role in Irish cultural history. Yeats’s efforts made him not just a great poet but also a national cultural leader and he became all over the world.

In the early years of his writing career, Yeats wrote poetry filled with magical themes, dreams and romantic imagination. His style was soft, musical and symbolic so he is called symbolic poet . But as he grew older, his poetry changed. He began to write about real life, old age, politics, spiritual questions, and the nature of the soul. His later poetry became strong, philosophical, and powerful. This combination of imagination and wisdom made him an extraordinary poet.

Yeats was also deeply interested in spirituality, mystical traditions and symbols. He studied ancient philosophies, mythology and mysterious belief systems. These ideas often appear in his poems in the form of images, symbols and metaphors. Byzantium for example, became an important symbol in his poetry, representing spiritual purity and eternal artistic beauty.

One of the biggest influences in his personal life was Maud Gonne, a beautiful actress and political activist. Yeats loved her deeply but she did not marry him. This emotional pain also shaped many of his poems. Even though he did not get the love he wanted, he turned his feelings into powerful poetry.

Yeats became widely respected across the world. In 1923, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his inspiring poetry which gave new life to Irish national identity. His works continue to be read, studied and loved across the globe.

Yeats passed away in 1939 but his poems remain timeless. Poems like Sailing to Byzantium, The Second Coming, Easter 1916 and When You Are Old show his deep understanding of human life, art and the soul. His writing still speaks to readers today because it touches universal human emotions—youth, old age, love, loss, beauty and spiritual longing.

About the Poem

“Sailing to Byzantium” is one of W.B. Yeats’s most famous poems, published in 1928. The poem shows the poet’s thoughts about aging, the body, the soul and the search for spiritual beauty. Yeats feels that the world of youth and physical pleasure does not belong to him anymore because he is growing old. He calls this world “no country for old men.” In this world, young people enjoy life, love and the senses, while old people are ignored.

To escape this feeling, Yeats imagines a journey to Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul) which is used as a symbol of a holy, artistic and eternal world. In Byzantium, art and spirit live forever. Yeats wants to leave his aging body behind and become something eternal—like a golden bird created by craftsmen. This golden bird will never die and will sing forever.

The poem shows Yeats’s desire for immortality, spiritual growth and escape from physical decay. It is full of symbols, imagination and philosophical ideas. The poem teaches that while the body becomes old, the soul can still grow, learn and reach a higher level of beauty and knowledge.

Text of the Poem – “Sailing to Byzantium” (Public Domain)

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees—
Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, turn in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

Hindi Translation

I
यह देश बूढ़ों के लिए नहीं है।
युवा एक-दूसरे की बाहों में, पेड़ों पर गाते पक्षी,
हर मरती हुई पीढ़ी अपनी आवाज़ में खोई हुई है।
सैल्मन झरने, मैकेरल से भरी समुद्र,
मछली, जानवर और पक्षी जीवन का आनंद मनाते हैं।
यह दुनिया सिर्फ जन्म, जीवन और मृत्यु का चक्र है।
इस मधुर संगीत में सभी लोग उस बुद्धि को भूल जाते हैं
जो कभी बूढ़ी नहीं होती।

II
एक बूढ़ा आदमी एक मामूली चीज़ है,
डंडे पर फटा पुराना कोट जैसा,
जब तक उसकी आत्मा ताली न बजाए और गाना न गाए,
और अपने नश्वर शरीर के हर टूटे हिस्से के लिए ऊँचा न गाए।
आत्मा का स्कूल केवल एक है—
अपनी ही महानता को सीखना।
इसलिए मैं समुद्र पार कर
पवित्र शहर बिज़ान्टियम आ गया हूँ।

III
हे बुद्धिमान साधुओं,
जो ईश्वर की पवित्र अग्नि में जलते हैं,
सोने की मोज़ेक दीवार की तरह जगमगाते हुए,
मेरी आत्मा के गुरु बनो।
मेरे हृदय को जला दो—
जो दुख भरी इच्छाओं से भरा है,
और एक मरते हुए शरीर से बंधा है
जो खुद को पहचान नहीं पाता।
मुझे अनंत कला में शामिल कर लो।

IV
प्रकृति से बाहर आने के बाद
मैं कभी प्राकृतिक शरीर नहीं लूँगा।
मैं वैसा बनना चाहता हूँ जैसा यूनानी सुनार बनाते हैं—
सोने का बना हुआ, खूबसूरत, चमकदार।
जो सम्राट को जगाए रखे,
या सुनहरी डाल पर बैठकर गाए
बिज़ान्टियम के रईसों और महिलाओं को,
बीते हुए, वर्तमान और आने वाले समय के बारे में।

50 Difficult Words with Meanings

Country – world or society
Sensual – related to physical pleasure
Commend – praise
Begotten – created
Neglect – ignore
Monuments – great works
Unageing – never growing old
Paltry – small, unimportant
Tattered – torn
Mortal – human, subject to death
Magnificence – greatness
Sages – wise men
Mosaic – artwork made of small pieces
Gyre – circular movement
Consume – burn or destroy
Desire – strong wish
Fastened – tied
Artifice – something made by skill
Eternity – forever
Nature – physical world
Grecian – Greek
Goldsmith – someone who works with gold
Enamelling – decorating metal
Drowsy – sleepy
Emperor – king
Bough – branch
Passing – happening now
Sick with desire – full of painful longing
Holy fire – spiritual energy
Tattered coat – symbol of old age
Dying animal – human body
Singing-masters – spiritual teachers
Artifice of eternity – eternal art
Sensual music – pleasure of youth
Hammered gold – worked gold
Enamel – colored coating
Mackerel – fish
Salmon-falls – waterfall where salmon jump
Begotten, born, and dies – life cycle
Soul clap – celebrate spiritually
Mortal dress – human body
Byzantium – ancient city of spiritual beauty
Generations – groups of people over time
Flesh – body
Fowl – birds
Gyre – spiral motion
Animal – body
Awake – alert
Desire – wish
Past, passing, to come – time

Summary of the Poem

“Sailing to Byzantium” is a poem about the journey of the poet’s soul from the physical world to a spiritual, eternal world. In the first stanza, Yeats says that the world of youth is full of physical pleasures—young people enjoy love, nature and life. But this world ignores old age and wisdom. He calls this place “no country for old men” because old people do not belong to a world that celebrates youth and beauty.

Yeats sees nature full of life—birds, fish and young lovers—but everything in nature is temporary. Everything is born, lives and dies. This makes him feel that physical beauty and youth are not permanent. Since he is getting older, he feels left out of this world of temporary pleasures. Instead, he wants something permanent, something spiritual, something that does not fade away with age.

In the second stanza, Yeats talks about the sadness of old age. He compares himself to a “tattered coat upon a stick,” which means he feels weak and useless. But he believes the soul can still grow strong even when the body becomes weak. He says the soul must “clap its hands and sing,” meaning the soul should celebrate life and learn more. This learning comes from studying great art and wisdom of the past. Therefore, he decides to travel to Byzantium- a holy and artistic city to find spiritual knowledge.

In the third stanza,-Yeats calls out to the sages—wise spiritual teachers—who appear like figures in golden art. He asks them to guide his soul, teach him and remove his earthly desires. His heart is tired because it still desires physical things, even though his body is old. He wants the sages to take his soul out of the “dying animal,” which means the aging body. He wants to become part of something eternal—art, spirit and wisdom.

In the final stanza, Yeats imagines life after leaving the physical world. He says that once he steps out of nature, he will not take a natural body again. Instead, he wants to become like a work of art created by Greek goldsmiths—made of hammered gold and enamel. This golden form will never age or die. He imagines becoming a golden bird sitting on a branch, singing forever for the noble people of Byzantium. As this bird, he will sing about past, present, and future—showing eternal wisdom.

The poem shows Yeats’s desire to escape the pain of aging and the limitations of the human body. He wants to enter a world of eternal art, beauty and wisdom. Byzantium becomes a symbol of spiritual perfection, where the soul lives forever, free from physical decay.

Theme of the Poem

Aging vs. youth
Temporary physical life vs. eternal spiritual life
Desire for immortality
Art as a form of timeless beauty
Journey of the soul
Escape from physical decay
Search for wisdom and spiritual truth

Poetic Devices

Metaphor – “tattered coat upon a stick”
Symbolism – Byzantium = eternal spiritual world
Alliteration – “Fish, flesh, or fowl”
Imagery – golden bird, mosaic walls
Personification – soul clapping hands
Repetition – “sing”
Contrast – youth vs. old age
Enjambment – lines flow into one another

Analysis of the Poem

The poem is a deep reflection on old age and the wish for spiritual freedom. Yeats feels the pain of growing old in a world that values youth. He finds hope in art, wisdom and spiritual learning. Byzantium becomes a symbol of perfect artistic and spiritual life. The poem mixes reality with imagination, creating a symbolic journey of the soul. Yeats believes that while the body dies, the soul can reach a state of eternal beauty through art and wisdom.

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18 November, 2025

Sailing to Byzantium – Easy Summary, Translation & Full Guide