2 thoughts on “POETS Day: Sailing to Byzantium by WB Yeats

  1. Sailing to Philadelphia seems more to me to be a song about a young man, excited to make his mark on the world rather than a song about a “tattered coat upon a stick”.

    Hey, let’s make our mark!, it seems to be saying. I mean, sure it’s kind of wistful… but it’s looking forward. Not looking back.

    That poem reads much differently at 49 than it does at 24, I’ll tell you what.Report

    1. I think you are dead right, but in both cases the verse is about a journey to something new. I doubt Knopfler wrote that song without knowing Yeats. It’s possible, but I doubt it.Report

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