The Fisherman
Although I can see him still—
The freckled man who goes
To a gray place on a hill
In gray Connemara clothes
At dawn to cast his flies—
It’s long since I began
To call up to the eyes
This wise and simple man.
All day I’d looked in the face
What I had hoped it would be
To write for my own race
And the reality:
The living men that I hate,
The dead man that I loved,
The craven man in his seat,
The insolent unreproved—
And no knave brought to book
Who has won a drunken cheer—
The witty man and his joke
Aimed at the commonest ear,
The clever man who cries
The catch cries of the clown,
The beating down of the wise
And great Art beaten down.Maybe a twelve-month since
Suddenly I began,
In scorn of this audience,
Imagining a man,
And his sun-freckled face
And gray Connemara cloth,
Climbing up to a place
Where stone is dark with froth,
And the down turn of his wrist
When the flies drop in the stream—
A man who does not exist,
A man who is but a dream;
And cried, “Before I am old
I shall have written him one
Poem maybe as cold
And passionate as the dawn.”
Summary of The Fisherman
- Popularity of “The Fisherman”: Published in 1919 in The Wild Swans ay Coole, “The Fisherman” is a nature poem. William Butler Yeats, a phenomenal writer, and poet, has tried to show his love for nature and genuine art. He talks about genuine art that contains beauty and truth. The poem has won popularity because it emphasizes the life of an ordinary man.
- “The Fisherman” As a Representative of Beauty of Nature: This poem accounts for the writer’s contrastive ideas about the mundane world. It begins by describing a skilled fisherman whom the speaker met. He watched his life carefully and admired him for his simple ways. He got attracted to him because the fisherman belongs to his race, which is rare to be found nowadays. It seems that the fisherman comes up to the speaker’s idealistic expectations. In the poem’s second stanza, the modern Irish men who have failed to touch the speaker’s romantic expectations. After commenting on the indifferent approach of the contemporary man, the poet, once again, talks about the fisherman. To him, people like fishermen exist only in a poetic dream, and they do not exist in the real world.
- Major Themes in “The Fisherman”: Man versus nature, ideal man versus modern man, and beauty are the major themes of the poem. Yeats uses a contrastive approach in this poem to draw the figure of an ideal man. To him, the perfect man stays close to his roots and with nature. The speaker presents the fisherman as an epitome of perfection because the speaker has observed him closely, and his judgment led him to label the fisherman as a genuine person. Also, the fisherman image presents the unity, harmony, and simplicity that the poet sees in the Irish people of his time. However, these qualities are lacking in the modern Irish man. Therefore, the poet presents a nature-loving fisherman as a reminder that no matter how modern man has become, he still belongs to his roots.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Fisherman
William Butler Yeats used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices have been analyzed below.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ in “Aimed at the commonest ear,” and the sound of /o/ in “To write for my own race.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick successions, such as the sound of /h/ in “What I had hoped it would be” and the sound of /k/ in “The catch cries of the clown.”
- Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. Yeats repeated the word “A man” in the last stanza of the poem to emphasize the point such as;
“A man who does not exist,
A man who is but a dream;”
- Allusion: Allusion is a belief and an indirect reference of a person, place, thing, or idea of a historical, cultural, political, or literary significance. The following lines allude to the figure of a perfect man that existed during the poet’s time.
“A man who does not exist,
A man who is but a dream;”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /t/ in “The beating down of the wise” and the sound of /h/ in “What I had hoped it would be.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
“At dawn to cast his flies—
It’s long since I began
To call up to the eyes
This wise and simple man.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. William Butler Yeats used imagery in this poem, such as; “I shall have written him one”, “When the flies drop in the stream” and “And his sun-freckled face.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. The poet used change as an extended metaphor to show how man has changed himself following the modern standards of living.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as choices, an ideal world, and a modern approach to the world and complaints to demonstrate the reality of a modern man.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Fisherman
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows descriptive simple, and poetic diction.
- End Rhyme: End Rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. William Butler Yeats used end rhyme in this poem, such as; “face/race” “still/hill” and “flies/eyes.”
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two stanzas in this poem with each comprising a different number of verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. Initially, the poem shows a somber tone, but later it turns dismal and complaining.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to praise the hard work of a man who puts his blood and sweat into his work.
“Imagining a man,
And his sun-freckled face
And gray Connemara cloth,
Climbing up to a place
Where stone is dark with froth.”