1. The Circus Animals’ Desertion
Preface
The Circus Animals’ Desertion
Cecily Brown (2015)

2. An Elegy for Romanticism
William Butler Yeats and “The Circus Animals’ Desertion” (1937)

3. Dominant Effect
In “The Circus Animals’ Desertion,” William Butler Yeats establishes a tone of defeat through the duality between the spiritual and the physical, thereby critiquing the futility of the Romantic ideal.
Thomas Cole: The Departure (1837)

4. Historical Context When does Yeats write this poem?
Why does he write this poem?
How does the poem’s structure reflect this purpose?
Thomas Cole: The Savage State (1836)

5. Duality of Spirit and Body: Part I
Motif: Dreams and Illusion
“Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams…” (11)
“And this brought forth a dream and soon enough/This dream itself had all my thought and love” (23-24).
What does Yeats express through the motif of dreams?
How does the dichotomy between desire and reality tie into this motif?
“It was the dream itself that had enchanted me” (28)
How does the motif of dreams reflect Yeats’ life and views?
Thomas Cole: Temple of Segesta (1843)

6. Duality of Spirit and Body: Part II
Allusion: The Countess Cathleen
“And then a counter-truth filled out its play,/The Countess Cathleen was the name I gave it” (17-18)
From The Countess Cathleen, Scene V:
OONA: God guard her soul.
ALEEL: She's bartered it away this very hour,
As though we two were never in the world.
(ALEEL points downwards)
First, Orchil, her pale, beautiful head alive,
Her body shadowy as vapour drifting
Under the dawn…
Thomas Cole: Temple of Segesta (1843)

7. Duality of Spirit and Body: Part III
Motif: Heart and Soul
“Maybe at last being but a broken man / I must be satisfied with my heart” (3-4)
“What can I but enumerate old themes…themes of the embittered heart” (9-13)
“She, pity-crazed, had given her soul away” (19)
“I thought my dear must her own soul destroy” (21)
Thomas Cole: Temple of Segesta (1843)

8. Defeat, Loss, and Despair: Part I
Theme: Loss of Poetic Expression
“Heart mysteries there, and yet when all is said / It was the dream itself that enchanted me…Players and painted stage took all my love/and not those things they were emblems of” (27-32)
“Those masterful images because complete/Grew in pure mind but out of what began?”
“Now that the ladder’s gone/I must lie down where all the ladders start/In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart” (38-40)
Thomas Cole: The Present (1838)

9. Defeat, Loss, and Despair: Part II
Motif: Cycles
“Winter and summer till old age began/My circus animals were all on show” (3-5)
“Now that my ladder’s gone/I must lie down where all the ladders start/In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart” (38-40)
What is the role of ladder imagery in this passage?
How does Yeats’ diction shape meaning?
What tone does Yeats express in this passage?
How does this connect to the broader context of Yeats’ life and beliefs?
Thomas Cole: The Present (1838)

10. Defeat, Loss, and Despair: Part III
Motif: Age and Time
“What can I but enumerate old themes…” (9)
“Those masterful images because complete/Grew in pure mind but out of what began?” (33-34)
“Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,/Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut/Who keeps the till” (36-38)
What is the role of connotation in these quotes?
What is the tone that Yeats creates through prostitution imagery?
Thomas Cole: The Present (1838)

11. Defeat, Loss, and Despair: Part IV
Structure: Repetition and Enjambment
“Through three enchanted islands, allegorical dreams,/Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose” (12)
What is the relationship of this device to the motif of cycles?
What is the main purpose of this device?
What role does the number three play in the structure of this poem? What is its significance?
Thomas Cole: The Present (1838)

12. The Futility of Heroism: Part I
Structure: Ottava Rima
Allusion: Oisín in Tir na nÓg
“First that sea-rider Oisín led by the nose/Through three enchanted islands…” (10-11)
“But what cared I that set him to ride,/I, starved for the bosom of his fairy bride” (15-16)
Allusion: “Cuchulain’s Fight With The Sea”
“Cuchulain fought the ungovernable sea” (26)
“Chaunt in his ear delusions magical,/That he may fight the horses of the sea….Cuchulain stirred,/Stared on the horses of the sea…And fought with the invulnerable tide.”
Thomas Cole: Romantic Landscape With Ruined Tower ( )

13. The Futility of Heroism: Part II
Allusion: On Baile’s Strand
“And when the Fool and Blind Man stole the bread” (25)
From On Baile’s Strand:
BARACH (The Fool): That blind man there said he would kill you…I always knew that you would kill him.
BARACH: O! he is fighting the waves.
FINTAIN (The Blind Man): There will be nobody in the houses. Come this way, come quickly; the ovens will be full; we will put our hands into the ovens.
Thomas Cole: Romantic Landscape With Ruined Tower ( )

14. Discussion Questions
Compare and contrast the diction in this poem with the diction used in Yeats’ other poems. How are they similar and/or different? Why?
Discuss the significance of the title.
In his earlier poems, Yeats explores both the nature of love and the struggle to attain love. Discuss how and why Yeats’ portrayal of these themes has either shifted or remained consistent.
In direct contrast with the majority of his other poems, Yeats himself is likely the speaker in “The Circus Animals’ Desertion.” Evaluate the effect and purpose of this change.
Thomas Cole: Il Penseroso (1845)

15. Exit Slip Compose a haiku that expresses one of the below:
Limitations of artistic expression
Self-reflection
A critique of an artistic movement or mode of thought
Thomas Cole: The Return (1837)

16. Bibliography
Bentley, Eric. "Yeats as a Playwright." The Kenyon Review 10, no. 2 (1948):
Bristow, Janet. “The Significance of Three.” shawlministry.com. Accessed December 9,
Frazier, Adrian. "The Making of Meaning: Yeats and "The Countess Cathleen"." The Sewanee Review 95, no. 3 (1987):
Kennelly, Brendan. "The Heroic Ideal in Yeats's Cuchulain Plays." Hermathena, no (1965):
Skene, R. Between a Fool and a Blind Man. In: The Cuchulain Plays of W.B. Yeats. Palgrave, London.
“The Circus Animals’ Desertion.” Sotheby’s. Accessed December 10, auction-l17024/lot.7.html
Ure, Peter. "The Evolution of Yeats's "The Countess Cathleen"." The Modern Language Review 57, no. 1 (1962): doi: /