1. “Meditations in Time of Civil War” Ancestral Houses
Cameron Baird, Stella Qiu, Kaitlyn Tran, Ivan Trindev, Ernie Yang, Kevin Zhu

2. *Note tone and inflection fam
Reading of the poem
*Note tone and inflection fam
Cameron

3. Structure Whole poem is actually seven different parts
Ancestral Houses (part 1):
5 stanzas with 8 lines each
Lines are written in iambic pentameter
Line 2: aMID the RUStle OF his PLANted HILLS,
Stella

4. Meaning
Stanza One:
Speaker postulates that being rich must be easy since you are able to do as you wish without having to take orders from anybody.
Stanza Two:
Speaker brings up that the rich purely inherit their money from their ancestors rather than attaining these riches on their own.
Idea that happiness is attained through wealth in self-delight and meaning, and not in wealth of commodities
Stanza Three:
Speaker describes a rich and powerful man who hires artists and architects to create renditions of sweetness and gentleness since he has never truly experienced either.
Stanza Four / Five:
Speaker (rhetorically) asks the reader if a wealth in commodities can actually bring true happiness.
Ivan

5. Title and Context
“Meditations in Time of Civil War” - seven part poem published in 1923
Refers to Yeats’ sentiments about the outbreak of the Irish Civil War
Aghast at the violence and destruction
Spent much of his time isolated from society, no post, newspaper, travel
“Now days are dragon-ridden, the nightmare / Rides upon sleep”
Ancestral Houses - written in 1921 before the start of the war
Title inspired by Lady Ottoline Morrell’s house in Oxford and Lady Gregory’s Coole Park
Discusses decline of grand century houses: falling into ruin, loss of inheritance, or homes destroyed by political violence
Comments on the fall of Protestant Ireland’s aristocracy
Kaitlyn

6. Kaitlyn

7. Dominant Effect
Yeats uses imagery of the perceived boundless wealth of the rich in contrast to the wealth of meaning and self-delight, shown through the allusion to Homer, delineating between material, inherited wealth and beautiful, self-created wealth.
Ernie
Yeats uses allusions and imagery of the perceived boundless wealth of the rich in contrast to the wealth of meaning and self- delight to delineate between material, inherited wealth and beautiful, self-created wealth, ultimately.
Yeats uses allusions to Greek mythology in conjunction with wealthy imagery to delineate between material, inherited wealth and beautiful, self-created wealth, ultimately revealing the speaker’s nostalgia for Protestant Ireland and opinion that true happiness and purpose is obtained through hard work and ambition .

8. Rhyme
Uses an A-B-A-B-A-B rhyme scheme, with a rhyming couplet C-C at the end of the of the stanza
Slant rhymes in the couplet in stanzas one, four and five
“And never stoop to a mechanical / Or servile shape, at others’ beck and call.”
“And Childhood a delight for every sense, / But take our greatness with our violence?”
“Consider most to magnify, or to bless, / But take our greatness with our bitterness?”
Ivan

9. Rhyme
These three stanzas focus on the perception that greatness and happiness come with a wealth of commodities
Slant rhyme seems to work, but upon closer inspection is not as perfect as it seems
Being rich seems to be great at first glance
When examined more closely, it becomes obvious that being wealthy in commodities is not as amazing as it’s perceived to be
Ivan

10. Rhyme
ABAB rhyme scheme breaks in the first line of stanzas one and three
lawns / pains
man / stone
Unlike slant rhyme, these words don’t really rhyme at all
Stanzas one and three discuss achievements rich men of older generations
Variation in rhyme draws attention to the differences to these lines-distance in lifestyle and ways of thinking between older and younger generations
Older generations had to go through rough times to get to where they are,whereas for their children who simply inherit their wealth it all comes easy
Stella

11. Water Imagery
“Life overflows without ambitious pains; / And rains down life until the basin spills, / … / As though to choose whatever shape it wills” (4-5, 7).
Luxury and wealth is passed from generation to generation - no hard labor or “ambitious pains”
Flowing water - metaphor for the aimless, uncontainable, shapeless next generation, lacking older generation’s spirit and vitality
Kaitlyn

12. Seashell Symbolism (wow alliteration lol)
“As if some marvellous empty sea-shell flung / Out of the obscure dark rich streams” (14-15).
Seashells often represent love, fertility, and vitality
“Empty” refers to the new, wealthy generation lacking the spirit of the past
“Dark rich streams” - bittersweet tone: they are passed down luxuries and wealth, yet they do not understand the value
Kaitlyn

13. Allusion to Homer
“Mere dreams, mere dreams! Yet Homer had not Sung / Had he not found it certain beyond dreams / That out of life’s own self-delight had sprung / The abounding glittering jet;” (9-12).
The speaker is being argumentative here, using Homer as an example of one who is both wealthy and not wealthy
Homer gained satisfaction from his works alone without the need for material wealth
Homer is believed to be blind, cannot see material wealth or beauty but experiences it anyway
based solely on a character in The Odyssey, a blind poet called Demodokos who some theorize was Homer projecting himself into his works
Property of cameron

14. Characterization of Men
“Some violent bitter man” (17) called in architects and artists who were also “Bitter and violent” (19) to create “sweetness” (20) and “gentleness” (21)
Contrast between violence/bitterness and sweetness/gentleness
Energy of violence/bitterness drove them to create beauty that “all longed for” (20)
“But when the master’s buried mice can play. / And maybe the great-grandson of that house, / … ‘s but a mouse” (22-24)
Metaphor of mice to characterize the successors of the violent bitter man
Mice: weak, simple-minded, no energy to create, only to inherit
Kevin

15. Allusion to Juno
“With delicate feet upon old terraces/or else all Juno from an urn displays/Before the indifferent garden deities” (line 21-24)
Juno = one of the three original deities
Protector of the state
Urn = artistic vase where ashes are stored
The speaker shows how Juno guards the older generation that was youthful, vibrant, and hardworking and the indifferent deities is the new generation that could not live up to the older generation’s legacy.
Ernie

16. Wealth Imagery
Nature: “flowering lawns” (1), “planted hills” (2), “gardens where the peacock strays” (25), “levelled lawns and gravelled ways” (29)
Idealized image of nature, artificially created
Art/Architecture: “bronze and marble” (24), “escutcheoned doors” (33), “polished floors” (35), “great chambers and long galleries” (36), “portraits of our ancestors” (37)
Typical images of a rich home
Kevin

17. Wealth Imagery (cont’d)
Yeats asks what if these things “But take our greatness with our violence” (32) or “… bitterness?” (40)
The violent bitter men had greatness, using violence/bitterness as fuel to create beauty
Men who inherit these created riches have no such energy to create meaning/beauty
Kevin

18. Main Theme: Beauty and Meaning in Life
“Out of life’s own self-delight had sprung / The abounding glittering jet” (11-12)
Finding meaning in life just like Homer did singing his songs. Homer considered wealthy by the speaker, despite the fact that he did not hold any wealth in the traditional sense as described through imagery
“The great-grandson of that house, / For all its bronze and marble, ‘s but a mouse” (23-24)
Meaning can not be derived from the inherited wealth and beautiful estates of the wealthy
A “Shadow” (16) is cast over the inherited glory of the rich, one must create one’s own beauty to be fulfilled in life
Also property of cameron

19. More Theme = More Fun
Last two stanzas repeat a pattern to drive home the theme
“But take our greatness with our violence?” (32)
“But take our greatness with our bitterness?” (40)
In a twist, the violent, bitter man is the creator of greatness that the younger generation, represented by mice, simply wastes away in
In conclusion, the wealth the younger generation holds is only a shadow inherited from the truly great people of the past
Challenge question: Who is who? How would the speaker describe or evaluate these two?
cam

20. Discussion Questions
Why did Yeats choose the title “Ancestral Houses” for this section of the poem?
How do allusions affect Yeats’ message about the younger generation?
According to the speaker, are the violent, bitter men better or worse off than the younger generation?
What similarities can you draw between the themes of “Ancestral Houses” and Yeats’ previous works?
What mood does wealthy imagery evoke?
ernie

21. Exit Slip In your journals, please answer the following questions:
What is Yeats’ overall message about the new generation and old Ireland?
How did we do? On a scale of 1-10, please rank our presentation on how prepared you feel for the IOC.
Write what went well in this presentation, and what we should work on next time.
ernie

22. Works Cited
"Juno." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 08 Apr Web. 16 Nov
"The Blind Poet Homer." BeeOasiscom. N.p., 5 Oct Web. 12 Nov
"Meditations in Time of Civil War a Poem by William Butler Yeats." Famous Literary Works. Siteseen Ltd., 2015.
Web. 16 Nov