The Tower

The Tower is a drastic change from Wild Swans in terms of style and content. Yeats has two new sources for inspiration in these poems: the automatic writing of his wife and the system of symbolic philosophy he had composed from the former. The somber reflection of Wild Swans gives way here to a new confidence and, though not a pure one, optimism.

The ambiguity of Yeats' symbols is still there. But before it seemed to reflect Yeats' own insecurity and indecision - or the complexity of the idea. Now the ambiguity in his symbols seems to spring from pure obscurity. Their meaning maybe somewhat intangible, but Yeats uses these symbols as if they are a precise language.

In "The Tower", Yeats holds a confrontation between the moon and the sun. In one part, the two are perilously confused and disaster ensues. The "brightness of the moon", is mistaken for the "prosaic sun". Yeats is referencing his moon phasology. The full moon, implied by the brightness, is the phase of subjectivity. It's hard to tell what this means, but it looks like Yeats is making a pragmatic warning: do not confuse your whims with your imperatives. These men, as "Music drove their wits away", saw their subjective passions as clarity. Thus, they drown.

In the next stanza the speaker cries "O may the moon and sunlight seem/One inextricable beam". The speaker seems to be refering to his own hopes for vindication. He may also, simultaneously, be praying that his creativity be married to the realness of life. These prayers look like they are related to Yeats' own thoughts. As Ellman says, he was aware that his symbology was eccentric. Maybe he is hoping that it will be taken seriously anyway and pondered over, thus the line "For if I triumph I must make men mad".

I'm going to stop here and flesh out this post tomorrow.