A deconstructive reading of W.B. Yeats’s “sailing to Byzantium” and William Blake’s “London”

Abstract EN

This paper examines W.B.

Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium” (1927) and William Blake’s “London” (1794) from a deconstructive critical perspective.

Though the two poems belong to two different ages in the history of English poetry—the former is modern while the latter romantic—both can be quintessential examples of deconstructive criticism.

The paper begins by discussing the meaning and significance of deconstruction in modern critical theory.

It reveals to the reader an overview of deconstruction as a theory of reading texts.

The paper, moreover, proceeds to examine how deconstruction can illuminate the above-mentioned poems by analysing their verbal contradictions in terms of meaning and structure.

Under the scrutiny of deconstruction, these characteristics ultimately uncover the instability of literary language and meaning.

This deconstructive reading of the two texts will allow the reader to gain a better understanding not only of the two poems but also of deconstruction as a literary theory.