Introduction: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
“A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats first appeared in 1933 as part of his final poetry collection, The Winding Stair and Other Poems. The poem is a profound meditation on the internal conflict between the transcendent soul and the passionate, earthly self. Structured as a dramatic dialogue, it stages a philosophical battle: the Soul urges detachment from earthly concerns and the embrace of spiritual ascent, while the Self asserts the value of lived experience, even in its messiness and imperfection. Its popularity stems from Yeats’s bold reimagining of the traditional soul-body dichotomy—not to condemn the self, but to ultimately affirm it. In a striking turn, the Self embraces the cycles of life and suffering, claiming, “I am content to live it all again and yet again”, thereby rejecting the Soul’s yearning for detachment. This subversion of spiritual asceticism in favor of existential acceptance and heroic repetition is what gives the poem its enduring resonance. Yeats’s masterful merging of symbolic imagery—such as Sato’s ancient sword and the winding stair—with existential courage and lyrical power has made this poem one of the most philosophically daring and emotionally compelling pieces in his oeuvre.
Text: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
I
My Soul. I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul?
My Self. The consecrated blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wooden scabbard bound and wound,
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn.
My Soul. Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect its wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
My Self. Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery—
Heart’s purple—and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
My Soul. Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
Is from the Ought, or Knower from the Known—
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
II
My Self. A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies?—
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.
Annotations: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
| Section | Speaker | Stanza Annotations in Simple English |
| I.1 | Soul | The Soul calls the Self to climb a symbolic spiritual staircase and focus on spiritual truths beyond the physical world. It suggests letting go of thoughts and moving toward a place beyond thinking. |
| I.2 | Self | The Self presents a samurai sword, a symbol of personal experience and earthly action. It appreciates beauty and history in physical objects, suggesting that life and time leave meaningful traces. |
| I.3 | Soul | The Soul questions why a man remembers things tied to love and war. It urges him to rise above earthly desires and find spiritual salvation beyond the cycles of life and death. |
| I.4 | Self | The Self counters that these earthly symbols (like the sword) have value and meaning. He embraces the right to live fully—even to “sin” again through action and emotion. |
| I.5 | Soul | The Soul says that in spiritual fullness, the mind loses all worldly knowledge and becomes one with divine truth. Only the dead can truly be forgiven. The Soul becomes speechless at this thought. |
| II.1 | Self | The Self begins a long monologue. He says life is full of suffering and embarrassment, especially during youth, and people often see distorted versions of themselves in others’ eyes. |
| II.2 | Self | He reflects that even when we try to escape shame, honour finds us again. There’s no real escape from life’s difficulties, but he still accepts it. |
| II.3 | Self | He’s willing to live life over again—even with all its pain and blind confusion—because it’s part of being human. Even foolish love is part of that journey. |
| II.4 | Self | He chooses to accept and forgive his past, and through that forgiveness, finds peace and joy. Everything in life—when embraced fully—is a blessing. |
Literary And Poetic Devices: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
| 📘 Example from the Poem | 🎨 Device | 🧠 Explanation |
| “winding ancient stair” | 🌀 Symbolism | Represents the spiritual or intellectual journey of the soul. |
| “Still like a looking-glass” | ✨ Simile | Compares the sword’s surface to a mirror, symbolizing clarity and precision. |
| “breathless starlit air” | 🌌 Imagery | Creates a vivid night-time scene appealing to the senses. |
| “Who can distinguish darkness from the soul?” | ❓ Rhetorical Question | A question posed for reflection, not to be answered literally. |
| “Sato’s ancient blade” | 🗡️ Allusion | Reference to Japanese culture, symbolizing honor, time, and tradition. |
| “Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass” | ♻️ Repetition | Repeats “still” to stress the enduring, unchanged nature of the sword. |
| “Emblems of the day against the tower” | 🌞🏰 Contrast | Opposes light (life/self) with darkness (soul/spiritual world). |
| “Only the dead can be forgiven” | 💀 Paradox | Seems contradictory but implies that peace and forgiveness come only in death. |
| “frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch” | 🐸 Grotesque Imagery | Evokes the messiness and blindness of life with unpleasant visual detail. |
| “blind man battering blind men” | 👁️🗨️ Metaphor | Compares humans to blind men attacking each other—highlighting confusion and ignorance. |
| The dialogue format | 🔄 Antithesis | Central conflict between Self (life) and Soul (spirit), creating tension. |
| Soul and Self as characters | 🕊️ Personification | Abstract ideas are given voices and human characteristics. |
| The entire poem | 🎭 Dramatic Monologue | A stylized inner debate between two parts of the speaker’s psyche. |
| “ascends to Heaven” vs. “live it all again” | ⚖️ Juxtaposition | Spiritual escape vs. worldly experience placed side by side. |
| “pitch into the frog-spawn…” | 🧪 Extended Metaphor | Life as a messy ditch—developed over multiple lines. |
| “mirror of malicious eyes” | 🪞 Metaphor | Mirrors symbolize distorted self-perception shaped by others. |
| “tongue’s a stone” | 🪨 Metaphor | Expresses emotional paralysis and inability to speak. |
| “the crime of birth and death” | 🧩 Philosophical Allusion | Refers to the idea of life itself as a cosmic burden or error. |
| “that most fecund ditch of all” | 🌱 Irony | Life’s worst aspects are also fertile and productive—full of meaning. |
| “We must laugh and we must sing” | 🌈 Tone Shift | A surprising, joyful resolution—accepting life in all its messiness. |
Themes: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
🌀 1. Conflict Between Body and Spirit: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats dramatizes the timeless philosophical conflict between the earthly self and the spiritual soul. The poem’s title directly signals this internal battle. Throughout the poem, the Soul represents detachment, transcendence, and spiritual ascension: “Fix every wandering thought upon / That quarter where all thought is done.” This evokes the desire to leave behind earthly desires and move toward a divine void. In contrast, the Self insists on the value of experience and the material world, embracing the sword, silk, and memory: “That flowering, silken, old embroidery… / Can, tattered, still protect.” Yeats explores the dualism that underlies human consciousness, rejecting a one-sided ideal. Instead of choosing between the two, he gives both a voice—suggesting that truth lies not in asceticism or indulgence, but in acknowledging the ongoing tension between them.
🔁 2. The Cycle of Life, Death, and Rebirth: In “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats, the theme of eternal recurrence is central, particularly voiced by the Self, who defies the Soul’s wish for release from life. The Self declares boldly: “I am content to live it all again / And yet again.” Rather than seeking escape from the pain and impurity of life, he embraces it fully—including the folly, confusion, and suffering. He even accepts “the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch”—a grotesque metaphor for life’s chaotic origins. This acceptance of life’s circular nature ties to Yeats’s interest in cyclical time and the gyre (his symbolic spiral), which appears throughout his work. Unlike the Soul, which seeks linear transcendence, the Self is willing to repeat life’s journey endlessly, turning the act of living—flawed, impure, yet full of learning—into a kind of salvation.
⚔️ 3. Heroism and the Embrace of Experience: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats reframes heroism not as an escape from suffering but as the courageous embrace of it. The Self claims his identity through symbolic warrior imagery: “Montashigi… fashioned it / Five hundred years ago.” The sword, not just a weapon but an emblem of honor and memory, represents the Self’s connection to history, desire, and action. His proud assertion—“And claim as by a soldier’s right / A charter to commit the crime once more”—is a bold celebration of worldly engagement. Rather than seeing sin and suffering as failures, Yeats positions them as rites of passage, essential to becoming fully human. This existential heroism, choosing to live with full awareness of life’s ugliness and beauty, elevates the Self’s voice as a powerful alternative to spiritual withdrawal.
🌈 4. Forgiveness, Acceptance, and Joy: Toward the end of “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats, the Self reaches a state of profound acceptance and emotional release. This culminates in a redemptive tone shift: “When such as I cast out remorse / So great a sweetness flows into the breast.” Through embracing all aspects of life—shame, error, passion, and struggle—the Self finds not despair but joy. The closing lines, “We must laugh and we must sing, / We are blest by everything,” stand in stark contrast to the Soul’s earlier silence and gloom. Here, forgiveness is not sought from divine judgment, but arises internally through self-compassion and honest reflection. This final moment fuses Yeats’s mysticism with a deep psychological insight, offering an alternative salvation: not in transcendence, but in loving the world as it is—“Everything we look upon is blest.”
Literary Theories and “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
| 🎨 Theory | 🧠 Interpretation (with Explanation) | 📘 Textual Reference from the Poem |
| 🧍♂️ Psychoanalytic Theory | Focuses on the inner conflict between the id (Self) and superego (Soul). The poem stages Yeats’s psychological battle between desire and restraint, passion and control. The dialogue form mirrors Freud’s theory of divided consciousness. | “My Soul. I summon to the winding ancient stair… / My Self. The consecrated blade upon my knees” |
| ♻️ Existentialist Theory | Emphasizes individual freedom, meaning-making, and embracing suffering. The Self chooses to affirm life despite its pain: an existential act of agency. This theory interprets Yeats’s Self as a Sartrean hero, choosing to live even knowing the absurd. | “I am content to live it all again / And yet again, if it be life…” |
| 📿 Spiritual / Mystical Theory | Examines Yeats’s symbolic journey toward enlightenment. The Soul urges detachment, echoing Eastern mysticism, while the Self finds transcendence in acceptance rather than escape. Yeats blends Christian, Eastern, and esoteric mysticism in his poetic vision. | “Fix every wandering thought upon / That quarter where all thought is done” |
| 🔥 Modernist Theory | Highlights fragmentation, internal conflict, and anti-romanticism. The poem reflects modernist disillusionment with tradition, challenging spiritual ideals with a grounded embrace of brokenness and imperfection. The Self resists the Soul’s abstract purity with gritty realism. | “Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch, / A blind man battering blind men” |
Critical Questions about “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
❓ 1. What does Yeats suggest about the value of earthly life versus spiritual transcendence?
“A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats explores the tension between two opposing desires: the Soul’s call to transcend the world and the Self’s embrace of lived experience. The Soul seeks detachment and spiritual purity, asking, “Fix every wandering thought upon / That quarter where all thought is done.” It represents the Platonic ideal—freedom from the body and its burdens. However, the Self argues for the sanctity of life in all its flawed beauty, declaring: “I am content to live it all again / And yet again.” Yeats presents a radical idea: that meaning is found not in escape, but in acceptance. Through this debate, he ultimately leans toward affirming life, even with its pain, impurity, and repetition, thus challenging traditional spiritual asceticism.
⚔️ 2. How does Yeats use symbolism to reflect the inner conflict between Self and Soul?
“A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats is rich with symbolism that externalizes the internal conflict of the speaker. The poem’s central image—the ancient Japanese sword—embodies the Self’s connection to history, violence, memory, and art. Described as “razor-keen” and “unspotted by the centuries,” the sword represents a life sharpened by conflict yet preserved through dignity and tradition. In contrast, the Soul invokes the “winding ancient stair”, a symbolic spiritual ascent toward transcendence. These two emblems—the stair and the sword—encapsulate the poem’s tension between the spiritual and the worldly. Yeats transforms abstract philosophy into visual, tangible symbols, letting readers see the battle between desire and detachment.
🌀 3. In what way does the poem challenge conventional religious ideas of salvation and forgiveness?
“A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats questions traditional religious doctrines by reimagining salvation not as escape into heaven, but as reconciliation with the self. The Soul claims, “Only the dead can be forgiven,” implying that true absolution is only accessible after death, through divine judgment. But the Self resists this fatalistic outlook, choosing instead to forgive himself in life: “Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!” This moment is a pivotal turn away from external redemption and toward self-forgiveness and agency. Yeats uses this to suggest a more humanistic spirituality, in which grace is found not through otherworldly salvation, but through self-acceptance and the courage to face life’s imperfections.
🌈 4. How does Yeats use structure and tone to reveal the poem’s philosophical resolution?
“A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats is structured as a literal dialogue, but it functions more as an internal debate within a single psyche. The division into two sections—I, where the Self and Soul exchange lines, and II, where the Self speaks alone—mirrors the speaker’s growing certainty and emotional shift. The Soul gradually fades from the conversation, ending with the line, “my tongue’s a stone,” suggesting silence, doubt, or surrender. In contrast, the Self takes over with increasing confidence, leading to a tone of joyful resolution: “We must laugh and we must sing, / We are blest by everything.” This structural transition—from conflict to monologue—illustrates how Yeats resolves the poem’s tension. The Self doesn’t defeat the Soul, but transcends the conflict by embracing both joy and suffering, marking a philosophical victory grounded in existential affirmation.
Literary Works Similar to “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
- 🧍♂️ “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot
Like Yeats’s poem, this dramatic monologue presents an internal conflict, where the speaker debates action vs. inaction, embodying the modern self’s anxiety and alienation. - 🕊️ “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth
Both poems explore the spiritual consequences of detachment from nature and the soul’s yearning for something beyond the material world. - 🔥 “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold
Arnold’s work, like Yeats’s, confronts the fading of religious certainty and struggles to find meaning amidst spiritual and emotional conflict. - ♻️ “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman
Whitman, like Yeats’s Self, affirms the body, life, and all experiences as sacred—offering a bold, joyous embrace of existence in contrast to traditional spirituality. - 💀 “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson
This poem, like Dialogue, personifies spiritual elements and meditates on mortality, using symbolism and philosophical tone to explore life beyond death.
Representative Quotations of “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
| 🎨 | 📜 Quotation | 🧠 Context | 🧾 Theoretical Perspective |
| 🌀 | “I summon to the winding ancient stair” | The Soul invites the Self to ascend spiritually, representing the desire to transcend earthly matters. | Spiritual / Mystical Theory |
| 🗡️ | “The consecrated blade upon my knees / Is Sato’s ancient blade” | The Self reverently presents a sword, symbol of heritage, memory, and worldly honor. | Psychoanalytic Theory |
| ❓ | “Who can distinguish darkness from the soul?” | The Soul questions the nature of consciousness and moral ambiguity. | Philosophical / Modernist Theory |
| ♻️ | “I am content to live it all again / And yet again” | The Self embraces life’s repetition and suffering as meaningful. | Existentialist Theory |
| 💀 | “Only the dead can be forgiven” | The Soul suggests that true redemption lies only beyond life. | Theological / Fatalist Theory |
| 🪞 | “The mirror of malicious eyes / Casts upon his eyes” | The Self reflects on how others’ judgments distort our self-image. | Psychoanalytic / Identity Theory |
| 🌱 | “The folly that man does / Or must suffer” | The Self accepts human error as natural and unavoidable. | Humanist / Existentialist Theory |
| 🌈 | “So great a sweetness flows into the breast” | Through self-forgiveness, the Self experiences inner peace and joy. | Therapeutic / Psychological Theory |
| 🕊️ | “We are blest by everything, / Everything we look upon is blest.” | The poem ends with the Self’s joyful acceptance of life in all its forms. | Affirmative / Post-Spiritual Theory |
| 🧍♂️ | “A blind man battering blind men” | A metaphor for human ignorance and chaos in worldly existence. | Modernist / Social Critique Theory |
Suggested Readings: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul” by William Butler Yeats
- franke, william. “The Dialectical Logic of William Butler Yeats’s Byzantium Poems.” Secular Scriptures: Modern Theological Poetics in the Wake of Dante, Ohio State University Press, 2016, pp. 189–206. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8d5tj3.12. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
- O’Donoghue, Bernard. “Yeats the Love Poet.” Yeats Annual, no. 20, 2016, pp. 97–117. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/90000764. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
- Schleifer, Ronald. “Narrative in Yeats’s ‘In the Seven Woods.’” The Journal of Narrative Technique, vol. 6, no. 3, 1976, pp. 155–74. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30225590. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
- O’Leary, Joseph S. “The Troubled Heart: Yeats’s Persona in ‘Meditations in Time of Civil War.’” Journal of Irish Studies, vol. 31, 2016, pp. 54–65. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24892599. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.