as he concludes with the vivid image of the spiritual world being connected with the sea of life. The indecisive questions posed in "Sailing to Byzantium" are answered in "A Dialogue" where Yeats chose reincarnation rather than resting in eternity. Yeats reflects upon the paradoxical reality of life whereby he uses two figures, 'Self' and 'Soul' to represent his opposed attitudes towards life and death. "A Dialogue" opens with 'Soul' climbing up the 'winding ancient stair' which portrays the progression through life and the descent to non-existence. Yeats's view of heaven and religion is quite different at this point as he became more intrigued by Buddhist thought which can be seen throughout this poem in particular. Very different to his previous interpretation in The Tower, he now portrays the kind of afterlife he sought in "Sailing to Byzantium" as a dark and 'breathless' eternity. Self is given the final word, which includes an affirmation of temporal life, a preparedness to 'live it all again'. Contents In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz Death A Dialogue of Self and Soul Blood and the Moon Oil and Blood Veronica's Napkin Symbols Spilt Milk The Nineteenth Century and After Statistics Three Movements The Seven Sages The Crazed Moon Coole Park, 1929 Coole and Ballylee, 1931 For Anne Gregory Swift's Epitaph At Algeciras—a Meditation upon Death The Choice Mohini Chatterjee Byzantium The Mother of God Vacillation Quarrel in Old Age The Results of Thought Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors Remorse for Intemperate Speech Stream and Sun at Glendalough See also 1933 in poetry List of works by William Butler Yeats References 1933 poetry books Irish poetry collections Poetry by W. B. Yeats 1929 poems