"The Circus Animals' Desertion" is a poem by William Butler Yeats published in Last Poems in 1939. While the original composition date of the poem is unknown, it was probably written between November 1937 and September 1938. In the preface, Yeats suggests that he intended the poem to combine his personal views and impressions with the customs and beliefs of Christian Ireland. The poem was the last work published in Yeats's final collection, with "Politics" following as an envoi. In the poem, the poet uses the desertion of circus animals as an analogy to describe his failure to find inspiration for poetic creation as he seeks for new inspiration. Critics have detected aspects of both Modernism and Postmodern literature in the poem. The poem The poem is an ottava rima consisting of 3 parts, the first and the last with 8 lines each and the second containing 3 stanzas of 8 lines. The poem's opening lines suggest that the poet is searching for a theme, but in the process, he finds the "masterful images" of his earlier works. The reflection upon previous poetic creations appears again as the second part begins and the poet voices his frustration by stating "What can I but enumerate old themes." The final lines of the poem conclude that the poet must "lie down where all the ladders start," which leads Michael O'Neil to suggest that the use of the word "start" indicates a new beginning taking place as the poem ends. The "foul rag and bone shop of the heart," O'Neil contends, is the paper upon which the poem is written, and he argues that Yeats gives "grandeur" to the gutter items of the poem, as the reimagining of "old kettles, old bottles, a broken can" as well as the "rag and bone shop of the heart," become "as masterful a set of images as any Yeats has created." Critical reception Kurt Koenigsberger describes "The Circus Animal's Desertion" as the poet's attempt to "concede life's detritus," as the "beasts," which represent poetic imagination, disappear in his old age. He argues that Yeats uses the analogy of the circus animal to take the place of poetic work and becomes a spectator of his own imagination as he finds himself unable to conjure up a new theme for his poetry. In "Yeats and Postmodernism," Earl Ingersol describes the poem as being one of the early pieces