Title: Summary and Analysis of "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" - Smart English Notes
Headings: 
Introduction
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Summary of “In Memory of W. B. Yeats”
Analysis
Symbols and Images; Rhyme, Form and Meter; Speaker and Setting
Tone and Themes
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Content: The lament in the poem is not just directed to the death of Yeats but also towards a world that is threatened by its own destructive potential. The repute and fame of W.B. Yeats was such that for his admirers, it crossed all borders of nations. For Auden, while the memory was to do with the past, it took place in the present. And the only way a poet could honour the dead, was to write an elegiac poem. William Butler Yeats died in winter: the brooks were frozen, airports were all but empty, and statues were covered in snow. The thermometer and other instruments told us the day he died “was a dark cold day.” While nature followed its course elsewhere, mourners kept his poems alive without letting the poet’s death interfere. Yet, for Yeats himself, mind and body failed, leaving no one to appreciate his life but his admirers. He lives through his poetry, scattered among cities and unfamiliar readers and critics, who modify his life and poetry through their own understandings.