Well-Educated Mind Poetry Reading List discussion

This is an interesting poem, written on the eve of WWII. I wonder if Yeats' opinion remained the same AFTER the war?

See, Yeats was mocking women at the beginning of his poem for complaining about artists (of all sorts) who express tragedy or the dreadful human experience with joy or optimism.

Look at Shakespeare's heros and heroines who convey joy in the face of tragedy. Even for them, life is worth living. Artists who carve from Lapis Lazuli (a blue stone) capture human affliction in their artform; tragedy is still something to be admired.

Devastation has always been part of human history and the human story. War causes death - yes; but it is not the end of the world. (It may feel like it, but people always rise from the ashes -- my interpretation.) We only deal with our own suffering, not the suffering of the whole world. (I don't know about that.)

So Yeats shuns those who flounder in the face of fear and destruction, and pays homage to those creative types who build upon the human experience regardless, which he considers well grounded and wise.