A Muse -- and William Butler Yeats

Some songwriters have what is called a “muse”. Their muse is usually someone they love – she is someone who inspires them to do great things musically. I have read that poets have muses also – William Butler Yeats had Maude Gonne. If Maude Gonne had not been in his life, perhaps many of Yeats’ finest poems wouldn’t have appeared.

In fact, if you look at some of Yeats' great poems – “When You’re Old And Full Of Sleep” is a good example – you can tell it was for his muse:

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled,

  And paced upon the mountains overhead,

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

 

In this poem, Yeats was telling his muse that some day she was going to look back, and wish she had chosen him, instead of someone else (Gonne apparently rejected Yeats' marriage proposals more than once).

Some day she would remember her choice, and feel regret -- but by then it would be too late. And Yeats’ love would still be near her – like embers in the fire. His love for her would still exist, but would be somewhere distant -- off in the crowd of stars.

Yeats was telling her to ‘wake up’. “One man loved the pilgrim soul in you.”

The poem doesn't name names, it doesn't tell the whole story -- it just describes the emotion Yeats felt, inspired by his muse.

I'm no Yeats, of course. But I have had maybe two muses who have brought out the best in my writing.

One of my songs – which I have performed in karaoke, and also have performed at an open mike – was a song I wrote for a woman I was in love with. At the time, she was my muse.

This is a link to the song, called “Together Is Without You”:

http://tindeck.com/listen/ctxd

That song spilled out in maybe 10 minutes, with three word changes. I wrote it on my 12-string guitar.

The song wrote itself. I believe it was because it was inspired by my muse at the time.

I can’t describe how a muse motivates you to write. It just happens. It’s just something you feel. Having a muse makes you want to create great things. You want to show the world how great she is -- and you want to show her how great she is, too.

Not everything you create is great when you have a muse – but most artists’ greater stuff probably has been inspired by one (see the Yeats poem above).

Several of my songs were inspired by the same muse. I think the resulting songs (like the one linked above) were examples of a muse – a woman -- inspiring something that turned out well.