The title comes from a poem called "Sailing to Byzantium" written by William Butler Yeats. The poem is written about a journey to Constantinople that is used as a metaphor for the spiritual journey of a man pursuing paridise.
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unaging intellect.
The fact that McCormac took the first line of this poem to be the title of the book really shows a lot about how he felt about the book and what it was supposed to say. It really portrays western themes and the fact that people were trying to find their paradise, it whatever way they could. In the book Moss finds the money and knows that the money could lead him to the paridise he wants for him and his wife. However, his lack of thought on the situation leads him into great danger. Also, the Sherrif in the book is a older gentleman who has seen a to old to be able to handle the West that they live in and the violence that takes place there. It takes him most of the novel to realize that the West really is "No country for old men" like him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice post Ellen. It is very curious that McCarthy nabbed this line from one of the most famous and well regarded poems of the twentieth century. I have always felt that No Country and the idea of the passing west and nostalgia which is such a strong theme in this book is best represented in the last stanza (last lines really) of this poem.
ReplyDelete