In his final poetry collection, Last Poems (1939), William Butler Yeats contemplates old age and political upheaval. He is cognizant if somewhat resentful about his age. Ideas of defiance of weakness and also of stalwart persistence color the poems. At the same time, Yeats expresses a dissatisfaction with the way that democracy has effected Irish politics. He identifies a sort of passivity which has eroded the ability of Ireland to protect and honor her own people. This frustration is only aggravated by Yeats' own waning ability to effect change.
Yeats beliefs about aging shine through poems like "The Black Tower" and "In Tara's Halls." Really the feature of the passage of time and retrospection is present in all the poems of this collection in some form. Perhaps the most profound idea Yeats expresses is a longing for rest. His protagonists are depicted in repose, in recovery, or frozen in resistance, like the men of the Black Tower. They are duty-bound to defend, but their task has become insurmountably difficult as even the wind threatens to blow them over.
As for political commentary, Yeats refrains from outright political expression. He returns, instead, to a revival of Irish folk heroes like in "Chuchulain Comforted." By honoring the culture, the traditions, the history, he is simultaneously asserting his insider knowledge and calling for a resurgence of the spirit of patriotism. There's a sort of ego-centric arrogance in the hundred year old man's self-reliance in "In Tara's Halls." In his rejection of the manner by which democracy has played out in Ireland, Yeats asserts a kind of individualism and a certain romanticism regarding the past. He wishes for the old to return.
