RP: I think maybe the Yeats description of the sunset is elegiac or nostalgic about his youthful, misty romanticism as Arnold's description of the surf is elegiac or nostalgic about the Christian faith of his youth.

And in the trembling blue-green of the sky

Blue green sunset stayed in my mind. I’ve seen the green flash, many times, but never anything close to what I would call a blue green sunset. I wonder if that is what Yeats was referring to, a green flash? I had never heard what I had always called a green flash referred to as a blue green flame or an emerald sunset (which is now my new favorite).

Wouldn’t it be cool if Yeats picked that up from Jules Verne? And…what better sunset for the Emerald Isle…? Or, maybe that is both a fiction and a fantasy… I entered the poem into my search engine because I too was curious about the date of publication and ran into this, which I found interesting. Whether Maud Gonne was a subject in the poem, or not, he sure seemed to put a lot of effort into chasing her down: (last link, OLD AGE: Yeats delivered a series of speeches in which he attacked the "quixotically impressive" ambitions of the government and clergy…look to yourself Yeats).

Thanks for the poem; that’s what I like about poems, you get to read, think, learn and even make things up (and, a nod to the reading, nice job ).

As weary-hearted as that hollow moon.