How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
Players and painted stage took all my love,
And not those things that they were emblems of. (2.23-24)
Talk about a soul-searching project. Being able to distinguish between reality and "emblem" – or between truth and its literary representation – is one of the central problems this poem poses, and it's a doozy.
Quote #2
Vain gaiety, vain battle, vain repose,
Themes of the embittered heart, or so it seems, (2.4-5)
Notice the repetition of the word "vain" in this line. It does an amazing job of cancelling out pretty much whatever word comes after it. What we read, then, is not a catalog of awesome actions; it's a list of pointless desires.
Quote #3
Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart. (3.6-8)
Pay attention, folks: this is one of the key quotes of this poem – and, come to think of it, of Yeats's work in general. For Yeats, "the foul rag and bone shop of the heart" might not be pretty – but it's where the true work of living and writing takes place.
Quote #4
And this brought forth a dream and soon enough
This dream itself had all my thought and love. (2.15-16)
"Love" is another way for Yeats to express truth. See, Yeats was pretty given over to mysticism, especially in his later years, and mysticism is all about the connection between love and truth. At this moment, though, he's exploring the ways love can lead a poet away from more central human truths, because a fantasy world is often more alluring.
Quote #5
Heart-mysteries there, (2.18)
What's a heart-mystery? Let's see. We know that, for Yeats, "truth" wasn't factual truth. His poetry is far more concerned with emotional truths, and maybe that's what he is referring to when he says "heart-mysteries." These mysteries are the problems that require the most work because they are messy (and they're messy because they're true).