William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats is best known for his large contribution to the Irish Literary Renaissance of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, his writing alone would have been unique enough to start a literary renaissance even if he had not been joined by fellow authors Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, Edwin Ellis, and many others. Yeats began writing because he was inspired by the culture and history of Ireland. As a child, Yeats moved often and later in life, he travelled constantly throughout Europe and to America. His early writings, based on Celtic myths and beliefs offered to him the foundation of his own culture which had survived for thousands of years, thus allowing him to be rooted in his homeland no matter where he travelled. Yeats' style of poetry, especially, is obviously written to be different from any other author's and is meant to touch a part of the mind that has never before been reached by verse or prose. His approach to poetry was definitely new to the world of literature and perhaps caused the uniqueness in his writing. Yeats, through his literary works, redefined the boundaries that had limited earlier writers and presented possibilities which had not previously been considered in writing poetry.
Yeats' so-called "way with words" is the main reason why he is easily understood as well as why he is easily misunderstood. His love for Ireland is expressed in his later poetry and plays through demonstrating what society can be rather than praise of the history and traditions (Heaney, 4-5). At this point, he wants Ireland to be unified, and this comes off through his poetic self unification. He bridges the gaps between his previous opinions and his writing reflects a certain peace that he has attained and that he wishes Ireland may attain also (Heaney, 5). Over the next few years, Yeats travels around Great Britain and to America. He publishes "The Wild Swans at Coole" and "Michael Robartes and the Dancer", and his two children, Anne and Michael, are born. In 1922, the Irish Civil War begins and Yeats' father dies. The same year, Yeats is elected a senator of the Irish free state. He then receives the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923, travels across Europe, and publishes "A Vision" and "The Tower", more poems. In the 1910's, Yeats' writing undergoes another change, resulting in his work shedding the last traces of immaturity. His poetry becomes almost prosaic, and he no longer hides the truths of his message in either imagery or symbolism. Yeats says of this new aspect of his writing style: "If I can be sincere and make my language natural, and without becoming discursive, . . . I shall , if good or bad luck make my life interesting, be a great poet; for it will no longer be a question of literature at all." (Bogan, 9). This new writing was expressing the complexity of Yeats' personality in simpler terms; baring his emotions and opinions and creating a clear picture for the reader. In his later poetry, he "came to be an expert at the dramatic presentation of thoughts concerning love, death, the transience and hidden meaning of all things, not only in the form of a philosopher's speculation, a mystic's speech, or a scholar's lonely brooding, but also in the cracked and rowdy measures of a fool's, and old man's and an old woman's song." (Bogan, 11). Gaelic becomes more popular in Ireland during this period and Yeats follows this movement by including in his poetry "essences of a mournful spiritual beauty" (Jeffares, xv), commonly found in Gaelic verse. His beliefs, which were less than steadfast to his protestant upbringing, allowed him to sufficiently explore the possible truths of old Irish beliefs in his next volume of poetry. Yeats' poetry from "The Wind Among the Reeds", his first collection containing Celtic symbolism and Gaelic rhythm, was badly received by the public. However, these poems, "these evocations of Celtic beauty, heroism, and strangeness wakened . . . Ireland's ears to the sound of its own voice speaking its own music." (Bogan, 8) . Around the turn of the century, his poetry reflects his worship of Maud Gonne and many poems from "The Green Helmet" express his lovesick devastation caused by her rejection (Jeffares, xv).
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Approximate Word count = 2666
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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