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William Butler Yeats - Online Essays

William Butler Yeats


was the major figure in the cultural revolution which developed from the strong nationalistic movement at the end of the 19th century. He dominated the writings of a generation. He established forms and themes which came to be considered as the norms for writers of his generation.
Yeats was a confessional poet - that is to say, that he wrote his poetry directly from his own experiences. He was an idealist, with a purpose. This was to create Art for his own people - the Irish. But in so doing, he experienced considerable frustration and disillusionment. The tension between this ideal, and the reality is the basis of much of his writing. One central theme of his earlier poetry is ...

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to fund a gallery for the Hugh Lane collection of Art, and on the other hand, they rioted in outrage at Synge’s Playboy of the Western World.
The tension between Yeats’ ideal, and the reality is developed in the Fisherman and September 1913. Both these poems deal with Yeats attempts to bring Art to the people of Ireland, and the negative response of Irish society.
September 1913.

Here, Yeats directs his passionate rage against the Irish Catholic middle class. He perceives them as Philistines, whose values are monetary and religious, not artistic. His scorn for their petty money grubbing -
dry the marrow from the bone
and their narrow selfish piety
Prayer to shivering prayer
is set in contrast to his admiration for the heroes of old.
Yet they were of a different kind.
These patriots had loved Ireland with a passion which consumed them, and for which no sacrifice was too great.
For whom the hangman’s rope was spun.
But the present materialistic age ...

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I can see him still
introducing us to the Fisherman, a
wise and simple man
who is the symbol of the Irish nation he had hoped to write for.
Yeats has long since accepted that such a man does not exist, but nonetheless he holds on to him as an inspiration to protect himself against the reality.
The reality is depicted in a litany of powerful, clever men, who misuse their abilities for their own personal ends - which are chiefly, the acquisition and maintenance of power. Their goal is public acclaim, cynically acquired through a popularity based on the
Catch cries of the clown
or jokes
aimed at the commonest ear .
Integrity and honour are sacrificed to materialism and self ...

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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 12/20/2007 05:26:17 AM
Category: Biographies
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 2895
Pages: 11

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