Yeats's poetry from early to late : a changing view of man
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Frances Annette Broadwell (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- James Helgeson
Abstract: Yeats began to change radically his poetic style during the decade following 1900. A textual examination of selected examples from Yeats's early and later work will reveal that the stylistic differences which distinguish his early from his later poems are but a reflection of more profound philosophical differences. On the basis of these two changes in style and philosophical direction, Yeats's poems may be divided into two distinct phases. The fundamental philosophical difference which is responsible for distinguishing Yeats's poetry into two phases is the change from the dualistic interpretation of man's nature implied by his early poems to the monistic one implied by his later poems. The evolution from dualism to monism reflected by Yeats's poems involves a new interpretation of man's experience of the world and of his means of achieving spiritual and aesthetic vision. Although Yeats's poetry from early to late may be divided into two distinct phases, this is not to say that his poetry does not sustain much continuity throughout. A central concern expressed by all Yeats's poems is the quest for, and the achievement of, spiritual and aesthetic vision; it is the nature and means of attaining this vision which distinguishes between the two phases. All Yeats's poems imply the view that man's experience of the world is characterized by conflict (the conflict is often expressed in terms of the opposition of flesh and spirit, or of vision and action); it is the way this conflict is interpreted which distinguishes between the two phases. And, while all Yeats's poems are characterized by the use of various personae, it is the kind of personae employed which distinguishes between the two phases.
Yeats's poetry from early to late : a changing view of man
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Created on 1/1/1976
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 1976
- Subjects
- Yeats, W. B. $q (William Butler), $d 1865-1939 $x Criticism and interpretation
- Yeats, W. B. $q (William Butler), $d 1865-1939 $x Style
- Yeats, W. B. $q (William Butler), $d 1865-1939 $x Philosophy