On The Creative Development Of Symbolism In Yeats's Poems

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) is one of the most prominent Irish poet, a dramatist, mystic and public figure. He won Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 and accomplished great achievements in the fields like Symbolism, Romanticism, Aestheticism and Modernism. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the application and development of Symbolism in Yeats'poetic works. The paper consists of six parts, including an introduction and a conclusion.The first part is the introduction, in which the background of Yeats'creation, the overview of Yeats'life, his literary career and literary achievements are given, followed by the literature review at home and abroad. Finally, the application of the theory in the analysis is introduced.The first chapter explores the exercise and innovation of symbolism in Yeats'poems. According to his creation, there are mainly two catalogues of image, that is, the emotional image and the intellectual image.When he was young Yeats lived in dreams, starved for love, and expressed himself in a kind of mythology. So his early poetry is full of emotional images, and the philosophical images in his early poetry usually evoke ideas mingled with emotions, i.e. , the rose and the white birds. When he was older he had more interest in philosophical images and welcomed the coming of wisdom with time.As Yeats longs for wisdom rather than youthful fancies and passions,his images became more and more intellectual. In old age his quest for wisdom and intellectual joy reached the climax, as is best shown in his immortal poem Sailing to Byzantium(1927). This intellectual image in his late poetry almost excludes emotions and evokes ideas only. Of these intellectual images in his late period, the most characteristic ones are the tower, the winding stair, Byzantium, the great wheel, the gyre, and the phases of the moon. Behind these intellectual images there is an occult, philosophical background, which we may call esoteric Yeatsism and which enriches the meanings of these symbols.The second chapter mainly deals with the sources of Yeats's Symbolist theory. Yeats's symbolist theory has special characteristics. Where does his theory come from? We immediately think of one man . That man is Arthur Symons (1865-1945) who dedicated to Yeats The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899), a book that introduced for the first time the French Symbolist movement to the English readers and was rather influential at the turn of the century; that school is the French Symbolists whose representatives included Villier de L'Isle Adam, Stephane Mallarme, Paul Verlaine, and so on. In that famous dedication To W. B. Yeats, Symons begins,It is almost worth writing a book to have one perfectly sympathetic reader, who will understand everything that one has said, and more than one has said, who will think one's own thought whenever one has said exactly the right thing, who will complete what is imperfect in reading it, and be too generous to think that it is imperfect. I feel that I shall have that reader in you; so here is my book in token of that assurance.Most obviously Symons considers Yeats as the chief representative of the Symbolist movement in the United Kingdom and the perfectly sympathetic reader of his book. So Yeats's contemporaries were easily given the impression that before the publication of Symons's book the French Symbolist had influenced Yeats already.Chapter Three analyses the combination of symbol and reality in Yeats's Poetry. Before we begin to look at Yeats'work, we need to know something of the world and the circumstances which shaped it. This is particularly important since the events of Yeats'life, his friends, his lovers, his relations and the places in which he lived are so central to his writing.William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin on 13 June 1865. His father, John Butler Yeats, was a barrister who had an additional income from inherited estates in County Kildare. Yeats'mother, Susan Pollexfen, came from Sligo in the west of Ireland where her family owned various companies. Yeats'sister Susan was born in 1866, and there were three more children to follow: two brothers and a sister. One of the brothers, however, died in 1873.Because Yeats's work and life were so entwined as a matter of philosophy, because Yeats wrote about his life in memoirs and autobiographies as well as poems and because so many of Yeats's contemporaries wrote their own account of events, there is a wealth of material for the psychoanalytical critic to consider. Similarly, due to the fact that Yeats's relationships with women were so central to his poetry, so rife with ambiguity and because part of Yeats's relationships with women were so central to his poetry, so rife with ambiguity and because part of Yeats's method of presentation was to mythologize, sot identify types, there is much for the feminist critic to consider as well.Yeats wrote during one of the most volatile periods of his country's history, and his poetry captures this. The defeat of the Irish Home Rule Bill, the fall of Parnell and the founding of the Fenian movement, in its various forms led to the uprising of 1916 and, eventually, to the Civil War which ended in partition. In the world beyond this struggle, Yeats saw the start and finish of the First World War, and the events in Europe, which culminated in the beginning of the Second World War. Yeats writes about historical events and personalities vividly. There are elegies to dead heroes and tributes to revolutionaries, tempered by misgivings about the nature of politics and the need for something more.Perhaps in the typical historical discourse of Ireland, the greatest nationalist poet is neither Celtic nor English. As W. B. Yeats, he has an advantageous position where he can be in and out of the nationalist movement freely. Yeats makes full use of this advantage and jumps out of historical bond. He creates so many great works and makes all the people have a better understanding of Ireland– the lovely sister of England. Meanwhile, he has build a cultural identity for Ireland.The last chapter mainly deals with Symbolism and Philosophical concepts in Yeats's poetry, including mysticism, Celtic awareness, Troy complex, etc.In Yeats's works, oriental mysticism plays an important part and becomes a timeless theme. Its influence is extensive and profound. In the past, the western critics hasn't paid enough attention in Yeats's acceptance of mysticism. As to the source of it, most analyze are done in the cycle of western culture, chiefly neoplatonism, Christian Kabbalah, John Blake and Emannuel Swedenborg's mysticism. The oriental sect is always neglected. In fact, according to the developing track of the poet's mentality, it can be easily concluded that oriental mysticism is one of the main line in Yeats's creation.In reading the poetry of W. B. Yeats, inspired by its beauty and philosophical thoughts, we tend to trace all back to his legendary life. He is highly autobiographical poet and notes down his life in the form of a large amount of work. For an artist, what we should investigate the psychological structure itself. The strong autobiographical feature in his poetry provided the researchers with rich materials and evidence.In 1904, H. J. Watt, the member of Würzburg School, discovers that people tend to give the same response to similar stimulations in the long-term practice and experience. This tendency differs a lot from those form in short-term doings. Once gets a fixation, it can influent one dramatically. This phenomenon is called the mental set. It can provide you with analyzing ways and method to solve problems. The unique life experience of Yeats enables him to have a prominent mental set, that is the Celtic awareness.Besides, the powerful influence of Greek culture is an objective factor for Yeats's Troy complex. Ever since the renaissance,"back to ancient Greece"has been the uniform claim in each enlightenment in human history. The outstanding cultural personages in the west keep promoting the slogan that Greece is the spiritual garden for their mental arms, which can be seen as a cultural Oedipus complex. Yeats is no exception. He used to compose poetry under the radiance of ancient Greek culture, to express his irreconcilable mental world. Therefore, emotional factor also plays an important role in the formation of Troy complex.As a matter of fact, Yeats's Celtic awareness has reached its harvest time since 1923. Academic Institute of Sweden, Nobel Prize committee gives remarks on him, because of his inspiring poetry, in a highly artistic way, shows the spirit of the whole nation. Therefore, he realized the dream of many years, that is, he retains good relationship with his nation and receives recognize of the world. The Celtic awareness promotes his poetry to take on a radiance of Irish nature while the Troy complex enhances his poetic level to eternity and immortality. Both of the two mental set give an everlasting power to Yeats's poetry. Through the analyses of the paper, I wish to give researchers a better understanding of W. B. Yeats and his poems.