The Fusion Of Traditional Culture And Modern Spirit

Content: No one can supersede the position of Irish poet W.B.Yeats in the circle of English poem in the 20th century. The fate of nation and his individual frustrations entrusted complicated thoughts to him. His symbolism was not just the inheritance of predecessors', but originated from mystery experience, literature study, folk stories and legends. Yeats' symbolism was unique, in which the introduction of his mask theory in his poems effectively set up a whole framework of the balance among every conflicts. We can say that the practice of his mask theory and symbolical technique were the prelude to his development of symbolism system. He also advanced the unity of rational and perception theory, which was the symbol of maturity of his symbolism system. Being a great master of symbolism, Yeats was a complicated mixture of realism and modernism. He was good at compromising two extremes. In his symbolism, he ingenuously put the traditional culture and modernism together. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that he was a modern poet with traditional view of poem, his thought also corresponded to pioneer of modernism. In addition, the paper also made a comparison between Yeats and two other typical representatives of latersymbolism--Valery and Rilke, trying to differentiate them from 3 aspects. Bydoing so , we can understand the significance and necessity of the study on Yeats' symbolism. Study on Yeats can not only make us have a full comprehension about his symbolism system, but also have benefit to the understanding of the change of modern English poems.