On The National Consciousness Of Yeats’s Works

William Butler Yeats is the famous Irish poet, dramatist and prose writer, theleader of the Irish Literary Revival Movement, who had acquired the Nobel Prize forLiterature in1923. Yeats was living in a crucial era that the Irish fought for nationalindependence, as a writer with a strong sense of responsibility, Yeats launched theIrish Literary Revival Movement and advocated that the Irish writers should createworks based on Irish traditional culture and social reality, these works would wake upthe Irish national consciousness and enhance confidence. Though there are variousthemes in Yeats’s different writing period, most of his works, including poetries,dramas, essays and so on, reflect his national consciousness. Yeats devoted himself tothe national literature creation all his life, and made great contribution to promote theIrish literature and revive national culture.This thesis will be divided into four chapters to discuss the nationalconsciousness of Yeats’s works.The introduction is a brief review of the studies about Yeats both at home andabroad.The first chapter introduces the underlying grounds of the Irish Literary RevivalMovement and Yeats’s major experiences in the Irish Literary Revival Movement. Toachieve the goal of developing national literature, Yeats promoted his creationactively and took part in lots of social activities, in order to disseminate his idea. Yeatsfounded Irish national theatre and promoted the development of the national drama.The second chapter emphasizes on Yeats how to restructure national fancy. Yeatsimported plenty of traditional Irish myths and folk stories in his works to figure theCeltic hero, such as Cuchulainn,Osin. Meanwhile Yeats glorified the beautiful and peaceful scenery of Ireland western village. Through the works of Yeats, the Irishre-understand their homeland and regard it as a magnificent, heroic nationality.The third chapter discusses that Yeats’s works pay more attention on Irish socialreality. Yeats realized that there were two kinds of people in Irish society. One of themwere brave and courageous, in order to achieve national independence, they werewilling to sacrifice, Yeats spoke highly of them. While the bourgeoisie, who were thehead of Ireland at that time, were so eager to seek personal interests that theyabandoned the Irish national liberation, Yeats attacked them strongly in his works.The fourth chapter discusses Yeats imagine the future of Ireland. In the view ofYeats, the aristocratic stratum, containing the Anglo-Irish ascendency, the farmers andthe poets, should be the leadership of Ireland in the future. Because these people arenoble and right-minded, under their lead, the Ireland will have a disinterestedgovernment and honorable national culture in the future.