You will have noticed while reading "middle" Yeats that there are definite developments in the poetry. It seems like every time I begin reading these poems, I begin to say (sometimes out loud), "Where is Fergus? Where are the faeries?" and what I quickly realize is that Yeats is dealing with his feelings more directly and honestly, as opposed to burying them in a refashioned mythology. I don't know if I would go so far as to call it "Yeats Unplugged," but it is definitely Yeats stripped-down. In fact, stripping is a good metaphor because it's one Yeats uses himself:
A Coat
I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world's eyes
As though they'd wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there's more enterprise
In walking naked.
It's perhaps no coincidence that this poem comes from Responsibilities (1914), a volume whose title reflects Yeats's growing sense of, well, responsibility as a public figure and national poet. In fact, one of the volume's two epigraphs is "In dreams begin responsibility" (feel free to discuss what you think this might mean in the context of the poems we are reading).
I would like to begin with a discussion of the changes you are noticing in the poetry. What themes seem to arise and recur in these poems? What is different about the poetry in terms of form and content? What features and themes remain from the early work? try to draw some conclusions about how Yeats is evolving as an artist.
You are going to notice a lot of references to love, especially to spurned and/or unrequited romance. As we briefly discussed in class on Friday, many of Yeats's poems are devoted, at least in part, to his feelings for the Irish nationalist Maud Gonne. Indeed, it is difficult to read Yeats without at least some of this biographical background. But try, at least for a few days. People read Gonne into practically every line Yeats penned, and they often do so at the expense of the poems. (You will have noticed by now that I try to work against the cult of personality, and the popular practice of reading literature in order to "get to know" a writer. The artist is important, of course, and biography can illuminate the art, but it is the art itself that makes us care about the artist at all.) So let's start by getting into the poems themselves, which is where we really belong anyway.
See you Monday,
-D
I understand trying to separate the artist fromt he art but it's especially difficult with Yeats...at least it is for me. Yeats seems like SUCH an autobiographical poet, especially as he progressed past his phase of Celtic revival. Perhaps I have read too many biographies about Yeats and I am too facinated with him as a person, as a poet, to escape this habit. Being that I want to be a writer myself, I guess I gotten into the habit of studying what makes the artist more than the art. This is a terrible habit, I know. I'm striving to break it.
ReplyDeleteAs for changes, it seems to me that the language, the choice of words and imager of his earlier stuff was definately more romantic, in the same vein of stuff that Coleridge and Wordsworth wrote. But a shift begins to simpler language with stronger imagery and stronger themes. His audience was rising to more than just the Irish and I think his poetry started to reflect a large audience in his middle stuff.
Personally, I feel more ease with his middle writings then I did when reading his early writings, and perhaps this is because his middle writings have less mythology in them. As discussed in class, his middle writings have simpler words. Critics say he is not accessible, but this reading was definitely more accessible. I am curious to see if this trend continues into his later poetry. What truly impressed my was the poem about Adam's curse. I especially enjoyed the play on of the word labor as explained in class. This Yates fella might turn out to be a smart guy!
ReplyDeleteHis earlier writings are certainly more mythological and less concrete than his middle work, but I think that's why I prefer the earlier works. While the middle ones certainly contain principles/stories that can be applied almost universally, the mythology of the earlier poems has not only a sort of bouncy pleasure that comes from lighter works, but if you look a bit deeper, you can find just as much to admire subtextually as in the middle works.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I hope that doesn't sound condescending, as I don't mean it to be; I can totally see why someone would prefer the middle stuff. I guess my tastes are just more prone to flights of fancy. And I, like a few other classmates, watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People far too often as a child to not come away with my perception of Ireland unscathed :)
I have a difficult time separating Yeats work from the mythology of his previous work, and for me, reading his poetry has been somewhat of a journey. The fairies are right where they’ve always been. We as the “travelers” have merely moved on. But there are still many fascinating things to see, people to talk to, and places to discover: beggars, children dancing in the wind, witches, mountain tombs, and more. Yes, much of the innocence is lost. But when hasn’t it during a journey of discovery? Otherwise it wouldn’t be a journey.
ReplyDeleteThere is more to earth than simple forests, just as there is more meaning to Yeats’ poems than fairies. Where would we be if this wasn’t so? Yes, we might be able to admire the fairy glades and the rings, but we would never see the castles, or the rivers, the sunsets, and dozens and even hundreds of other sights and experiences.
Having no expertise or pervious experience with Yeats I can only write of limited and consequentially innocent or pure perspective. I say innocent as my experience is limited to a handful of poems with no knowledge of the man or the majority of his work. In my opinion however this works to understand his middle works as the middle works seem to seek a more pure stripped down approach. What I find interesting is that the stripping or removal of excess in fantasy and adornment lends to a simple more straight forward poem. What is ironic is this could be attached to a sentiment of purity in purpose a however the subject of Yeats’ middle work is far from talk of innocence.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a dramatic shift has taken place as Yeats has increased in years and wisdom. This comes as the idyllic escapism is enveloped and consumed by the ravenous appetite of reality. I cannot help to think of the contrast that can be made between Yeats and Blake’s songs of innocence to his songs of experience.
I also enjoyed the middle yeats much more than the beginning yeats. the beginning yeats was fun to read in a fantastical way, but for me it didn't hold much substance. the middle stuff i can put meaning and purposeful direction to. a poem like "easter 1916" for example is full of passion and intensity. i actually got chills when i read the line "all changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty is born." that is more than mere poetry. it is the artistic expression of historical realities. i prefer it much more.
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