William Butler yeats: the poet and his system

Abstract

This paper is based on the assumption that A Vision in which Yeats writes at his theory oi psychological types, the cyclic movement of history and of post-modern existence, is constitutive for Yeats's later poetry. Its chief concern is to examine the modes in which A Vision functions within the poems. The three chief modes in which Yeats’s system — as set forth in the prose work — functions if the poetry are isolated and conditionally named: Illustrative, metaphorical and existential. Using examples which explain them an attempt is made to evaluate the use made of the system by each mode considering the quality of the poetry produced.