With
special reference to the poems you have read, discuss briefly Yeats’
contribution to modern poetry?
William
Yeats is often considered to be the ‘last romantic’ as opposed to being the
founding father of modern poetry. Yet one cannot simply place Yeats into just
one mold, one rigid and defined style of poetry because as a writer during both
periods of Romanticism and Modernism, Yeats straddles the line between the two
periods and incorporates ‘romantic ideologies’ into his modern work. As it is, modern
poetry has no set parameters other than the fact that is poetry written after
the 1890’s. In essence, modern poetry questions the aesthetics of norms, of
solid facts; exhibiting skepticism and producing obscurity within the work. It
is often considered to be a radical shift of paradigms allowing poets to
relinquish the shackles of unjustified hyperboles and overly glorified love;
allowing them to embrace the physical and explore the world as it is, writing
about the harsh realities. It may be considered that the modern poets
resuscitated poetry in the way Langston Hughes breathes new life into the
blues, they rescued an art that may have died by reforming it to adapt to the
society. As is known, poetry is a reflection of the society , so it must also be
considered, that in the turn of the century, as the society changed and
experienced dire situations like world wars and the holocaust, the psyche of
the mind also changed producing what is now termed modern poetry.
Yeats
may be credited primarily with the honor of contributing the elements of
mysticism to modern poetry. He juxtaposes historical figures with Irish legends
and myths and hence creates something new and different. While it may be argued
that modern poetry is already what is new and different, it is to be considered
that Yeats is one of the writers that utilized the elements of the supernatural
stemming from Irish mythology, and one of the fewer who also integrated
romantic notions into his poetry. Yeats also applies the theory of the ‘mask’ to
his poetry hence producing complex but still relatable work. And while it is
often necessary to draw a distinction between the artist and his work, Yeats’
life sheds some light on his style of poetry. For he is said to have been a
very spiritual man who fiercely believed in the supernatural and this is
represented in his poetry through his play on the romantic style. Also
displayed in the Yeats’ poetry is what may be termed ‘rejection of modernity’,
while this is not unheard of in the area of modern poetry, Yeats’ articulate
way of subtly portraying it is surely an element to be admired. These ideas are
reiterated by Professor Muhammad Azam who asserts that:
It
is not atall surprising that obscurity in Yeats’ poetry is due to his
occultism, mysticism, Irishmythology, use of symbolism and theory of ‘Mask’.
Yeats was keen to replacetraditional Greek and Roman mythological figures with
figures from Irish folk lore whichresults in obscurity. The juxtaposition of
the past and the present, the spiritual and thephysical, and many such
dissimilar concepts and his condensed rich language make hispoetry obscure.(W.
B. Yeats as a Modern Poet, 1)
However,
this is not to say that obscurity is primarily a characteristic of only Yeats’
work, it is in fact a distinction found in modern poetry. Yeats’ also includes
pessimism in his poems much like T.S. Eliot but his euphemistic manner of doing
so leaves the reader in a quandary of sorts as one attempts to interpret the
implications of his words...............................................................
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