Yeats, W B--(William Butler),--1865-1939--Criticism and interpretation

William Butler Yeats directed much of his poetry to the construction of the antithetical or perfect man which he defined as "being most unlike myself" (Allt 371). Yeats also wanted to see Ireland reach this condition. He presented heroes from Irish mythology his contemporaries, and imaginatively created figures who had the strength of character to accomplish a new and self identifiable culture. Yeats wanted Ireland and its citizens to become a modern day "Byzantium" of his classical reference. From his own fishing experience Yeats created the fly fisherman, an image who Yeats saw as "Climbing up to a place ... A man who does not exist ... A man who is but a dream"(Allt 348). In this figure Yeats incorporates his thoughts concerning the value of antithesis, religion, philosophy, nationalism and the concept of the mask. This thesis will propose that the fisherman and his activities are metaphorical applications of Yeats's search for antithesis whether it be for himself, mankind or his country.

William Butler Yeats created his own mythology which is a religion unto itself. He took the myths of ancient heroic Ireland and combined these with the dominant Christian beliefs in Ireland during his lifetime and created a new religion that would serve to unite Ireland that was divided along religious lines. My thesis will show that Yeats, out of a fardel of tales, created not only his own mythology but a religion as well. With the help of the theories of Joseph Campbell, I will prove that Yeats's writing provided a virtual medium through which he disseminated his belief system. Therefore, this exploration is essential to give a deeper understanding to the total scope of Yeats's work.

In three plays in particular of William Butler Yeats tree imagery represents the collective human family. In The Land of Heart's Desire, the tree and its various manifestations symbolize both the constrictions of society and the freedom Mary Bruin seeks. Through Mary's death, the play points the way to a restoration of a purified "collective human family," or the "tree," freed from the corruptions of the world. In At the Hawk's Well, Yeats for the first time introduces elements of the Noh play, and with the bare settings, three hazel trees starkly symbolize the potential for the regeneration of the collective human family. And, in The Cat and the Moon, Yeats metaphorically grafts a separated humanity into a "big ash-tree" overlooking a well in which a Blind Beggar and a Lame Beggar, seek a healing Saint. In these three plays trees link human beings to each other and nature.

The symbol of the gyre is the foundation of three plays At the Hawk's Well, On Baile's Strand, and The Death of Cuchulain. The gyre represents the relationship between Cuchulain and the Old Man, as they are each other's, antithesis and, at the same time, complement. The characters begin the cycle at opposite ends of the gyre, and the base of the gyre exerts the most positive force while the apex has the most negative. Therefore, in At the Hawk's Well, Cuchulain benefits from the influence of the gyre while the Old Man suffers from the negative effects of the same symbol. On Baile's Strand signifies change as the characters move to different positions on the gyre, and in The Death of Cuchulain a complete reversal has taken place; the Blind Man is at the base and Cuchulain is at the apex. In each play Yeats creates a geometric figure to symbolize the compelling force that the gyre exerts.

W. B. Yeats drew upon many philosophies for symbols
that he used in his poetry and plays. Pythagoreanism, as
one of these philosophies, formed the basis for much of his
numerical and musical symbolism. Four major Pythagorean
concepts--number, antithesis, geometry, and music--became
essential patterns in Yeats's work, particularly in his Noh
plays. At the Hawk's Well exemplifies all of these concepts,
and dramatizes their philosophical and symbolic implications.
The Pythagorean symbols possess a tangible power as religious
symbols, and Yeats called upon them to infuse his work with
order, dimension, and a multiplicity of meanings, as he
used them to represent his eternal search for Unity of Being.

W. B. Yeats conceived a progression of Masks which
he placed upon women he knew and presented as images in
his poetry. Between the mystical Rose and Dancer images
of his early and late work occur three Masks of flesh and-
blood women--the Muse-goddess, the Duchess of Urbino,
and the Audacious Old Woman. In relation to each of these,
Yeats assumes a Mask of his own--the Poet-lover, the
Courtier, several Old Men--and establishes a ritual
relationship by which he dramatizes the opposing tensions
he believed to exist between men and women . These tensions
lie in oppositions of will, intellect, and creative genius.
Yeats's ideal--ultimately unrealized--was to achieve
complement, co-creation, and, finally, perfect union in
the male-female relationship.