Walter Pater: Transparencies of Desire (original) (raw)
Related papers
Occulture: WB Yeats'Prose Fiction and the Late Nineteenth
2009
In addition to being a respected poet, dramatist, essayist, and statesman, William Butler Yeats was a dedicated student of the occult and practicing magician for most of his adult life. In spite of his dedication, Yeats' commitment to occultism has often been ridiculed as "bughouse" (as Ezra Pound put it), shunted to the margins of academic discourse, or ignored altogether. Yeats' occult-focused prose fiction-the occult trilogy of stories "Rosa Alchemica," "The Tables of the Law," and "The Adoration of the Magi" and the unfinished novel The Speckled Bird-has often received similarly dismissive treatment. Some critics have accused Yeats of being an escapist or of being out of touch with the intellectual currents of his time. However, Yeats was in touch with the intellectual currents of his time, one of which was the late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century occult revival. This was not a fringe movement; it was one which intersected with some of the most pressing social and cultural issues of the time. These include the dissatisfaction with mainstream religions, the renegotiation of women's roles, the iv backlash against science, and nationalism and the colonial enterprise. This intersection is what I have termed occulture. The central purpose of this dissertation is twofold. First, I demonstrate the cultural and academic relevance of the occult revival by analyzing its connections to these critical issues. Second, I situate the occult trilogy and The Speckled Bird as artifacts of the occult revival and its associated facets. Through its main characters, the occult trilogy illustrates a fragmented self associated with literary modernism and with scientific challenges to individual identity from Darwin, Freud, and others. In addition, these three stories exemplify a sacralization of the domestic sphere which conflicts with the officially-sanctioned sacred spaces of mainstream religions. The Speckled Bird also reconfigures the sacred space as Michael Hearne contemplates a magical order with Irish nationalist implications. In examining these works within this historical context, I present them as texts which engage with the social and cultural landscape of the time. v
Yeat's versions of literary history, 1896-1903
1998
This study examines the critical prose written by William Butler Yeats in the period 1896-1903, and identifies the evolution within it of a mode of literary history. I concentrate on Ideas of Good and Evil, and on the selected edition Poems of Spenser. The introduction examines notions of golden ages and of original fracture, and the insertion of these tropes into a variety of literary histories. I consider some of the aims and problems of literary history as a genre, and the peculiar solutions offered by Yeats's approaches. I give particular attention to Yeats's alternation between two views of poetry: as evading time, and as forming the significant history of nations.
Yeats's versions of literary history, 1896-1903
1998
This study examines the critical prose written by William Butler Yeats in the period 1896-1903, and identifies the evolution within it of a mode of literary history. I concentrate on Ideas of Good and Evil, and on the selected edition Poems of Spenser. The introduction examines notions of golden ages and of original fracture, and the insertion of these tropes into a variety of literary histories. I consider some of the aims and problems of literary history as a genre, and the peculiar solutions offered by Yeats's approaches. I give particular attention to Yeats's alternation between two views of poetry: as evading time, and as forming the significant history of nations. The first chapter examines those essays in Ideas of Good and Evil written earliest. I consider the essays on Blake first, because Blake was the most significant influence on the writing of Yeats's idiosyncratic literary histories. I proceed to the essays on Shelley, on a new age of imaginative community, and on magic. The second chapter demonstrates how Yeats's ideals and ideas became modified in more practical considerations of audience, poetic rhythm and theatrical convention, and I identify the new kinds of literary history in the essays on Morris and Shakespeare, which are concerned with fracture, limitation and the loss of unmediated access to timeless imaginative resources. The third chapter briefly examines Yeats's very early imitations of Edmund Spenser, and then considers the uses of literary history in Yeats's edition of Spenser. The final chapter identifies Yeats's later returns to Spenser, and shows how the earlier modes of literary history governed subsequent adaptations. My conclusion summarises the advantages and limitations of Yeatsian literary history, and place my study into the context of Yeats's whole career, comparing these literary histories with A Vision.
Otto, Bernd-Christian & Johannsen, Dirk (Red.), Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination. Brill Academic Publishers., 2021
During the late nineteenth century, creating fiction had become a business and the literary imagination had become a resource. Established in 1888 as a secret society for the practice of magic and the study of the creative imagination, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn provided a considerable infrastructure that would cater to the expectations and needs of upcoming artists. The magic performed within the order promised not only to transform the adepts, but also their art. Among the magicians of the Golden Dawn, it is especially William Butler Yeats who gave a consistent account of how magic would continue to flourish in the modern age: through its merging with fiction. Studying Yeats' role in the order between 1890 and 1901, this chapter details how his development of a ‘talismanic poetry’ allowed for a fictional practice in a strict sense: ritualistic and poetic work became dependent upon each other, with their theories aligned and their effects identified to be of the same nature.
The Mercurial Yeats: esoteric alchemy in the late poetry
2022
This BA (Hons) thesis conducts an analysis of the late poetry of W.B. Yeats with consideration of the fact that he was, by that time, an adept in the Golden Dawn tradition of magic and largely influenced by its principles. The aim of this thesis is to highlight how the essence of Mercurius, the multi-faceted arcanumof alchemy, is present throughout the late poetry of W.B. Yeats. Through an enquiry into the ways that Yeats’s interests in the Western Esoteric Tradition filtered into his creative output, multiple themes of unity, transmutation, and transcendence began to emerge. This thesis provides a brief history of hermeticism and the ways that it intersects with Yeats’s biography before considering 'A Vision' as an attempt by his wife to alchemise Yeats’s desires for other women and the subsequent ritual enactment of this process in the poetry of 'The Tower' and 'The Winding Stair.' By applying Jungian psychoanalytical concepts of the unconscious, this thesis aims to arrive at a hermeneutic understanding of Yeats’s role within the modernist era as a balancing force, raising the 'antithetical' through the 'primary' – the two terms that he uses to describe the geometrical, cyclic system handed to him by what he believed to be spiritual intelligences in 'A Vision'.
Yeats Annual, 1988
An annotated copy of one ofYeats's collections, which has come to light at Washington State University's Holland Library, allows corrections in the standard editions ofYeats's poems and plays as well as the standard bibliography upon which these depend. 1 Responsibilities and Other Poems (London: Macmillan, March 1917) proves to be more than a mere "second impression" of the English edition of Responsibilities and Other Poems (1916; Wade 115). Since both the Variorum Poems and Variorum Plays have followed Wade, a number of the variants reported for the poems of Responsibilities and The Green Helmet, the play The Hour-Glass, and the notes for this collection, are errors of oversight. Now that all the materials for detecting these errors are at hand-including the annotated volumes listed in Edward O'Shea's A Descriptive Catalog of W. B. Yeats's Library (1985)-we can have a much clearer view of the transmission of Yeats's texts. The 1917 "impression" of Responsibilities at WS U has a story to tell, however, beyond the correction of errors. As an author-annotated text, it shows that Yeats made further revisions in this volume, ostensibly for yet another reprint. 2 Although a third impression was not made, almost all of his intentions were carried out in the 1922 editions of Later Poems and Plays in Prose and Verseboth published by Macmillan-and, in the case of the holograph poem pasted over the song "The Well and the Tree", into the Cuala Press edition of Seven Poems and a Fragment. Virtually complete in 1912, "The New Faces" had a frustrating and extraordinary history, 108 W. Gould (ed.), Yeats Annual © Warwick Gould 1988 The Annotated Responsibilities 109 including a role in the first draft of a major poem, "A Prayer for my Daughter". But since the chronology is important, the story of the holograph and the annotations will follow a list of changes that had already appeared in the 191 7 text. Yeats would have had good reason to use the London reprint of 1917 for his revisions because it was the most advanced text of those poems. All of the changes marked in one of his 1916 London editions of Responsibilities, YL 2412, were realised in the 191 7 reprint. Because he has relied too much on the authority of Wade and the VP, O'Shea is mistaken in interpreting the annotations in 2412 as "apparently made to provide a partial copytext for WADE 134, LATER POEMS, London, 1922". In fact, the annotations he transcribes constitute an almost complete list of all textual variants between Responsibilities 1916 and Responsibilities 191 7. The "second impression" of 1917 differs considerably more from the original than does the 1916 American edition of Responsibilities and Other Poems (New York: Macmillan, I Nov. 1916; Wade 116), which agrees with the first London edition except occasionally in punctuation and spelling. As illustrated below, then, a significant stage of the revision of these poems had been completed much earlier than previously thought. The dates 10 October 1916 and March 1917 define the stage broadly. But, in fact, all textual changes, save in the notes, were made in a copy text submitted to Macmillan on
The Politics of W. B. Yeats's Poetic Expression
Introduction William Butler Yeats is a name that is familiar to almost everyone. It infuses something great and splendid immediately after hearing it. Indeed, Yeats was considered one of the most magnificent Irish national poets of all time. He loved his country, and he was not afraid to show it through his poems and his political engagement. Living at a crucial period in Irish history, his poetry is linked to the struggle for national self-definition. He had a somewhat interesting life, as most poets do, however, what really strikes the most about him is his deep passion for mysticism and occult matters. Many of his poems are interwoven with some kind of mystic touch, no matter what the theme of his writing is. My own passion for astrology and occultism makes me sympathize with Yeats even more than I would, knowing he was a very good poet alone. He was a theosophist, and his belief in reincarnation and spiritual evolution could not be more in line with my own spiritual beliefs. The fact that he lived his life to the full, adorning his poetry with passion and energy, believing in the power of Irish people and Irish legends, and never giving in to the sorrows of his unrequited love for Maude Gonne, infuses a great respect and admiration for the poet on my behalf. He once wrote the following words: “What can be explained is not poetry”, and I believe it is much more than poetry that is impossible to explain about such an intricate and profound figure as W. B. Yeats. In spite of my deep interest in occultism, this paper is predominately focused on Yeats’s political and public engagement and how his deep passion for Ireland is reflected in his work. Further, I explain the political background in the world at the time and how it might influence the situation in Ireland, as well as Yeats’s personal attitude towards the events taking place in his country. Finally, I focus on Yeats’s political views as they are presented in his poetical expression and analyze one of his greatest works, Easter 1916.