Yeats’s Poetics of Excess or “Re-Stating” Ernest Renan’s and Matthew Arnold’s Celticism. (original) (raw)

This paper examines the representation of Ireland in Celtic scholarship, particularly through the works of Ernest Renan and Matthew Arnold, highlighting their reductive characterizations of Irish identity as marginal and other. It argues that W.B. Yeats, through his poetry and prose, contests these depictions by asserting a unique Irish sublime, thereby framing Ireland not as peripheral but as a significant contributor to Western culture. The discussion aligns with broader post-colonial critiques of cultural essentialism and explores Yeats's poetic strategies in reclaiming Irish identity.