ISSN : 1226-4946(Print)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
The Yeats Journal of Korea Vol.8 pp.159-169
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.1998.8.159
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.1998.8.159
W.B.Yeats: Reality and Imagination
Abstract
Yeats constantly sought to express in his poetry the images that heactually felt and experienced in the real world. The images in his poetryare the reflection of his dream and ideal, and they are “realities” of thereal world transformed through his own imagination. In his early poetry,the images often tend to be illusory and mystical as they depend onmaterials of legends and myths. But in his middle period, the tendency tobe illusory and mystical has gradually vanished, and his poems begin tobecome realistic, based on materials of common life.
But, to me, this change, from the ideal to the real, is notdichotomous. For Yeats, Real and Ideal seemed to be inseparably relatedto each other under their mutual influence. That is, he sought therealization of Ideal while he didn’t forget Real in his own Ideal because heknew very well that forgetting his Real meant loosing his identity.Furthermore, his poetry shows a dialectical development that becomes aharmony of Real and Ideal by overcoming the conflict between them andby positively accepting the reality of the world. Finally, Yeats created asublimated reality through internal conflicts of his Real and Ideal. Thus,this essay tries to show the change of reality in Yeats’ poems, which goesthrough a dialectical development, focusing on the relation between realityand imagination in his poetry.
But, to me, this change, from the ideal to the real, is notdichotomous. For Yeats, Real and Ideal seemed to be inseparably relatedto each other under their mutual influence. That is, he sought therealization of Ideal while he didn’t forget Real in his own Ideal because heknew very well that forgetting his Real meant loosing his identity.Furthermore, his poetry shows a dialectical development that becomes aharmony of Real and Ideal by overcoming the conflict between them andby positively accepting the reality of the world. Finally, Yeats created asublimated reality through internal conflicts of his Real and Ideal. Thus,this essay tries to show the change of reality in Yeats’ poems, which goesthrough a dialectical development, focusing on the relation between realityand imagination in his poetry.
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초록
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