ISSN : 1226-4946(Print)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
The Yeats Journal of Korea Vol.8 pp.149-158
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.1998.8.149
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.1998.8.149
A Study of the Refrain in W.B. Yeats’s Ballads
Abstract
As a genre of folk song, the ballad is impersonal in that it oftendepicts something beyond the personal attitude or emotion of a poet.Yeats, to simplify the diction of his poetry, tried to use the metaphor ofballad, which is a material appropriate to human experience and instinct.As an important device of the ballads, the ‘refrain’ of his poetry isespecially marked. The refrain (that is, verbal repetitions) may be a wordor a line or groups of words or lines, and appears at the end of eachstanza. In addition, Yeats’s use of the refrain is remarkable in his laterpoetry, particularly in The Winding Stair. The refrain may be withoutmeanings, serving for some musical effect, as in some poems of theElizabethan Age but it may give life to the language as Friedrich Schillerpoints out.
This essay tries to divide the function of refrain into four types,despite the danger of making Yeats’s poetic range look limited. All thepoems are not ruled by only one function but, in part, some poemsappear to be with mixed functions.
First, the refrain emphasizes poet’s theme through ironic meaning, asin the poems of ‘September 1913,’ and ‘‘The Curse of Cromwell’ and ‘TheThree Bushes.’ Secondly, the refrain brings about mystery by the imagesof silent stillness, as in the poem of ‘Long-legged Fly’ and ‘TheApparitions.’ Thirdly, the refrain may give life to the language inconversion of the meaning, as in the poem of ‘What then?’ Fourthly, therefrain shows nonsense or meaningfulness, as in the poem of ‘The Pilgrim.’This ‘nonsense’ speaks for his view of life in his later period, and revealshis willing acception of tragic nihilism.
This essay tries to divide the function of refrain into four types,despite the danger of making Yeats’s poetic range look limited. All thepoems are not ruled by only one function but, in part, some poemsappear to be with mixed functions.
First, the refrain emphasizes poet’s theme through ironic meaning, asin the poems of ‘September 1913,’ and ‘‘The Curse of Cromwell’ and ‘TheThree Bushes.’ Secondly, the refrain brings about mystery by the imagesof silent stillness, as in the poem of ‘Long-legged Fly’ and ‘TheApparitions.’ Thirdly, the refrain may give life to the language inconversion of the meaning, as in the poem of ‘What then?’ Fourthly, therefrain shows nonsense or meaningfulness, as in the poem of ‘The Pilgrim.’This ‘nonsense’ speaks for his view of life in his later period, and revealshis willing acception of tragic nihilism.
Keywords :
Yeats의 Ballads에 나타난 후렴 연구
초록
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