In order to appreciate Yeatsian poetics it is important to consider thefact that Yeats poses his own self with masks, which are represented ashis poetic persona in his poetry. It is also necessary to consider that themajority of traditional Yeatsian critics have different opinions about thedifferences between Yeats's early and later poetry. To a larger extent,Yeatsian criticism has argued that Yeats's early poetry diffuses some indexof femininity -- ornament, detail, dreaming atmosphere, and so on andlacks reality, intellect, 'masculine,' and 'salt.' And many of the criticsfrequently condemn it as bad poetry on the basis of the argument that itis full of feminine profusion that obscures the reality.
From the traditional viewpoints, however, his poetic persona give someinsights into a certain way of appreciating his early poetry. First of all,Yeats's female persona in his early poetry belongs in the literary currentat the end of the 19th century. In this perspective the persona and thecharacters in his works of this period have some common features inpursuit of an imaginary world, such as an uncivilized, primitive or mythicworld. The pursuit of the imaginary world of male characters in Yeats'searly poetry parallels the real and active female persona. Most of thefemale persona in Yeats's early poetry have consistent and realperspectives on their reality, and are firmly founded on their world.Nashina in The Island of Statues and Niamh in The Wandering of Oisinare very active and have firm purposes. By contrast, the male characters,such as Colin, Thernot, Almintor, and Oisin, hesitate for their love andare ‘enwound' inactively by their counter-characters.
The other point to consider in order to appreciate Yeats's early poetry is his treatment of female beauty. Traditional love poems deal with femalebeauty as a thing that passes away like any other thing in this world,and in a threatening tone argue that it should be used at its prime times.In Yeats's love poems, however, female beauty is presented as a power tofascinate and urge men to act. The attitude of these female persona andcharacters in his early poetry develops and makes ‘Crazy Jane' characterpossible in his later poetry.