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ISSN : 1226-4946(Print)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
The Yeats Journal of Korea Vol.32 pp.167-198
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.2009.32.167

The Ambivalence in W. B. Yeats’s Later Poetry

Cho Jung-Myung

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting the postcolonial aspects of William Butler Yeats’spoetry. The term ‘postcolonial’ means not only ‘the anti-colonial’ but ‘the hybridity’.Leaning on the recent studies such as those of Edward Said, Jahan Ramazani andHomi Bhabha on Yeats and Irish literature, this study investigates the multipleaspects of Yeats as a postcolonial poet.
First of all in this paper, Yeats’s complex reaction to the two consecutive warsin Irish history is examined thoroughly. The two wars accelerate the process ofdecolonization in Ireland, and after 1920s the country enters an at least partiallypostcolonial state by succeeding in reaching home rule. Yeats writes two importantpoems about the wars, “Meditations in Time of Civil War” and “Nineteen Hundredand Nineteen.” Because of his familial background as an Anglo-Irish Protestant, thepoet is unable to wholly support either side of the conflicts. Whether in the war ofthe colonized against the colonizer (the Anglo-Irish war), or in the battle betweenthe colonized themselves (Republicans vs. Free State supporters), his position is farfrom complete support for either party. Just as the speaker of “Meditations in Timeof Civil War” feels sympathy for the fighting troops or ponders whether or not tojoin them, it is not certain as to which side he would lend his allegiance. This lackof certainty and the divided loyalties is another sign of his conflict in thepostcolonial position. His dual loyalties are well represented in terms of the featuresof postcoloniality, namely, hybridity and ambivalence.
During the colonial state and the partially postcolonial state, Yeats’s involvementwith Irish politics had never been static or straightforward or comfortable. Hiswritings more often represent conflicted responses to the issues of Irish nationalismand British colonialism. Therefore, his body of work, his political beliefs and his involvement in the anti-colonial struggle require the serious consideration for suchconcepts as resistance, tension, ambivalence, and hybridity. Therefore, my maincontention is that the tensions and contradictions inherent in Yeats’s later poetry canbest be explored in the context of his postcoloniality. Yeats’s contradictory anduncertain attitudes and stances cannot simply be defined by leaning to ready-madepolitical labels.

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