Journal Search Engine

to

Search Advanced Search Adode Reader(link)
Download PDF Export Citation Korean Bibliography PMC Previewer
ISSN : 1226-4946(Print)
ISSN : 2288-5412(Online)
The Yeats Journal of Korea Vol.78 No. pp.303-316
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14354/yjk.2025.78.303

Yeats’s Later Poetry and Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the Body: Creative Thought and Artistic Transformation

Mihyun Ahn
lecturer in the Department of English at the College of Foreign Languages, Dankook University

Abstract

This paper examines the status of the body in W. B. Yeats’s late poetry through the lens of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy of the body, with particular attention to the concepts of the “Great Reason” and the “Small Reason” articulated in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. As T. S. Eliot observes, Yeats continues a process of self-renewal even in old age, reconstructing the aging body not as a mere limitation but as a dynamic force that enables new modes of thought and creation. In Yeats’s late poetry, the body functions not as a symbol of biological decline but as a source of imagination and artistic insight, a conception that resonates closely with Nietzsche’s critique of traditional metaphysical dualism and his emphasis on the body as the center of thinking and value creation. Focusing on “A Dialogue of Self and Soul,” “The Tower,” and “Crazy Jane Talks to the Bishop,” this paper analyzes the process through which the Self incorporates the Soul and expands from “I” to “We,” the ways in which the aging body stimulates imaginative play and creative activity, and the manner in which the relationship between body and mind is reconfigured beyond opposition into one of mutual dependence. Through this analysis, the paper demonstrates that while Yeats appropriates Nietzsche’s ideas, he transforms the body– mind relation from a structure of hierarchical incorporation into one of reciprocal harmony. By repositioning the aging body as a fundamental force that continually renews creative thought, this study proposes a new interpretive framework for understanding Yeats’s late poetry.

초록

 

Figure

Table

  1. SEARCH

  2. Submission : JAMS

    https://yjk.jams.or.kr/

  3. YSK

    The Yeats Society of Korea

  4. Editorial Office
    Contact Information

    - Tel: +82-2-2220-4477
    - E-mail: ilhwan_y@hanyang.ac.kr