W. B. Yeats As A Symbol of English Literature
William Butler Yeats is one of the greatest person in the English language and literature. He was not only a poet but also he was author and dramtist. He was born in 13 June 1865 and died 28 January 1939. In 1863 John Butler Yeats and Susan Pollexfen married and Yeats was the first child of them. 1n 1867 they moved to London. They were spending most of their holidays in Sligo. In 1881 his family and him moved to Dublin. When he was young he began to write poems. As much as he wrote he started to increase his interest towards literature especially Irish literature at that time. As he searched, read and learned Irish history and Irish stories he began to being affected by these Irish literary works. He started to use these as his sources, sources of his works. He tried to use themes, characters, and their developments. His writings started to be published in some journals, newpapers of that time. The very first work of him was The Wanderings of Oisin which published in 1867. This work was very important in terms of noticing Yeats as a high-toned writer. Even it was written in a diologue form which is hard to read , this work recognised as a little spark and it was the beginning of a big fire. In 1890’s William Butler Yeats began to affected by occultism, mystic thoughts from mystic Celtic tales and magical believes of that time. This affection can be seen almost all of his works because it has an incredible influence on Yeats. In 1889 Yeats fell in love with a woman named Maud Gonne. This woman is very important to understand his poems and works on love. The love of Yeats had never reached to marriage. At this point it can be said that the unreachable transformation of his love to marriage could made him more creative and could made him write more and more in time. So Maud Gonne was an incredible source of inspiration for Yeats. In 1890, he created the Ryhmer’s Club. His aim was to meet with other writers, poets and he was trying to give influence to younger writers in London. All along his life he was one of the most creative person in his time. Even in 1923 he won the Nobel prize on Literature which is very crucial for his life. Because this means that he had an important role not only in English Language and Literature but also he had an important role as an international author. Most of the critics and people who interesting in literature believes that William Butler Yeats was a key figure in the development of modern poetry.
To understand the impact of him to English Language and Literature I believe that it is crucial to understand his writings. His poems are like prose with missing words which can be complete by the reader. He as a poet tries to hide somethings in his words according to his own world of symbols. He had a private philosophy while writing. At this point I see him as an artist. This is not an usual literary person but a deep person who creates, produces. For me he was trying to reveal his inner world with this way. He was trying to reflect his feelings for life, his ideas for both his own life and the life in general. While doing this he did not want to say his words directly but more like a player who is hiding his cards. The most powerful card in his hands was symbolism. No need to ask questions like “ what kind of a game is this , who were the rivals ?” , the biggest rival for a person is himself/herself. In his works his personal beliefs, his own readings and his own culture is being proccessed in a deep manner. The reflection of these are hiding with his personal symbolism by him. While doing this he is creating a structure with no breaks. Still understand his works is very hard for a usual reader but I am almost sure that he loved to read his own works , especially his poems.
Additionaly Yeats was using “dualities” while writing and thinking his literary works. Which means that most of the things are being build by dualities like “love and hate” , “sadness and happiness” , “good and bad”, “ ups and downs” and etc. These dualities completing themselves according to this philosophy , for example, if there is no “down” then there is no “up” too. They can not exist on their own. They must be together. Yeats was using these dualities , he was using the power of the completeness of these dualities. This is like a chemical explosion. Yeats was combining dualities and creating explosions from them and finally he was using the energy which reveal from the explosions. Maybe these sentences are daring but still I am thinking in this way.
To sum up , William Butler Yeats was really important for English Language and Literature and its a bare reality. His success is undeniable. English Language and Literature is very lucky that it has a man like him. As said before, understand his literary works is about to understand his life. It can be said that the combination of his life and his works are lying below his impact to literature. He was kind of a milestone for the next generations. Anybody who reads his literary works can feel the mystic vibe of him which is the same vibe that coming from almost all the modern English Language and Literature works. For final words , I can say that, Symbolism is a main element of literary works as we know and if symbolism would be tons of oxygen Yeats was one of the best trees in his time to breathe it , to transform it into carbon dioxide. So the impact of Yeats to literature is very strong. Next generations will always look for his works and try to transform new molecules from his art which will made him feel comfort in his grave.
