Critical Overview
Interest in the life of William Butler Yeats continues unabated: 1997 alone saw
the publication of two substantial new biographies. The body of criticism of
his work is large and constantly growing. Given the range, depth, quality, and immense richness of Yeats's poetry, there
is virtually no mode of critical analysis that cannot be usefully applied to
his work.
- Formalist Criticism:
- John Crowe Ransom's The New
Criticism appeared in 1941, two years after Yeats's death; as Yeats was the
foremost poet of the age, his work was subjected to quite a bit of New Critical
formalist analysis, with his texts considered as structures to be interpreted
in and of themselves.
- Mythological Criticism:
- He made extensive use of both public and personal mythologies, and
has thus been considered from a mythological standpoint.
- Historical and Sociological:
- He commented directly
and indirectly on many of the great issues and events of his time, and his work
has thus profited from both historical and sociological interpretations.
- Biographical Criticism:
- Yeats was
one of the most relentless autobiographers among modern poets, and has
therefore been read in the contexts of biographical
criticism.
- Deconstructionist Criticism:
- Like every other significant writer of the modern age (and like a good many
pre-modern figures as well), Yeats has been the subject of re-readings and
re-evaluations in the light of contemporary critical trends and theories. Given
his towering stature, it is no surprise that Yeats's work has attracted the
attention of two of the foremost practitioners of deconstructionist criticism,
Paul de Man and J. Hillis Miller.
Critical Articles
- From "Sailing the Seas to Nowhere: Inversions of Yeat's Symbolism in 'Sailing to Byzantium'" by Edward Lense (1987)
- A consideration of Celtic mythology on Yeat's perceptions of "the Other World"
- From "Prolegomena to a Poetics of the Lyric" by Elder Olson (University of Kansas Literary Review, 1942)
- The role of art in "Sailing to Byzantium"
- From W. B. Yeats and T. Sturge Moore: Their Correspondence, 1901-1937 edited by Ursula Bridge (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1990)
- Letters about the development of Yeat's Byzantium
- From Selected Letters of Robert Frost edited by Lawrance Thompson (London: Jonathan Cape, 1965)
- Frost's reaction to Yeats
Additional Resources: The Bibliography includes an extended list of writings about William Butler Yeats. Continue your Web Explorations by visiting Yeats Links.
