Writing out of a geographic location, race or gender that is defined by its afflictions requires a certain alliance and reference to that suffering identity. It becomes an unavoidable and necessary task for a writer to honor the histories that remain in present minds. Emerging from an Irish tradition Yeats embodies this very idea - “he planned first to soak himself in Irish literature, lore, folkways and history. Next he would write Irish literature.” Brown’s article explains how Yeats had to negotiate his poetry with his sense and his country’s sense of nationalism. Nationalism being intrinsically linked to Irish identity because of a history that is characterized not only by turmoil inflicted by other nations/people but also within itself. In this context Yeats grew to find out what a dangerous responsibility it is to balance one’s poetry and nationalism without stepping on any toes. This is evidenced by Yeats’ waning support from both the Fenians and O’Leary. As Brown states, “a poet who was rather aggressive in asserting his private historical insights, any failure of discernment would have been noted, if only to highlight his areas of clear-sightedness.”
In terms of his early poetry seems to super-impose poetic tradition onto an Irish subject. In the cases of ‘The Ballad of Moll Magee’ and ‘Who goes with Fergus?’ Irish characters are brought to life through the use of regular rhyme and traditional forms – it is not the form that makes these poems Irish, it is the content. One picks up on allusions to Irish history with lines like, “she moves in the firelight pensively apart.” (from ‘To an Isle in the Water) and “or stormy silver fret the gold of day, and midnight there enfold them like a fleece and lover there by lover be at peace. The tale drove his fine angry mood away.” (‘The man who dreamed of Faeryland) What I find compelling about these early poems is the way Yeats deftly intertwines the people he writes about and the landscape. It speaks to the way that the Irish have been uniquely linked to their landscape.
QUESTIONS
- Yeats references folklore in many of these poems – how do they serve as a platform for establishing his own style?
- To what extent is it Yeats’ skill with words or his treatment of Irish history that have brought these poems such recognition?
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I think, to answer your question, at the end of the day it's not his use of folklore or his Renaissance-like skill with sound that brought Yeats such recognition. It is his ability to bring so many disparate elements together - biography, myth, politics, lyrical imagery - into a kind of synthesis. As you respond to the poems you should begin to look for a theme or motif that can be the focus of your paper. This doesn't need to be a grand theme, like Yeats's treatment of Ireland. All the better if it's some of the elements of the poems you mention here; i.e. something quite small that you can build outward from.
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