Yeats' desire for "Unity of Being" was driven by the sense of difference and division he took from his divided Anglo-Irish identity. Yeats' speakers -- his "masks" -- express different and sometimes conflicting viewpoints, while their assertiveness seeks to deny uncertainty. This book addresses Yeats' "antinomies" by combining a re-appraisal of historical information with many close readings of the poems. Drawing on new scholarship and insights of contemporary critical theory, it provides new facts about Yeats' Anglo-Irish ...
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Yeats' desire for "Unity of Being" was driven by the sense of difference and division he took from his divided Anglo-Irish identity. Yeats' speakers -- his "masks" -- express different and sometimes conflicting viewpoints, while their assertiveness seeks to deny uncertainty. This book addresses Yeats' "antinomies" by combining a re-appraisal of historical information with many close readings of the poems. Drawing on new scholarship and insights of contemporary critical theory, it provides new facts about Yeats' Anglo-Irish background, explores the precise relationships this inheritance implies with phenomena such as Freemasonry, Celticism, and Orientalism, and looks, in detail, at the Blakean esoteric language of "contrariety" and "outline" which provided Yeats with the vocabulary of self-understanding. Includes new readings of the translations from the Gaelic Yeats drew upon. For those interested in Yeats.
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