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Yeats was part of a late nineteenth-century European literary movement which, dissatisfied with Western tradition, both scientific and religious, looked towards the Orient for enlightemnent. Unlike Pound, who sought solace in Japanese and Chinese sources, Yeats went to Indian philosophy and literature in his quest for "metaphors for poetry," and he remained a constant student of the Indian view of life. [...]

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This thesis has examined the moon and sun imagery of Yeats's Last Poems (1936-1939), contrasting the diminution and transmutations of astronomical imagery with its rich symbolic development from 1889 to 1936. Using lyric poetry of The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats and selected prose works of William Butler Yeats, the study has traced the multiple antinomial forces embodied in moon and sun and the change in imagery that marked Yeat's poetic growth. The thesis has discussed vestiges of overt moon and sun imagery in Last Poems, Yeats's reasons for the changes that characterize his career, and the substitutes that replaced moon and sun.

This thesis has been a study of strategies employed in the poetry of W. B. Yeats. Specifically, it has treated five poems important in Yeats' development as a poet: "The Song of Wandering Aengus"; "The Wild Swans at Coole"; "Leda and the Swan"; "Lapis Lazuli"; "Long-Legged Fly." It has demonstrated certain devices used in the composition of the poems. In short, it has been an explication of the poems.Further, this thesis has revealed Yeats' concern for art as a subject for poetry. It has revealed that early in his development, Yeats was concerned with art and the individual, and that later in his development, he was concerned with art and civilization.

In addition to being a respected poet, dramatist, essayist, and statesman, William Butler Yeats was a dedicated student of the occult and practicing magician for most of his adult life. In spite of his dedication, Yeats’ commitment to occultism has often been ridiculed as “bughouse” (as Ezra Pound put it), shunted to the margins of academic discourse, or ignored altogether. Yeats’ occult-focused prose fiction—the occult trilogy of stories “Rosa Alchemica,” “The Tables of the Law,” and “The Adoration of the Magi” and the unfinished novel The Speckled Bird—has often received similarly dismissive treatment. Some critics have accused Yeats of being an escapist or of being out of touch with the intellectual currents of his time. However, Yeats was in touch with the intellectual currents of his time, one of which was the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century occult revival. This was not a fringe movement; it was one which intersected with some of the most pressing social and cultural issues of the time. These include the dissatisfaction with mainstream religions, the renegotiation of women’s roles, the backlash against science, and nationalism and the colonial enterprise. This intersection is what I have termed occulture. The central purpose of this dissertation is twofold. First, I demonstrate the cultural and academic relevance of the occult revival by analyzing its connections to these critical issues. Second, I situate the occult trilogy and The Speckled Bird as artifacts of the occult revival and its associated facets. Through its main characters, the occult trilogy illustrates a fragmented self associated with literary modernism and with scientific challenges to individual identity from Darwin, Freud, and others. In addition, these three stories exemplify a sacralization of the domestic sphere which conflicts with the officially-sanctioned sacred spaces of mainstream religions. The Speckled Bird also reconfigures the sacred space as Michael Hearne contemplates a magical order with Irish nationalist implications. In examining these works within this historical context, I present them as texts which engage with the social and cultural landscape of the time. / Occulture : occultism and the occult revival -- The occult trilogy : self and space in an occult context -- The speckled bird : sacralizing Ireland. / Department of English

William Butler Yeats published the first section of the Autobiographies in 1915 with the appearance of Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and published the last contribution to the final volume of 1955 with Dramatis Personae in 1935. For a period of twenty years, Yeats was formulating this official version of his life. The constant building and selecting for this version created a volume that, for the most part, carefully edited out too personal reflections and also served to present an incomplete and disjointed autobiography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Tulsa, 1991. / Bibliography: leaves 190-196.

Diss.--Ulster; Univ., 2001.

Thesis--University of Southampton. / Bibliography: p. [227]-233.