Yeats started his earlier poetic life, trying to express everything of his life in his poetry. Naturally, all the characteristic elements of Yeats’s poetry are closely related with his own life and experiences. And some of the autobiographical elements which characterized his life and poetry are: his innate introspective, romantic disposition and strong imagination; teachings of his father who advocated artistic solipsism; his deep affection for ancient Irish legends and myths; his strong belief in mysticism and magic; his intense ideological propensity; his readings in Blake and Shelley; his acquaintances with Pre-Raphaelites; his unrequited love for Maud Gonne. The dominant notes of Yeats’s early romantic poetry are tinged with deep sorrow or pathos for the changes of the human world, elapsing of time, ungraspable and fading love, growing old, and coming death. Romantic ideologist as he was, he would stay in the pure ideological dimension where all would vanish out of human grasp. His seeking for the supernatural mythic world without conflict reflected another aspect of his escapism which was to end in vain. As a matter of course, his early poetry is a record of spiritual growth of an agonizing romantic escapist. On the other hand, Yeats succeeded in generalizing or objectifying his lyrics by adopting various symbols from the ancient Irish myths and legends. Besides, his early poetry contains many symbols, images, themes, and rhythms from which those of his later seasoned poems were to develop.

• 이세순(중앙대) | Se Soon Lee