Yeats has expended so much energy on theatre for the simple reason that his imagination was essentially dramatic. Just as in his lyrical poetry he was to find a way of embodying his conviction that conflict is at the root of life, so in his drama he was to develop techniques that enabled him to shape his vision into actable form. Despite great differences in subject matter and technique, Yeats's plays consistently dramatize the conflict between the opposing values: passion, intuition, heroism and self-assertion, on the one hand, reason, prudence, convention, community and self-submission, on the other hand. This paper studies the conflicts in Yeats's three early plays: the conflict between the poet Aleel's world of dreams and beauty and Cathleen's decision to sacrifice herself for the community in The Countess Cathleen, the conflict between the life-denying forces of moral orthodoxy and social conformism and gaiety and aesthetic vitality in The Land of Heart's Desire, and the conflict between the poet Forgael's transcendental journey and his companions' absorption in wine, women, and loot in The Shadowy Waters. Thus, conflict is a powerful instrument to dramatize Yeats's dramatic vision and these early plays, in spite of many failings, show the embryo of the recurrent theme of conflict in his more successful later plays.

• 윤기호(충북대학교) | Yun, Kiho