As a symbolist, Yeats used many symbols in his collected poetry. Therefore, if you do not know what the symbols in Yeats's poetry are, you cannot understand the hidden meanings in Yeats’s mystic and prophetic poetry. One of the significant symbols of Yeats’s early Rose poetry is the Immortal Rose as the Divine Feminine, Daughter Sophia in Christian Gnosticism. Yeats not only emphasized the feminine principle as a symbol of the Immortal Rose but emphasized the role of the masculine principle with various symbols. Especially, in Stories of the Red Hanrahan, Red Hanrahan symbolized as the role of the masculine principle, searching for the Immortal Rose, Echtge through his lifetime. Therefore, Red Hanrahan is identified with Yeats's self-portrait as well as a symbol of the Arthurian Knight, searching for the Holy Grail as the Divine Feminine. After the symbol of the Immortal Rose in his early poetry, Yeats continued to display the symbol of the feminine principle with various animal symbols such as a hare, cat, colt, and lion.Yeats alluded that the Immortal Rose was suffering on the rood of time during the last 2000 years period of the androcentric age. The meeting of the hare and the hunters represents the balance of the masculine and the feminine principles as the New Age comes. The hare is identified with a dying lady in “Upon a Dying Lady” as a hidden savior, suffering in the world. However, the death does not represent a real death but symbolized as the recovery of Sophia's glory and power. As Red Harahan’s anti-self, the fool dreamed the meeting with the hare and the hunters and hounds. The meeting is a paradoxical symbol for Yeats to hide his mystic poetry from the world until the right time comes. Yeats believed that at last his beloved, the Immortal Rose would awaken from a deep sleep and open his prophetic poetry in the last generation of the masculine Trinity age. A cat also represents the wisdom and dignity of the Daughter Sophia in the world. It is contrast with the symbol of the hare, symbolized as a sacrifice and sufferings of Daughter Sophia. Therefore, the symbols of the cat and the hare are related to two aspects of the feminine principle: proud and sad Rose. Yeats asked all sages in the last generation as a symbol of hunters and hounds to search for the hare, the Immortal Rose in the world. Yeats also prophesied that the last reincarnation of the Immortal Rose, would come from the East as the cat crawls into the Buddha represented Asian religion. Therefore, Yeats emphasized all sages to turn to the East, representing “Meru” and “Buddha” to find the last reincarnation of the Immortal Rose. The cat image also developed the symbol of the lion. The Daughter Sophia symbolized as a cat would awaken and recover her glory and power as showed the Sphinx in “The Second Coming.” As the 2000 years period of the androcentric gyre is gone, the Immortal Rose will have her characters such as Jane and the fierce young woman, who severely criticizes the bishop and she was angry at the persecutors during the androcentric age. Yeats showed the symbols of the Divine Feminine such as Sphinx, Buddha and a girl but they are One. It is related to the three aspects of the Immortal Rose such as red, proud, and sad Rose. She is in the world as showed "a plummet-measured face." Mathematics is a symbol of material not supernatural. Yeats prophesied the hunters, the chosen men to search for the Immortal Rose, the hare when the right time comes. The Sphinx’s “Empty eye ball” may be related to the “cold eye” symbolized as disdain and breaking the imperfect world as the great Judge in the Last Great Judgment Day. The colt symbolizes as the sufferings of the Immortal Rose like a hare. However, Yeats prophesied that the colt also would be released by the suppress from the masculine Trinity age. At the end of the androcentric age, the masculine principle would be united with the feminine principle as the symbol of the dead hare meets hunters and hounds in “Hound Voice.” The meeting of the hare and the hounds represents the Immortal Rose meet with the sages to prepare for the New Age. Therefore, the various animals and hunting in Yeats's poetry are paradoxical symbols to show the achievement of “Unity of Being” and the New Age.

In connection with the world beyond globalization, new theories such as Samuel Huntington's 'The Clash of Civilization', Gilbert Achcar's 'New World Disorder' and 'The Third World War' are emerging. This paper was motivated by the personal thinking that the Republic of Ireland as Celtic Tiger goes beyond globalization toward 'uisneach', as the hidden tradition, and that Yeats is a great guide to illuminate the quest and that Heaney is an inheritor or an achiever of the quest.This paper begins with the hypothesis that the modern Irish poetry is seeking their hidden tradition, 'uisneach'. I think that to understand the modern Irish poetry, we should first understand what is meant by 'uisneach'. 'Uisneach' has the various meanings: in the geographical sense, it means the area of the "territorially elusive" fifth province of Mide, the navel or the center of Ireland; in the religious sense, it means the sacred center of Ireland in pagan times; in the mythological sense, it is related to the Ulster Cycle including "Oidheadh Chloinne Uisneach", the fate of the Sons of Usnech, known as the Deirdri Ballads; and in the aesthetical sense, it means the origin where creative energy is flowing. W.B. Yeats was a knight in charge of the quest of the Irish political independence through the Celtic Revival against Anglo-Saxon's scientific modernity. His search for 'uisneach' reflects the resistance on the regional as well as the European level against Anglo-saxon's culture. Seamus Heaney's poetry is also going toward the fifth spiritual space where the Irish people believe a reconciliation is to be made, by taking some steps. And lastly, he also goes beyond the global space toward their hidden world based upon Celtic belief and the mild liberalist aestheticism. My last conclusion is that 'uisneach', a hidden tradition or vision means the Celtic vision modern Irish writers have sought. I think that Yeats is a poetic predictor or mentor to illuminate another waste land, Ireland, by suggesting the vision while Heaney is an inheritor in that he goes toward the hidden tradition Yeats suggested.

However hard a poet may cry out 'art for art's sake', art works are likely to be evaluated by the political surroundings: a poet is very likely to represent the class he belongs to and to react to the political situation through his own works. A poet who suffers from the turmoil of the transitional period can be a victim of the period in the sense that he can be evaluated irrespective of the real value of his works. This paper is motivated by our current social phenomena that the fanatical nationalism to evacuate the past is also applied to the work of reevaluating writers of the past as well as of the present; interestingly, the same situation happened to Yeats. This paper starts with some hypothesis that the primary reason for the lower reevaluation of Yeats since the birth of Free State until its rebirth as a member of E.U. is that he belonged to the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy. And then this paper investigates identity and contribution of the Anglo-Irish to Irish history. And finally this paper tries to find out how Yeats reacted to the radical change of hegemony especially after Responsibilities. The investigation into his poems leads us to the conviction that in his first stage, he wanted to surrender his half-blooded Englishness to his another half-blooded Irishness. This explains why he tried to dig up the ancient Gaelic culture and to advocate the Gaelic Catholic in his first stage. However we can witness his changing attitude after the Easter Rising: some threat from the majority Catholic fanaticism awakened Yeats's self-recognition as an Anglo-Irish, advocating their class and culture in his poems since Responsibilities. It follows that although Yeats wanted to be an artist for art as such, he could not but seek for reconciliation of two aspects of Ireland, -that is, its religion and ethnicity. Yeats's poetry reflects the shift in the political hegemony and the definition of the Irish identity. My conclusion is as follows. The main reason Yeats's evaluation was going down during the period Ireland was being established as a republic country is that he belonged to the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, the past power group. Through Yeats's poems we can witness the decline and agony of the Anglo-Irish during the birth of Republic of Ireland. Therefore the historical contribution of the Anglo-Irish is to be reevaluated; Yeats's Literary Revival is also referred to as "a cracked mirror of the servant". By reading again Yeats's poems from the new perspective towards Yeats as an Anglo-Irish, we can see that Yeats's advocacy of the Anglo-Irish was made only after he was threatened by the fanatical Catholic nationalism and that he adhered to the reconciliation of the divided Ireland throughout his life. Meanwhile, this study leads to another question: Is it possible that the art is free from the political pressure or turmoil? In my opinion, although art is not free from that situation, it can only survive when it shines in the filthy tide, searching for the independence and freedom. I think W.B. Yeats is an example.

Yeats constantly sought to express in his poetry the images that he actually felt and experienced in the real world. The images in his poetry are the reflection of his dream and ideal, and they are “realities” of the real world transformed through his own imagination. In his early poetry, the images often tend to be illusory and mystical as they depend on materials of legends and myths. But in his middle period, the tendency to be illusory and mystical has gradually vanished, and his poems begin to become realistic, based on materials of common life. But, to me, this change, from the ideal to the real, is not dichotomous. For Yeats, Real and Ideal seemed to be inseparably related to each other under their mutual influence. That is, he sought the realization of Ideal while he didn’t forget Real in his own Ideal because he knew very well that forgetting his Real meant loosing his identity. Furthermore, his poetry shows a dialectical development that becomes a harmony of Real and Ideal by overcoming the conflict between them and by positively accepting the reality of the world. Finally, Yeats created a sublimated reality through internal conflicts of his Real and Ideal. Thus, this essay tries to show the change of reality in Yeats’ poems, which goes through a dialectical development, focusing on the relation between reality and imagination in his poetry.

The tradition of local landscape poetry in England has appeared since the 18th century, and has been enhanced as one of the main characteristics of the 19th century European poetry and inherited until today. The landscape, in general, plays three roles: first, it is used as the background and a medium with which to express a poet’s emotion and mind; secondly, it can reveal its role as a subject, making dialogue with a poet; and thirdly, it can be used as a reminder of collective mind. Yeats and Heaney, unlike the English poets, show strong aesthetical and collective mind, even in describing the landscape. However, Yeats, belonging to Protestant Ascendancy, used the landscape as a medium to express his individualistic emotion and to stir the Romantic Ireland. On the other hand, Heaney, belonging to the oppressed Ulster Catholic, projects the communities’ lack - as well as the reaction to overcome this lack - the lost land, language and tradition. Heaney’s point of view and technique are very realistic, while Yeats’s point of view and technique are romantic. Yeats’ landscape is painted purple-coloured ; Heaney’s is described as a dark-coloured one, reflecting his own pity for the oppressed people and their adversity.

As a genre of folk song, the ballad is impersonal in that it often depicts something beyond the personal attitude or emotion of a poet. Yeats, to simplify the diction of his poetry, tried to use the metaphor of ballad, which is a material appropriate to human experience and instinct. As an important device of the ballads, the ‘refrain’ of his poetry is especially marked. The refrain (that is, verbal repetitions) may be a word or a line or groups of words or lines, and appears at the end of each stanza. In addition, Yeats’s use of the refrain is remarkable in his later poetry, particularly in The Winding Stair. The refrain may be without meanings, serving for some musical effect, as in some poems of the Elizabethan Age but it may give life to the language as Friedrich Schiller points out. This essay tries to divide the function of refrain into four types, despite the danger of making Yeats’s poetic range look limited. All the poems are not ruled by only one function but, in part, some poems appear to be with mixed functions. First, the refrain emphasizes poet’s theme through ironic meaning, as in the poems of ‘September 1913,’ and ‘‘The Curse of Cromwell’ and ‘The Three Bushes.’ Secondly, the refrain brings about mystery by the images of silent stillness, as in the poem of ‘Long-legged Fly’ and ‘The Apparitions.’ Thirdly, the refrain may give life to the language in conversion of the meaning, as in the poem of ‘What then?’ Fourthly, the refrain shows nonsense or meaningfulness, as in the poem of ‘The Pilgrim.’ This ‘nonsense’ speaks for his view of life in his later period, and reveals his willing acception of tragic nihilism.