이 논문은 예이츠의 산문에 나타난 그의 문학비평론을 확인하여 그의 문학사상을 파악하고 그가 시창작에서 가장 중요하게 생각하는 기준이 무엇인지를 알아보려는 연구이다. 특히 그의 동시대 작가였던 테니슨, 브라우닝, 아놀드 등 세 명의 빅토리아시대 시인들에 관한 비평을 통해 문학적 전통이라는 측면에서 예이츠의 자리매김을 확인할 수 있다. 이 연구를 통해 우리는 예이츠의 문학비평의 기준이 시인의 비전 제시의 가능성이라는 것을 확인했으며 이 기준으로 볼 때 세 명의 빅토리아 시인들에 대한 실망을 확인할 수 있었으며 그에 대한 대안으로 예이츠는 새로운 문학전통을 정립하려고 노력했다는 것을 알 수 있다.

이 논문은 지금까지 시도되지 않은, 에드워드 리어와 루이스 캐럴의 난 센스 작품과 예이츠의 시작을 비교하려 한다. 본 논문은, 합일이라는 주제를 통해서, 새와 인간의 합일의 이미지는 “비잔티움으로의 항해”에서 예이츠가 추구하는 기계적 인 새의 상태와 아주 가깝다고 주장한다. 새와 인간의 합일은 종국적인 합일을 나타내 는 것으로 보이며, 이런저런 형태로 세 작가에게 보인다. 또, 빅토리아조의 난센스는 일반적으로 말과 이미지의 종합적 구조를 나타내듯이, 그릇과 내용물 사이의 강한 상관관계가 있다.

“｢어쉰의 방랑｣은 빅토리아왕조시대의 삭막함에서 벗어나서 과거와 미래사이의 순간을 풍요롭게 만든다. 이 시의 가장 좋은 부분에서는 심미주의자들의 장식성이나 요정들의 세계를 벗어난다. 어쉰의 여행은, 요정의 나라건 이니스프리건, 쿨장원이건 더블린의 우체국이건, 그의 노래의 주제가 된다. 다른 어느 시인보다, 예이츠는 빅토리아시대의 시에서 현대시로 오는 이 길을 개척한다. 이 업적만으로도, 그는 진정 고양이들의 왕이 되는 것이다.”

This study examines Celtic fairy tales relating to the sociocultural background of Ireland in Victorian Age. W. B. Yeats's Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, 1888 and Irish Fairy Tales, 1892, The Celtic Twilight, 1893, and Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales, 1892 and More Celtic Fairy Tales, 1894 are correlated with the Irish celtic history, religion and culture. They are best known as collectors of fairy tales at that time. Jacobs thought that the fate of the Celt in the British Empire bids fair to resemble that of the Greeks among the Romans, "they went forth to battle, but they always fell, yet the captive Celt has enslaved his captor in the realm of imagination." And he insisted that nowhere else was there so large and consistent a body of oral tradition about the national and mythical heroes as amongst the Gaels, and especially concerned that the Irish tales and ballads had this peculiarity. The aim of Jacobs's volumes is to present to English children the vision and color, the magic and charm, of the Celtic folk-imagination. While Yeats's volumes show his interest in spiritual beings and his nationalism. Yeats who believes that faith to perpetuate in the three early Cycles of Irish folktales taught by the Druid sees in Tir-na-n'Og, the land of the Sidhe, Plato's and Plotinus' "yonder" when our souls descend whither they return. The Celtic beliefs in rebirth and in the otherworld are connected with beliefs surrounding the burial mounds of the Megalithic people. Among the Celts these tombs were connected with religious usages, chiefly with a cult of gods and fairy-like beings. Beginning with the Ulster Cycle, the sidhe and the Tuatha de Danann merge and become one, and renamed "fairy." A tale entitled "Connla and the Fairy Maiden" chosen by Jacobs is the earliest fairy tale of modern Europe and contains an early account of one of the most characteristic Celtic conceptions, that of the earthly paradise, the isle of Youth, Tir-na-n'Og. And in Fairy Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry there are also new characters like changlings, merrow, leprechauns, banshee, pookas. Samain, the first of November is the beginning of Celtic Year and the biggest festival of Ireland. On the November Eve the sidhe dance with the ghosts and witches make their spells. When the soul has left the body, it is drawn away, sometimes, by fairies. The souls of the dead sometimes take the shapes of animals. And there are 'ghosts' in fairy tales. Yeats chose Lady Wilde's "The Black Lamb" in his volume. And there are 'witches' and 'fairy doctors' in Irish fairy tales. "The Horned Women" of Lady Wilde chosen by the two collectors is the famous tale of witches. Witches and fairy doctors receive their power from opposite dynasties; the witch from evil spirits and her own malignant will; the fairy doctor from the fairies. Samain was adopted by the Christian missionaries to serve their own purposes and renamed "All Souls Day." When the Christian missionaries came to Ireland in the fifth century AD they were able to infiltrate the oral traditions of the Celtic people and infuse Christian beliefs through process of recording the Celtic tales in written form. And the Christian missionaries create the biographies of Christian saints known as "The Legend of the Saint." So there are 'Saints' and 'Priests' in Irish fairy tales. When the pagan gods of Ireland, Tuatha de Danann, robbed of worship and offerings, grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies, the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants. So there are 'giants' in Irish fairy tales like "A Legend of Knockmany." In three major Irish tales cycles (the Mythological cycle, the Ulster Cycle, and the Fenian Cycle) there are so many kings and queens and princesses. Beliefs in the fairy faith, the remnants of an earlier faith than Christianity, have influenced the more modern motifs and characters of Irish Celtic fairy tales.