William Blake and the Mythmaking of W. B. Yeats's <i>The Wanderings of Oisin</i>

ZHANG Jingzhou

doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214306

Volume 4 Issue 3

Sep. 2022

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ZHANG Jingzhou. William Blake and the Mythmaking of W. B. Yeats's The Wanderings of Oisin[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(3): 509-522. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214306

Citation:

ZHANG Jingzhou. William Blake and the Mythmaking of W. B. Yeats's The Wanderings of Oisin[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(3): 509-522. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214306

ZHANG Jingzhou. William Blake and the Mythmaking of W. B. Yeats's The Wanderings of Oisin[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(3): 509-522. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214306

Citation:

ZHANG Jingzhou. William Blake and the Mythmaking of W. B. Yeats's The Wanderings of Oisin[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2021, 4(3): 509-522. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214306

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William Blake and the Mythmaking of W. B. Yeats's The Wanderings of Oisin

doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20214306

ZHANG Jingzhou^,

Peking University

Received Date: 2021-01-09
Accepted Date: 2021-02-16

Abstract

Abstract

Yeats's narrative poem The Wanderings of Oisin is his first overt poetic attempt to retell and reinvent Celtic-Irish mythologies. Aside from the influence of English Romantic poets such as Shelley and the Gaelic literature published in Transactions of the Ossianic Society on The Wanderings of Oisin, it is significant to address another source: while Yeats was writing the poem, he was also writing commentaries on the poems of William Blake. By examining the relevant texts, this paper attempts to show that Yeats's interpretation of Blake accompanies the creative process of The Wanderings of Oisin. Not only does Yeats's understanding of Blake have an impact on the imagery, the structure, and the themes of the poem, but Yeats's self-consciousness expressed in his interpretation of Blake also provides clues to understanding the particular manners in which the Celtic-Irish mythology is told in The Wanderings of Oisin. Furthermore, Yeats's theosophical readings of Blake and his application of these interpretations in The Wanderings of Oisin also participate in the shaping of his core cultural values: it is the continuity of cultural symbols in the mindset of individuals as well as communities that constitutes a unified identity of an individual, a cultural entity, and a nation.Obtaining this continuity requires the imaginative mind to constantly transcend reality and to make the infinite imagination emerge from the finite life. In this sense,despite the fact that they still bear the stamp of youthful compositions of “songs of innocence, ” Yeats's interpretation of Blake and his initial portrayal of a “Celtic Ireland” in The Wanderings of Oisin are also his attempts to overtly define Ireland's cultural identity. Seen in this light, they are in fact the first “songs of experience” in which the young poet attempts to participate in the process of the shaping of a modern nation.
- W.B.Yeats,
- William Blake,
- The Wanderings of Oisin

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References(24)

References

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