"Imagination Is Now the World": W.B. Yeats and the Staging of Visionary Experience
Daniel Larlham
Modern Drama June 1, 2021 DOI: 10.3138/md.64.2.1154 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Yeats's dramaturgical decisions were driven by a project to make theatre a visionary medium reconnecting audiences to the anima mundi. |
Abstract
abstract:Throughout his literary career, the poet and dramatist W.B. Yeats displayed a keen interest in the phenomenology of the mental image as well as a deep curiosity about the possible mystical functions of the imagination. This article examines the impact of Yeats's evolving set of beliefs about the power of imaginative vision, including those derived from readings in occult philosophy and personal experiences at séances, upon his dramaturgical decisions as a playwright, particularly in his Noh-inspired "plays for dancers." Yeats's convictions about the most effective kinds of acting, staging, and scenography for these dramatic works served an overarching aesthetic and spiritual project: to transform the theatre into a visionary medium that, through the power of the poetic word, could restore a sense of connection to the "world-soul" or anima mundi for audiences of his industrialized, scientific, objectifying age.