Eastern Hearted Once Again

Abstract

William Butler Yeats is one of the literary pillars of twentieth century modernism. He was interested in the mystical and mythical elements of the dominant cultures of the world. Accordingly, he interpreted history in a context that broadly negotiated with magic, the occult, theosophy, alchemy, astrology, mythology, mysticism, and religion. He was not attracted to any specific culture, even though he was an enthusiastic poet for his Celtic culture, particularly in his early work. His dual Anglo-Irish identity created a severe conflict in his personality; however, it was fruitful, as it led him to consider the most significant cultures during his lifetime . His Romantic background and affinity led him to the Romantic East, which was then exemplified by the charming stories and magic of the Arabian Nights. The Eastern influence in his work extended to include mystical visions found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism or Cabbala, and Islam or Sufism. He saw his own Celtic culture as rooted in the East; and his love of that culture, particularly its folklore and mythology, brought him into opposition to modernity and motivated him, along with other activists like Lady Gregory and John Millington Synge, to launch the Irish cultural revival. Unlike his beloved Maud Gonne, Yeats was not a simple fanatic for his nationality or the Irish cause, but rather a profound defender against those subversive elements which he thought could affect his culture and identity. His theory of history emerged partly from the fear that the subversive elements of modern society were about to eliminate his culture. Consequently, his theory of history was drawn up in the context of an apocalyptic vision. This vision was not far removed from his original Christian beliefs, even though he felt free to quote from other faiths and cultures. His book, A Vision, which was a product of the automatic writing process Yeats undertook with the collaboration of his wife, George, became the basis of his esoteric system. Actually, the potential dramatization in this book and Yeats’s poetic imagery confer a prophetic touch to the text of the book, even though they also undermine the scientific authenticity of what he presents as facts. However, this book does constitute an abstract of his principal thoughts on spirituality, mysticism, and history. In this thesis, I will analyse what some critics see as marginal in Yeats’s work, but which I argue are central to understanding his work. Yeats’s concern with the links between Celtic mysticism and Arabic culture, for example, has not been dealt with in sufficient detail; therefore, there remains wide room for further exploration here. Furthermore, Yeats is better known as a nationalist writer rather than as a mystic, even though he often said that mysticism was at the core of his work and his life. This thesis has eight chapters which offer a careful examination of Yeats’s mystical experience with a notable focus on the Eastern influence found in his work. The first chapter introduces the most important mystical themes, symbols and concerns in Yeats’s work. These include Hermeticism, Platonic Forms, the Logos, Plotinus’s theory of emanation, Porphyry’s astrology, the enlightenment in Hinduism and Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, the Cabbalistic Tree of Life, Tarot cards, Rosicrucianism, mythology, magic, alchemy, the Golden Dawn, Yeats’s interest in the East, and his love for Maud Gonne as it is associated with Divine love. This chapter also underlines Yeats’s cultural background and his reflections on politics and history as they relate to his spiritual system. Druidism and Bardism or Celtic culture are explored in terms of how Yeats understood them in the context of the Irish cultural revival. The second chapter explores the Indian and Arabian influences on Yeats’s work. Yeats’s Indian poems absorbed such ideas as the renunciation of desires, the reincarnation and the liberation of the soul, the mystical journey, and the Pantheistic view of life. His later poems were influenced by the ideas of another Indian sect, Tantarism. Indian thinking reached Yeats through his contact with four mystics, namely Mohini Chaterjee, Poruhit Swami, Shri Hamsa, and Rabindranath Tagore. I argue that Celticism has many links with Hinduism, particularly in terms of the doctrines of Pantheism and rebirth. Islamic Sufism was influenced by Indian thought, especially that of Ibn Arabi who developed the doctrine of the Unity of Being. Yeats was fascinated by this doctrine and by Arabic and Islamic civilisation, especially that of Arabic Spain. He even came to see the Moorish character Leo Africanus as his own ‘anti-self’. Yeats’s poetic drama, Mosada, was another expression of his interest in the Arabic civilisation in Spain; however, there his focus is on magic and astrology, and heterodoxy versus orthodoxy. The magical dance of the Arabian Judwali tribe, which draws the movement of history, as Yeats perceived it, is hinted at in his important poem ‘The Gift of Harun Al-Rascid’. The latter poem, along with ‘The Phases of the Moon’, deals with many Arabic characters and symbols which then feature in his esoteric system as revealed through the automatic writing process which Yeats practiced with his wife George. The third chapter deals with the topic of the mystical journey or quest, a topic dealt with by Yeats in such poems as ‘The Wandering of Oisin’, ‘The Lake of Innisfree’, ‘The Stolen Child’, ‘Countess Cathleen in Paradise’, ‘Father Giligan’, ‘The Man who Dreamed of Faeryland’, and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. The relation between the mystical and Romantic elements of this quest are highlighted, particularly in the first three of these poems. The focus in this chapter is on the definition of the mystical journey and whether it can be considered a real journey that can be taken to achieve union with God or instead simply understood as a revelation or a vision. The shadow of politics is never far from the background of this Yeatsian mystical journey. Yeats’s own life can be seen as a kind of mystical journey, indeed as a self-conscious allegory that culminates in the tower, that mystical device with its winding stair. Yeats travelled a great deal both within and away from Ireland before discovering his final destination at the Ballylee Tower in County Galway. The fourth chapter discusses Celtic mysticism and its major symbols and themes, namely, the stone, moon, wood, fairy or Sidhe, magic, and human sacrifice. This chapter also shows the struggle between Celtic culture and Christianity as depicted in Yeats’s poetry, especially in ‘The Wandering of Oisin’. The chapter also focuses on primitivism, the Celtic or Irish cultural revival, Yeats’s conflicted identity, and his cosmopolitan ambitions. Yeats’s political views, in the context of mysticism, on the dualities of mob and elite, of power and faith, are explored in this chapter, particularly by reading his unpublished group of poems, Under the Moon. The fifth chapter deals with Rosicrucianism and its effects on Yeats’s poetry, looking in particular at the poetic symbol of the Rose. I discuss Yeats’s involvement with The Golden Dawn and with the various branches of Hermeticism. I focus on alchemy, magic, and astrology, the main topics of Hermeticism and Rosicrucianism, and look at how they feature in Yeats’s work, notably in The Rose, The Secret Rose, ‘Rosa Alchemica’ and ‘Chosen’. This chapter also examines how themes from the Cabbala and the Cabbalistic Tree of Life form part of Yeats’s creative development. Chapter Six explores automatic writing as a creative activity shared by Yeats and his wife, George. This activity led Yeats to compose the esoteric A Vision, as well as two significant poems ‘The Gift of Harun Al-Raschid’ and ‘The Phases of the Moon’. The chapter discusses whether the automatic writing process is the product of either discursive or intuitive approaches, or a combination of both. The quaternaries of Faculty, Principles, Perfections, and Wisdoms are explored in terms of Yeats’s spiritual system. His theory of history is shown to be symbolised by the spiral movement of the gyres and his desire to identify an Irish ‘avatar’. Further Arabic and Islamic influences on Yeats’s work are also discussed in this chapter, for instance, the gyres, the twenty-eight phases of the moon, the idea of chance and choice, magical dancing or the dance of the Dervishes, and the doctrine of the Unity of Being. Some ‘automatic’ texts are examined to show their complexity and significance. Chapter Seven deals with the relationship between sex and the Divine. Yeats was influenced by Indian Tantarism, which uses sexual intercourse as a meditative tool to reach enlightenment. This chapter traces the concept of linking the sexual and the Divine as it develops through the early, middle and late stages of Yeats’s work: examining, in turn, ‘The Travail of Passion,’ ‘Solomon and the Witch’ and ‘Chosen.’ Other poems and poetic dramas are also explored in this context, notably ‘Leda and the Swan’, ‘Solomon and Sheba’, ‘Veronica’s Napkin’, ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, ‘Byzantium’, ‘Demon and the Beast’, ‘The Gift of Harun Al-Raschid’, The Only Jealousy of Emer, and The Player Queen. Chapter Eight focuses on the apocalyptic vision in Yeats’s work. This chapter discusses the cultural, political, emotional, and religious elements that formed the rationale for Yeats’s apocalyptic vision across the whole of his work. Yeats’s theory of history and his configuration of the gyres are powerfully linked to this vision, as can be seen in many poems, such as ‘Leda and the Swan’, ‘Demon and the Beast’, ‘The Gyres’, ‘Solomon and the Witch’, and ‘The Second Coming’. The Celtic and Hermetic apocalyptic symbols in certain poems are also discussed here. Yeats’s spiritual project for salvation, as exemplified in ‘Chosen’, is connected with his apocalypti