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Now I May Wither into the Truth: Re-reading Some Poems of W. B. Yeatsin the Middle Phase

Received: 15 September 2025     Accepted: 4 October 2025     Published: 28 October 2025
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Abstract

The poetry of W. B. Yeats covers almost three distinctive and successive periods in the history of English literature such as the late Victorian, Edwardian and the Modern period and the poetic stature he attained in due course virtually shows a zodiac range of interests expressed with a correspondingly strenuous maturity in form and style spanning over decades. The greatness of Yeats’ poetry lies in the simple fact that he could successfully integrate thoughts, feelings and ideas into a coherent body of experience. Apparently, the initial beginning of the poet in the fashion of the romantics and Pre-Raphaelites with an emerging drift to realism in the middle phase, hardly gives any hint of the complexity of Yeats’ major poems where the persona represents divergent claims to consciousness typical of a poetic universe (constituted mainly by three practical passions in his life, viz, poetry, love and Irish nationalism) which reserves room both for the crisp and the casual; the regal and the ribald; the mundane and the mysterious. However, a meticulous reading of Yeats’ poetry reveals a thorough progress towards making poetry not only a natural utterance for the poet, but also a symbol of a coveted identity - a ‘Unity of Being’ – an ideal which, for example, breathtakingly comes close to realization in a seminal piece like Sailing to Byzantium. The present article focuses on some poems taken from the middle period of Yeats’ poetry so as to trace an element of continuity in the Yeatsian poetics.

Published in History Research (Volume 13, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.history.20251302.16
Page(s) 96-102
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Romantics, Natural Utterance, Irish Nationalism, Unity of Being

References
[1] Bowra, C. M. The Heritage of Symbolism. London: Macmillan, 1943. Print. P. 188.
[2] Brown, Terence. The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography. USA: Blackwell Publishers. 2000. Reprint. P. 48.
[3] Chatterjee, Bhabatosh. The Poetry of W. B. Yeats. Orient Longman, 1962. P. 85.
[4] Donne, John. Canonization. Poetry Foundation 2025.
[5] Eliot, T. S. The Journey of the Magi. The Poetry Archive 2025.
[6] Islam, KaziNazrul. KandariHushiyar (Helmsman, Be Aware!). kobikolpolota 2025.
[7] Jackman, Rob. Black and White: The Balanced View in Yeats? Poetry. W. B. Yeats, An Anthology of Recent Criticism. Ed. G. R. Taneja. Delhi: D. K. Fine Art Press Ltd., 2005. Print
[8] Jeffares, Anglo Norman. W. B. Yeats: Selected Poetry. Pan Books, 1974. Print.(The lines of all poems of Yeats except Adam’s Curse have been cited from this edition.)
[9] Rai, Vikramaditya. The Poetry of W. B. Yeats. Delhi. Doaba House 1991. Print. P. 12.
[10] Rilke, Raina Maria.. Letter to A Young Poet.
[11] Rilke, Raina Maria.. The Sonnets to Orpheus. No. 3. Tui-wai.com 2025.
[12] Stock, A. G. W. B. Yeats: His Poetry and Thought. London: Cambridge University Press,1961. Print. P. 2.
[13] Tagore, Rabindranath. “EbarPhirao More.” (Now, Take Me Back). Sanchayita. Shantiniketan. Visva- Bharati. 2013. Reprint
[14] Tagore, Rabindranath. Tirthajatri. (The Pilgrim). Tagore Web 2025.
[15] Yeats, William Butler. Adam‘s Curse. Poetry Foundation, 2025.
[16] Yeats, William Butler. Autobiographies. London: Macmillan, 1955. P. 114-15.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Mukherjee, A. K. (2025). Now I May Wither into the Truth: Re-reading Some Poems of W. B. Yeatsin the Middle Phase. History Research, 13(2), 96-102. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20251302.16

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    ACS Style

    Mukherjee, A. K. Now I May Wither into the Truth: Re-reading Some Poems of W. B. Yeatsin the Middle Phase. Hist. Res. 2025, 13(2), 96-102. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20251302.16

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    AMA Style

    Mukherjee AK. Now I May Wither into the Truth: Re-reading Some Poems of W. B. Yeatsin the Middle Phase. Hist Res. 2025;13(2):96-102. doi: 10.11648/j.history.20251302.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.history.20251302.16,
      author = {Arun Kumar Mukherjee},
      title = {Now I May Wither into the Truth: Re-reading Some Poems of W. B. Yeatsin the Middle Phase
    },
      journal = {History Research},
      volume = {13},
      number = {2},
      pages = {96-102},
      doi = {10.11648/j.history.20251302.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20251302.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20251302.16},
      abstract = {The poetry of W. B. Yeats covers almost three distinctive and successive periods in the history of English literature such as the late Victorian, Edwardian and the Modern period and the poetic stature he attained in due course virtually shows a zodiac range of interests expressed with a correspondingly strenuous maturity in form and style spanning over decades. The greatness of Yeats’ poetry lies in the simple fact that he could successfully integrate thoughts, feelings and ideas into a coherent body of experience. Apparently, the initial beginning of the poet in the fashion of the romantics and Pre-Raphaelites with an emerging drift to realism in the middle phase, hardly gives any hint of the complexity of Yeats’ major poems where the persona represents divergent claims to consciousness typical of a poetic universe (constituted mainly by three practical passions in his life, viz, poetry, love and Irish nationalism) which reserves room both for the crisp and the casual; the regal and the ribald; the mundane and the mysterious. However, a meticulous reading of Yeats’ poetry reveals a thorough progress towards making poetry not only a natural utterance for the poet, but also a symbol of a coveted identity - a ‘Unity of Being’ – an ideal which, for example, breathtakingly comes close to realization in a seminal piece like Sailing to Byzantium. The present article focuses on some poems taken from the middle period of Yeats’ poetry so as to trace an element of continuity in the Yeatsian poetics.
    },
     year = {2025}
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Author Information
  • Department of English, Women’s College, Agartala, India

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