An Analysis upon the Contribution of Romanticism to Modernism in the Work of W.B. Yeats

The Influence of Romanticism on W.B. Yeats' Transition to Modernism

by Mohit Sharma*,

- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540

Volume 11, Issue No. 21, Apr 2016, Pages 0 - 0 (0)

Published by: Ignited Minds Journals


ABSTRACT

One is continually helped to remember the way that Yeats was one of the considerable modern masters whose significance and intrigue are guaranteed forever. However in a general investigation of Yeats as a poet almost no accentuation is given to his Irish foundation and to his political idea. Frequently focus is saved for his specialty and theory. This examination fundamentally centers around the Romantic poet William Butler Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium so as to exhibit Romanticism's commitment to the supposed modernist movement as far as idealism. A while later, it keeps up Yeats as a Romantic Modernist and Sailing to Byzantium for instance to Yeats' progress from Romanticism to Modernism. At long last, it finishes up by proclaiming the way that albeit each of the three works were composed in various years, they have various similitudes that constitute their essential principles.

KEYWORD

Romanticism, modernism, W.B. Yeats, political idea, Irish background, poetry, idealism, Sailing to Byzantium, Romantic Modernist, similitudes

INTRODUCTION

Human creatures are mortal animals who have restricted time on the planet earth. They are for the most part mindful of the way that they will kick the bucket one day, and this reality leads numerous human creatures to want to have the capacity to live perpetually in their prime, as a standout amongst the most alarming actualities of getting nearer to death is dilapidation. People achieve their optimal magnificence when they are youthful regarding appearance. There are evident contrasts between a youngster and an old individual's appearance. A youngster speaks to satisfaction of living, while an old individual speaks to distress of the loss of perfect excellence. In this manner, it is conceivable to affirm that seniority involves a cognizant acknowledgment of one's physical decrease and loss of magnificence. For a more full comprehension of Yeats' poetry it is basic that an investigation of his social milieu be attempted. For any poet, and especially for a poet with a foundation like that of Yeats, there is dependably an energetic connection between the poet and his age. Ibis collaboration prompts an exceptional combination of thought and feeling which is at times the immediate consequence of contemporary occasions, however it is likewise educated by the custom he acquires, the aesthetic temper of the writer is a critical factor in his poetic reaction to the outside world. On account of Yeats his social and political thoughts are an innate piece of his poetry and thought. In this lie s his prosperity as a poet - he can see contemporary occasions with sympathy and precision and as a major aspect of a system of qualities which would have legitimacy for him in a changing society and is a piece of a change in the poet himself . It is part of the aesthetic procedure and, more essential, the poet himself experiences a change, as he is a piece of occasions himself and feels mindful. For the Romantic poet this assignment has an individualistic appearance, however for Yeats this errand is established in a system of qualities which is close to home but then to some degree the consequence of the intermixture of a wide range of conventions. It is our conviction that an investigation of the idea of his social and political idea, its romantic-preservationist predisposition, is important to a comprehension of the poet and the man. In our investigation of Yeats as a political mastermind two fundamental levels of examination are displayed. Right off the bat Yeats' development as a poet and scholar is depicted in connection to his Irish foundation. Additionally his likenesses and contrasts with his counterparts serve to draw out his own particular exceptional vision of life. Besides, this one of a kind vision of life is looked at also, appeared differently in relation to the comparative viewpoint of other modern masters against the political, social and scholarly developments in Great Britain in the late nineteenth and mid twentieth hundreds of years. Between these two there is communication and Yeats' situation in Irish life - that of poet and faultfinder, and later of a Senator, was dependably that of a man endeavoring to realize a solidarity in culture. Yeats' sense of duty regarding society is two-crease - that of an open man of undertakings and a poet and a devoted Irishman. Be that as it may, this dualism lays on the strain between his Romantic considerations and preservationist inclinations. By demeanor Yeats was a romantic. He had a romantic appreciation for the past and for the old standards of gallantry and honorability. However, there is additionally a social purpose behind his perspectives. One of the key inquiries is the reason Yeats and other Irish writers had such a withstanding enthusiasm for the mysterious and what they found in it. It was to a limited extent a response against the sound logical realism of Tyndall and Huxley. This enthusiasm for the mysterious concurred with Yeats' association with Symbolism and may have been a response against the overwhelming estimations of a mechanical society. His enthusiasm for symbolism prompted his fellowship with Lionel Johnson and the Rhymers Club, individuals from 'That heartbreaking generation1. The impact of symbolism as a movement is depicted and its impact on the poetry of Yeats is inspected. However he neither acquired nor was destined to that culture. Conservatism was his own decision, the consequence of a journey. There is something romantic about it. Other than the nobility he celebrated had just begun declining and was en route out. He felt the certainty of progress. However he clung to it as a scholarly asylum. He additionally made out of his readings and experience a manufactured gentry consolidating the best components of moderate systems everywhere throughout the world. This likewise was romantic. Preservationists support customary political activity through custom and conventional apparatus, yet Yeats' conviction did not block political militancy, of a sort. Not at all like most moderates he cherished freedom. Subsequently his conservatism was romantic as opposed to customary. Furthermore, as a poet and a man of rich creative ability, he could see the restriction and impediments of all stereo-composed political belief system. His poetry subsequently rose above traditionalist legislative issues. This clarifies to some extent the unexpected nuance of his poetry. Yeats' sense of duty regarding society is two-overlay - that of a submitted man of issues and a poet with devoted sentiments. This dualism goes far in clarifying the character of his political poetry.

ROMANTICISM AND MODERNISM

Romanticism rose in the late eighteenth century and proceeded until the middle of the nineteenth century, though Modernism became visible in the middle of the movements. Both of the movements were against the Enlightenment considering, which guarantees that the "world is a normally requested entire". In contrast with this, both of the movements anticipate that the world is complicated as a result of social, political, financial and social issues. Accordingly, they tended to challenge the current system with the expectation of making another one, which would have the capacity to satisfy the requirements and desires of the general population who were living in unacceptable conditions. Hence it is conceivable to state that both of the movements were affected by the social, political, financial and social issues of the time they developed, which prompt the modernist crisis. In the eighteenth century the Enlightenment believing depended on reason and rationale. Nonetheless, as time passed individuals denied taking care of the current issues with the assistance of maths and science, they started to utilize their feelings. In this manner, "Romanticism… [became] a sharp break with the excusing… Enlightenment" (Peckham, 1). By finding the significance of feelings and considerations individuals began to put their emotions in any case. As indicated by Brown, this opened a way for Nationalism and French individuals began the French Revolution in the eighteenth century. This can be viewed as the impact of Romanticism on the governmental issues of the eighteenth century. When all is said in done the Modernist movement is a portrayal of discontinuity in each field of life. There was a colossal advance in economy regarding influencing benefit to out of each and every opportunity. Needy individuals were working harder with a specific end goal to make the rich wealthier. This was the monetary issue of the time. The social and social issues were identified with each other which depended on private enterprise. Marian Corker and Tom Shakespeare depict this circumstance by expressing that: Modernity depicts the social establishments, conviction and esteem systems of industrialist development … Capitalism, or ideological dominion of market of powers and the unending quest for benefit and capital gathering, alongside its social partner modernization, risks a social colonialism that submerges customary lifestyles. With the quick development of industrialization, the requirement for the human work began to increment. The rich nations of the world, which came to a specific financial flourishing began to purchase or create modern weapons with the development of innovation. Accordingly, the expression "Private enterprise" started to show itself in those years and make the danger of social government which could decimate the conventional lifestyles. To a specific degree, because of these developments, the First World War started with the inclusion of every single European nation and

Mohit Sharma*

Instantly, Romanticism is nearly connected with the French Revolution though Modernism is all the more intently connected with the First World War. In the French Revolution individuals wanted to recover their opportunity and national uprightness and free themselves from abuse while in the First World War every nation was battling for its own particular majestic advantage. In this way, it is conceivable to state that both of the movements incorporate the people's against the built up traditions, which affected their poets and writers as well.

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF YEATS

William Butler Yeats is known as an Irish poet and writer who was conceived in Dublin in 1865 and passed on in 1939 in France. Since he won the Noble Prize for writing in 1923 a few people think he was the best poet of the twentieth century. Since he began to write in the nineteenth century when the Romantic Movement was at its pinnacle and kept on composing until the point that the middle of the twentieth century when the Modernist Movement was broadly spread, "the works of William Butler Yeats frame an extension between the romantic poetry of the nineteenth century and the hard clear dialect of modern poetry."1 Similar to Henrik Johan Ibsen, some of Yeats' initial works were composed affected by Romanticism though some of his later poems were composed under the effect of Modernism. Mulhall attests a similar conviction; "I trust most would agree that Yeats' initial work was a piece of the custom of English dialect romantic poetry that extends back to Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Shelley" (2). Yeats was affected by the real Romantics in his initial years accordingly, he composed various romantic poems. Yeats knew about the change that happened in his abstract vocation so in these lines he avowed that he was one of the last romantics who expounded on customary virtue and offered significance to independence. He sees himself as one of the last romantics anyway, he can be viewed as a Modernist scholarly figure as well. Munhall states that "Ahead of schedule in the twentieth century something in Yeats' work started to change. He started to locate another voice, with a more modern air" (4). Hence Yeats was affected by the new artistic movement which was conveying another method for communicating contemplations. Truth be told, there was an explanation behind this change in Yeats' works and it was political. As a loyalist, Yeats was near his country, and he generally worked hard for his country, Ireland. Ireland was under the control of England for a long time and there were various issues between the two countries. Along these lines, the awkward developments in Ireland frustrated him, and he Yeats portrays how the natural magnificence began to be ruined by the mechanical developments and industrialization. He relates his metamorphosis from romanticism to modernism to the symptoms of Industrialization, for example, the loss of the natural excellence, dejection and discontinuity. In spite of the fact that Romanticism isn't about sentiment, he specifies the way that he lost his confidence in Romanticism and began to search for another confidence which would satisfy his needs. As an outcome of this unconformity to the war, insurgency and brutality in Ireland he started to take after another scholarly movement; Modernism. In this way, the hopeful perspective of Romanticism was substituted with the negative perspective of Modernism. Romanticism is related with confidence since it weighs on feeling as opposed to reason, and this includes it a positive perspective which sees excellence in each and every protest and element. In spite of the fact that Romantics were additionally to a great extent impacted by battles of freedom, they typically attempt to utilize the best word to express their emotions. Then again Modernism is related with cynicism since it features the give up all hope of humankind. For example, Sailing to Byzantium is about a hopeless old man who does not have any desire to get more established and kick the bucket. He communicates his sadness towards life all through the poem with negative words. The poem opens up with "no" which strengthens the verb "disregard" , at that point "irrelevant" is related with "worn out" , lastly the verb "expend" is associated with a more grounded intensifier "never".

SAILING TO BYZANTIUM

In this part, Sailing to Byzantium, which was composed in 1926, directly after the Irish Revolution, will be assessed to delineate how Yeats utilizes both romantic and modernist components in a similar poem. This will exhibit Yeats' change from Romanticism to Modernism and Modernism's association with the Romantic Movement. As Jessica Godwin claims "Sailing to Byzantium"… precisely portrays the change of Yeats from a romantic, natural poet to the otherworldly and philosophical poet of the twentieth century". He was a natural poet who alluded to nature in Sailing to Byzantium and a legendary poet who knew about the way that otherworldliness is known as a modern quality which has an essential part in the poem.

ROMANTIC FEATURES IN SAILING TO BYZANTIUM -

A rundown of words and expressions will be displayed in the accompanying passages to exhibit nature and excellence will be talked about in Sailing to Byzantium. As specified in the past passage, the primary romantic component can be followed with "Sailing" in the title, which shows an escape from the present to the past. This is a piece of the poet's creative energy which is a standout amongst the most accentuated features of the Romantic Movement. For example, in Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn the speaker envisions two substance sweethearts who work as an escape from the hopeless and excruciating sides of life. In When we Dead Awaken Irene and Rubek trips to a peak to escape from their awful blame. Similarly, the old man in Sailing to Byzantium wants to be a brilliant winged creature in the city of Byzantium with a specific end goal to recover his youth.

MODERNIST FEATURES IN SAILING TO BYZANTIUM -

The modernist attributes that will be outlined in this area are development, enchantment and discontinuity. Modernist poet William C. Williams' platitude "Nothing is great spare the new" approaches T.S. Eliot's concept of "oddity is superior to reiteration". The two feature the significance of curiosity, another reaction to another world which had quickly changed and was changing each day. Yeats changed his style of composing and he started to write in a more Modernist style as a reaction to the new world with the start of the WWI and the consistency that he was seeing in Ireland's respectful war. He began to be locked in with the present as opposed to the past as found in Romanticism. Sailing to Byzantium is about the current circumstance of an old man who wishes to wind up a mechanical feathered creature and live until the end of time. The Modernists commend the present with a specific end goal to fabricate what's to come. They don't underscore past in light of the fact that they consider themselves to be estranged from the past. As opposed to this, the Romantics disregard the present and commend the past. Another modernist attribute is enchantment, which is identified with mysterious said in the poem. In spite of the fact that the modern age is logical as far as enhanced innovation, it is conceivable to follow supernatural quality in it. For example, the divine beings in the third stanza is a conspicuous disclosure of mystery. This is identified with the condition of otherworldly energy which is characterized with "unless/Soul applauds and sing, and louder sing" since that spirit is the person who will give him a profound resurrection and his youth back. He is sitting tight for an "applaud" to have the capacity to change himself. In this last piece of the section, idealism and human paradox will be said in Sailing to Byzantium. As said in this paper the speaker in Ode on a Grecian Urn admires the urn itself, tunes, sweethearts, the trees, the flute player and the calf that he sees on the urn. Here in Sailing to Byzantium, the speaker admires the city of Byzantium, the sages on the gold mosaic and the Grecian goldsmith. Like Ode on a Grecian Urn the poem itself is a work of craftsmanship in this manner, it helps the peruser to remember the way that workmanship is better than life since workmanship isn't liable to modification. Since Byzantium is considered as a chronicled put brimming with landmarks, and the goldsmiths who make the mosaics are Grecian this can be considered for instance to hopeful Greek craftsmanship. Aside from this, the poem itself remains as a substitute for the dynamic thoughts and as romantic goals, for example, excellence, truth, endlessness and flawlessness too. The speaker characterizes the city of Byzantium as "blessed" since it has "sages remaining in God's sacred fire". "The sacred city of Byzantium" which is worth to cruise "the ocean" has "gold mosaic" and is an agent of "the stratagem of endlessness". Every one of these descriptive words strengthen Byzantium's excellence since it is made of "gold", a standout amongst the most profitable gems of the world. The speaker romanticizes the city of Byzantium due to its ideal magnificence and everlasting landmarks. The old man does not think about his maturity and goes onto an adventure of flawlessness. Also, he glorifies the sages will's identity "the singing expert of my [the old man's] soul and "accumulate" him into a glorious place. In this manner, the sages work as agents of intelligence and truth. Besides, he romanticizes the "Grecian goldsmiths" who will transform him into a brilliant fowl "set upon a brilliant limb" . They can be viewed as the makers of excellence, flawlessness, truth and time everlasting. As in Ode on a Grecian Urn and When we Dead Awaken the old man falls into a human paradox which is identified with putting an extraordinary push to have the capacity to live until the end of time. The old man needs to be admired keeping in mind the end goal to live for eternity. This is the motivation behind why he remains before "living muds" as Ibsen alluded to the statue in his play and appeal to them to deify him. Nonetheless, those landmarks are not deified they are just made in the picture of reality with a specific end goal to substitute for genuine living. They are impressions of the creative ability of their human makers.

CONCLUSION

The fundamental reason for this examination was to exhibit the commitment of Romanticism to the purported modernist movement. There are numerous

Mohit Sharma*

Romanticism, there are various qualities which it obtained from the Romantic Movement.It is proper to show the similitudes amongst Romanticism and Modernism by giving cases from Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium. Despite the fact that now and again, Modernism remains against the romantic custom, it borrows from it offering importance to independence from the Romantic Movement. Independence is a standout amongst the most essential basic normal for the two movements. Distinction is communicated through the possibility of freedom. Correspondingly, Yeats as a Romantic Modernist connotes autonomy by utilizing winged creatures as the symbols of opportunity. In Yeats' poem the old man wishes to cleanse himself of the impacts of life by the assistance of "God's blessed fire", along these lines he can wind up undying thus get away from the offensiveness of seniority. Hence, he envisions himself as appearing as a romanticized flying creature which works as an image of flexibility and everlasting status. Quickly, Rubek, the speaker and the old man are looking for flawlessness throughout everyday life, which abandons them with disappointment rather than satisfaction. The pictures on the urn, Irene's statue and the brilliant winged creature are the agents of flawlessness which are the impersonations as much as admirations of genuine living.

REFERENCES

Brown, Lorri (2008). “The Romantic Movement”. Suite 101. Western European History.Jan 27, 2008. http://lorribrown.suite101.com/the-romantic- movement-a42895 David Bradshaw (2003). The quoted lines „contain a eugenicist decree‟. See „Eugenics: „They Should All be Killed‟‟, A Concise Companion to Modernism, ed. David Bradshaw (Malden, 2003), pp. 34-55, 49. Ferber, Michael (2010). “Sensibility”. Romanticism: A very short introduction. Oxford Uni Press: New York, 2010. 14-32. http://books.google.com/ Goodwin, Jessica (2007). “William Butler Yeats: Bridging Romanticism and Modernism”.Yahoo. 16 July 2007.http://voices.yahoo.com/william- butler-yeats-438977.html Hutchings, J.B. (2011). “The Technique of Romanticism. III. Romance: A Dual Connotation”. The Musical Times. 71:1051. Michael O‟Neill (2007). The All-Sustaining Air: Romantic Legacies and Renewals in British, American, and Irish Poetry since 1900 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 45. Mulhall, Dan (2011). “W.B. Yeats, romantic and modern”. Uni of Freiburg. (9 May 2011).www.anglistik.unifreiburg.de/seminar/abteilungen/ litareturwissenschaft/Is_korte/Bilder/yeatslecture Parker, D.C. (2011). “Reflections on Romanticism”. Music Quarterly. 4:2. (April 1918). 307- 22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/738059. 21.10.2011 Rochberg, George (2011). “Can the Arts Survive Modernism? (A Discussion of the Characteristics, History, and Legacy of Modernism)”. Critical Inquiry.11: 2 (December 1984). 317-340.http://www.jstor. org/stable /1343398. 12/10/2011 Susan J. Wolfson (1997). Formal Charges: The Shaping of Poetry in British Romanticism (Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1997), 172.

Corresponding Author Mohit Sharma*

Research Scholar of Singhania University, Jhunjhunu Rajasthan E-Mail –