Three sources of W. B. Yeats’s syncretic Christ : Dante, Blake and the Upanishads

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Abstract

This paper considers the sources that inform W.B. Yeats’s conception of Unity of Being. Yeats expresses this concept in religious terms and syncretically aligns his ‘Christ’—his Unity of Being—with an amalgamation of belief and philosophical systems. In this paper, I focus on a triad of influences that Yeats frequently drew together: Dante, Blake, and the Upanishads. Through a reading of images from the poems ‘Ego Dominus Tuus’ and ‘The Phases of the Moon’, this paper hopes to enrich existing literature on Yeats’ religious self-conception as it stood at the publication of the second edition of A Vision. This article will explore how, since Yeats considered his pre-occupation with Unity of Being to be the origin of A Vision, the abovementioned poems are further connected to the background of Yeats’s fictional characters Michael Robartes and Owen Aherne through references to ‘Rosa Alchemica’ and Yeats’s play, Calvary.

Salvato in:
Autori: Charika Swanepoel iD (University of Turku)
Pubblicato in: Open Library of Humanities, vol. 8, n. 2
Data di pubblicazione:30/05/2022
Editore:Open Library of Humanities
Tipo di documento:Articolo
Lingua:inglese
DOI: 10.16995/olh.6318
ISSN:2056-6700
Accesso aperto: Accesso aperto Diamond: rivista aperta senza costi per autori e lettori – Open Library of Humanities (licenza: CC-BY, versione editoriale)
Citazioni ricevute:1
Soggetti:
Modernist Literature and Criticism (Social Sciences > Arts and Humanities > Literature and Literary Theory)
Poetry Analysis and Criticism (Social Sciences > Arts and Humanities > Literature and Literary Theory)
Moravian Church and William Blake (Social Sciences > Arts and Humanities > Literature and Literary Theory)
W. B. Yeats, unity of being, Dante Alighieri, William Blake, Upanishads, A Vision, Calvary, literary sources, Neo-Vaishnavism
Identificativi: OpenAlex W4281843914

Dati dell'indice centrale: OpenAlex (licenza CC0).

Riassunto:This paper considers the sources that inform W.B. Yeats’s conception of Unity of Being. Yeats expresses this concept in religious terms and syncretically aligns his ‘Christ’—his Unity of Being—with an amalgamation of belief and philosophical systems. In this paper, I focus on a triad of influences that Yeats frequently drew together: Dante, Blake, and the Upanishads. Through a reading of images from the poems ‘Ego Dominus Tuus’ and ‘The Phases of the Moon’, this paper hopes to enrich existing literature on Yeats’ religious self-conception as it stood at the publication of the second edition of A Vision. This article will explore how, since Yeats considered his pre-occupation with Unity of Being to be the origin of A Vision, the abovementioned poems are further connected to the background of Yeats’s fictional characters Michael Robartes and Owen Aherne through references to ‘Rosa Alchemica’ and Yeats’s play, Calvary.
ISSN:2056-6700
DOI:10.16995/olh.6318