William Butler Yeats

 

 

William Blake. *

 

Text
Editionsbericht
Werkverzeichnis
Literatur: Yeats
Literatur: The Bookman

»   »   »
Texte zur Baudelaire-Rezeption
Texte zur Verlaine-Rezeption
Texte zur Mallarmé-Rezeption
Texte zur Theorie und Rezeption des Symbolismus

 

If the saying, that to be representative is to be famous, have anything of truth, the fame of William Blake should overspread the world; for, just as Shelley is the example from which most men fashion their conception of the poetic temperament, Blake is, to the bulk of students, the most representative of seers, the one in whom the flame is most pure and most continual. Swedenborg had perhaps as great an original genius, but he commingled Biblical commentary and moral argument with his vision; while Boehme, who had possibly a greater genius, was much of a theologian and something of an alchemist; and neithr Swedenborg nor Boehme had an exterior life perfectly dominated and moulded by the interior spirit. I have said that Boehme had possible a greater original genius, not because he seems to me so important to our time, but because he first taught in the modern world the principles which Blake first expressed in the language of poetry; and of these the most important, and the one from which the others spring, in that the imagination is the means whereby we communicate with God. "The word image," says "The Way of Christ," a compilation from Boehme and Law's interpretations of Boehme, published at Bath when Blake was eighteen, "meaneth not only a creaturely resemblance, in which sense man is said to be the Image of God; but it signifieth also a spiritual substance, a birth or effect of a will, wrought in and by a spiritual being or power. And imagination, which we are apt erroneously to consider an airy, idle, and impotent faculty of the human mind, dealing in fiction and roving in phantasy or idea without producing any powerful or permenant, is the magia or power of raising and forming such images or substances, and the greatest power in nature." The proud and lonely spirit of Blake was possessed and upheld by this doctrine, and enabled to face the world with conciousness of a divine mission, for were not the poet and the artist more men of imagination than any others, and therefore more prophets of God? Boehme taught that prayer was the great power which acts upon imagination and thereby "forms and transforms" the souls of men "into everything that its desires reach after." But Blake held the creation of beautiful thoughts or forms or acts to be the greater power, and affirmed that "Christ's apostles were artists," that "Christianity is art," that "the whole business of man is the arts," that the beautiful states of being which the artist in life or thought perceives by his imagination and tries to call up in himself or others "are the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow," and that "the Holy Ghost" is "an intellectual fountain." The old mystics had the words "goodness" and "holiness" much in their mouths, and strained out of its true meaning the saying that "the wisdom of the world is foolishness;" but his cry was, "I care not whether a man is good or bad; all I care is whether he is a wise man or a fool. Go, put of holiness, and put on intellect," and by intellect he meant his reason, his imagination. He was the first to claim for imagination the freedom, which, Mr. Pater has told us, was won for the heart by the Renaissance, and through his unlearned and obscure voice spoke the unborn learning and glory of the modern world. There are some who hold that he who wrote, "grandeur of ideas is founded upon precision of ideas," and whose great word was, according to Palmer, "precision," was a mere child delighting in meaningless words out of sheer love of their sound or their momentary charm; and there are others, and these are perhaps the bulk of idle readers, who will have it that it does not matter whether the "Prophetic Books" had or had not a meaning, for his more charming lyrics are all we need know, as though a philosophy which has blossomed in so many a vived aphorism had not its separate interest. It is to Dr. Garnett' credit that he does not, like some of his predecessors, definitely commit himself to the first theory, though such sentences as, he "could manifestly be as transparent as a crystal when he knew exactly what he wished to say – a remark which may not be useless to the student of mystical and prophetical writings," which is as though one should say, "the songs of Shakespeare are very clear, let us therefore trouble no more over the mystery of Hamlet, for all that was writ at haphazard," is very nearly a committal. He has, however, very definitely pronounced for the second and greater folly by affirming that if Hayley "thought that one page of the 'Poetical Sketches' or the 'Songs of Innocence' was worth many pages of 'Urigen,' apart from the illustrations, he had reason for what he thought," as though one could judge of the value of a book without understanding what it is about; and if the truth be told, Mr. Garnett, like Mr. Gilchrist, Mr. Rossetti, and almost every one who has ever written on the subject, does not show evidence of having ever given so much as a day's study to any part of Blake's mystical writing, or of having anything of the knowledge necessary to make even prolonged study fruitful. This very book of "Urigen" would alone convict commentaters, for they have not even discovered the fact lying upon its threshold, that it is page by page a transformation, according to Blake's peculiar illumination, of the doctrine set forth in the opening chapters of the "Mysterium Magnum" of Jacob Boehme; yet none so certain of their opinion as they, none so sweeping in statement.

These follies, for which he has distinguished precedents, apart, Dr. Garnett has worked modestly and carefully, and produced an essay, which pleasently accompanies some admirable reproductions, of which two are in colour, and which, though it certainly neither throws nor tries to throw new light on anything, yet tells gracefully enough the essential facts of a beautiful life, and enumerates and describes accurately many famous pictures and poems. There is, however, one curious slip which is several times repeated. Dr. Garnett speaks of "Sampson" as a blank verse poem, and regrets that Blake did not write his "Prophetic Books" in a like regular metre, instead of in a loose chant, to the fashioning of which he "may have been influenced by Ossian." "Sampson" was written at a time in which Blake was manifestly "influenced by Ossian," and both written and printed as prose in the "Poetical Sketches." Mr. Garnett has evidently seen the poem in Mr. Rossetti's edition, where it is printed as a kind of irregular blank verse, to show how the cadence of verse clung to Blake's mind even in prose, and has confused it with the fairly regular verse of "Edward the Third"; and if he reads it again he will find that it bears no comparison with the beautiful fluid rhythms of "Thell," and of the best parts of "Vala" and of "The Daughters of Albion." The pity is, not that Blake did not write the "Prophetic Books" in blank verse, but that he did not sustain the level of their finest passages. Despite these and some misunderstandings beside, Dr. Garnett's book may be cordially recommended to all who would learn a little of one of the most creative minds of modern days, for its futilities are wholly, and its errors almost wholly, in the parts where it touches mysticism, and for mysticism the general reader cares naught, nor is it dreadful that he should.

 

 

[Fußnote, S. 21]

* "William Blake." By Richard Garnett. The Portfolio (Seeley and Co.)   zurück

 

 

 

 

Erstdruck und Druckvorlage

The Bookman (London).
Bd. 10, 1896, Nr. 55, April, S. 21.

Gezeichnet: W. B. Yeats.

Die Textwiedergabe erfolgt nach dem ersten Druck (Editionsrichtlinien).


The Bookman (London)   online
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

 

 

Zeitschriften-Repertorium

 

Kommentierte Ausgabe

 

 

 

Werkverzeichnis


Verzeichnis

Wade, Allan: A Bibliography of the Writings of W. B. Yeats.
3. Aufl. London: Hart-Davis 1968.



Yeats, William Butler:The Death of Oenone.
In: The Bookman (London).
Bd. 3, 1892, Nr. 15, Dezember, S. 84.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

Yeats, William Butler: The Message of the Folk-lorist.
In: The Speaker.
Bd. 8, 1893, 19. August, S. 188-189.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008900379

Yeats, William Butler: A Symbolical Drama in Paris.
In: The Bookman (London).
Bd. 6, 1894, Nr. 31, April, S. 14-16.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

Yeats, William Butler: Irish National Literature. Contemporary Prose Writers.
In: The Bookman (London).
Bd. 8, 1895, Nr. 47, August, S. 138-140.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

Yeats, William Butler: Irish National Literature. III. Contemporary Irish Poets.
In: The Bookman (London).
Bd. 8, 1895, Nr. 48, September, S. 167-170.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

Yeats, William Butler: Verlaine in 1894.
In: The Savoy. An Illustrated Quarterly.
1896, Nr. 2, April, S. 117-118.
URL: https://1890s.ca/savoy-volumes/
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009663152

Yeats, William Butler: William Blake.
In: The Bookman (London).
Bd. 10, 1896, Nr. 55, April, S. 21.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

Yeats, William Butler: William Blake and His Illustrations to the Divine Comedy.
In: The Savoy. An Illustrated Monthly.
1896:
Nr. 3, Juli, S. 41-57.
Nr. 4, August, S. 25-41.
Nr. 5, September, S. 31-36.
URL: https://1890s.ca/savoy-volumes/
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009663152
Aufgenommen
W. B. Yeats: Ideas of Good and Evil. London: Bullen 1903, S. 176-225.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h

Yeats, William Butler: Mr. Arthur Symons' New Book.
In: The Bookman (London).
Bd. 12, 1897, Nr. 67, April, S. 15-16.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008883383

Yeats, William Butler: Academy Portraits. XXXII. – William Blake.
In: The Academy. A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art.
1897, 19. Juni, S. 634-635.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006791517
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000529050
URL: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=theacademy
Aufgenommen
W. B. Yeats: Ideas of Good and Evil. London: Bullen 1903,
S. 168-175 (u.d.T. "William Blake and the Imagination").
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h

Yeats, William Butler: Introduction.
In: A Book of Images, Drawn by W.T. Horton & Introduced by W.B. Yeats.
London: Unicorn Press 1898, S. 7-16.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t00002d9b
Aufgenommen in:
W. B. Yeats: Ideas of Good and Evil. London: Bullen 1903,
S. 226-236 (u.d.T. "Symbolism in Painting").
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h

Yeats, William Butler: John Eglinton and Spiritual Art.
In: Daily Express (Dublin).
1898, 29. Oktober, Second Edition, S. 3.
URL: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Yeats, William Butler: The Autumn of the Flesh.
In: Daily Express (Dublin). 1898, 3. Dezember.
URL: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
Aufgenommen in:
W. B. Yeats: Ideas of Good and Evil. London 1903;
hier: S. 296-305 (u.d.T. "The Autumn of the Body").
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h
URL: https://archive.org/details/ideasofgoodevil00yeatrich [Second Edition 1903]

Yeats, William Butler: The Wind Among the Reeds.
London: Mathews 1899.
URL: https://archive.org/details/windamongreeds00yeatrich

Yeats, William Butler: The Literary Movement in Ireland.
In: North American Review.
Bd. 169, 1899, Nr. 517, Dezember, S. 855-867.
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004528837
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000677725
URL: https://www.unz.com/print/NorthAmericanRev/

Yeats, William Butler: The Symbolism of Poetry.
In: The Dome.
An Illustrated Magazine and Review of Literature, Music, Architecture, and the Graphic Arts.
N.S., Jg. 6, 1900, April, S. 249-257.
URL: https://modjourn.org/journal/dome/
URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000058201
Aufgenommen in:
W. B. Yeats: Ideas of Good and Evil. London 1903, S. 237-256.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h
URL: https://archive.org/details/ideasofgoodevil00yeatrich [Second Edition 1903]

Yeats, William Butler: Ideas of Good and Evil.
London: Bullen 1903.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h
URL: https://archive.org/details/ideasofgoodevil00yeatrich  [Second Edition 1903]

Yeats, William Butler: The Philosophy of Shelley's Poetry.
In: William Butler Yeats: Ideas of Good and Evil.
London: Bullen 1903, S. 90-141.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6k07824h

Yeats, William Butler: Poems, 1899-1905.
London: Bullen; Dublin: Maunsel 1906.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015019354714
URL: https://archive.org/details/poems01yeatgoog

Yeats, William Butler: Poems.
London: T. Fisher Unwin 1912.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t0xp6z20t
URL: https://archive.org/details/yeatspoems00yeatrich

Yeats, William Butler: The Cutting of an Agate.
New York: The Macmillan company 1912.
PURL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015012193317
URL: https://archive.org/details/cuttingofagate00yeat




Yeats, William Butler: Essays and Introductions.
London: Macmillan and C. 1961.

Yeats, William Butler: The Collected Letters of W. B. Yeats.
Edited by John Kelly u.a.
Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press.
Bd. 1ff. 1986ff.

Yeats, William Butler: Die Gedichte.
Hrsg. von Norbert Hummelt.
Übers. von Marcel Beyer u.a.
München: Luchterhand 2005.

Larrissy, Edward (Hrsg.): The First Yeats.
Poems by W.B. Yeats, 1889 – 1899.
Manchester: FyfieldBooks 2010.

 

 

 

Literatur: Yeats

Arrington, Lauren / Campbell, Matthew (Hrsg): The Oxford Handbook of W.B. Yeats. Oxford 2023.

Barry, Caron: Yeats's Ideal Others: William Blake and Dante Alighieri. In: New Hibernia Review/Iris Éireannach Nua: A Quarterly Record of Irish Studies 22.2 (2018), S. 128-145.

Brandmeyer, Rudolf: Poetiken der Lyrik: Von der Normpoetik zur Autorenpoetik. In: Handbuch Lyrik. Theorie, Analyse, Geschichte. Hrsg. von Dieter Lamping. 2. Aufl. Stuttgart 2016, S. 2-15.

Erle, Sibylle u.a. (Hrsg;): The Reception of William Blake in Europe. 2 Bde London 2019.

Fogarty, Anne: Yeats, Ireland and modernism. In: The Cambridge Companion to Modernist Poetry. Hrsg. von Alex Davis. Cambridge u.a. 2007, S. 126-146.

Grene, Nicholas: Yeats's Poetic Codes. Oxford 2008.

Haughton, Hugh: The Irish Poet as Critic. In: The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry. Hrsg. von Fran Brearton u. Alan Gillis. Oxford 2012, S. 513-533.

Jochum, Klaus P.: The Reception of W. B. Yeats in Europe. London u.a. 2006.

Kim, Jooseong: Yeats and the World Soul: Yeats Reading Blake, Shelley, Honoré de Balzac. In: The Yeats Journal of Korea 48 (2015), S. 75-92.

Lipking, Lawrence: Poet-critics. In: The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism. Bd. 7: Modernism and the New Criticism. Hrsg. von A. Walton Litz. Cambridge u.a. 2000, S. 439-467.

Longley, Edna: Yeats and Modern Poetry. New York 2013.

McDonald, Peter: Yeats's Canons. In: Essays in Criticism. A Quarterly Journal of Literary Criticism 60.3 (2010), S. 242-264.

McDonald, Peter: Victorian Yeats. In: The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry. Hrsg. von Matthew Bevis. Oxford u.a. 2013, S. 621-639.

Quinn, Justin: The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry, 1800 – 2000. Cambridge u.a. 2008.

Warner, Eric / Hough, Graham (Hrsg.): Strangeness and Beauty. An Anthology of Aesthetic Criticism 1840–1910. 2 Bde. Cambridge u.a. 2009.

 

 

Literatur: The Bookman

Brake, Laurel / Demoor, Marysa (Hrsg.): Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent u. London 2009.

King, Andrew u.a. (Hrsg.): The Routledge Handbook to Nineteenth-Century British Periodicals and Newspapers. London u. New York 2019.

Stetz, Margaret D.: Internationalizing Authorship: Beyond New Grub Street to the Bookman in 1891. In: Victorian Periodicals Review 48.1 (2015), S. 1-14.

 

 

Edition
Lyriktheorie » R. Brandmeyer