W.B. Yeats의 Byzantium Poetry 硏究序說

Abstract

W.B. Yeats 는 후기에 접어들어초기의 낭만적인 경향을 벗으나 초인간적인 것과 인간적인 것과의 대립에서 오는 인간의 내적 갈등에 많은 관심을 보인다. 즉, 노년에 접어들어 그의 현실 감각은 더욱 투철해졌다고 할 수 있으며, 인간 본연의 문제에 대한 그의 관심은 그의 후기시의 주제를 이루는 중요한 요소중의 하나라고 하겠다.

그는 갈등이 항존하는 現實世界에서 회피하거나 좌절하지 않고 오히려 적극적인 意志의 힘으로 강력하게 현실에 도전하기를 원한다. 그리하여 그갈등을 해소함과 동시에 또 다른 갈등을 모색하는, 말하자면 현실을 극복하려는 자세로 자신의 예술에 임하였던 것이다. 그러므로 그의 예술은 현실세계와 이상세계의 긴장이 첨예화되고 자신의 意識이 가장 철저 했을 때 더욱 깊이를 더 해 갔다고 하겠다.

Byzantium poetry 는 바로 이러한 상황아래서 쓰여 졌으며 현실 세계의 갈등을 강력한 정신의 힘으로 극복하고 자신의 작품을 영원한 예술로 승화시키려는 Yeats의 예술과 인생에 대한 태도가 잘 드러나 있는 작품이라고 할 수 있다. 그러므로 'Sailing to Byzantium'과 Byzantium 두편의 시에 대한 충분한 이해는 Yeats의 후기시를 이해하는데 많은 도움을 줄 수 있다고 하겠다.

불멸을 갈망하는 인간의 本能은 곧 예술가에게 있어서는 예술 창조를 위한 강력한 원동력으로 나타나며 Yeats도 이 끊임없는 內的 意志로 자신의 예술을 영원한 것으로 만들기를 추구했던 것이다. 우리는 Byzantium Poetry에서 realist로서의 Yeats의 모습을 어느정도 찾을 수 있으며, 그는 항상 자신이라는 현실을 발판으로 좀 더 높은 자아를 추구하는 자세로 자신의 詩的 창조의 가능성을 끊임없이 모색하고 그 범위를 넓혀 갔던 것이다.

W.B. Yeats in his later times was deeply concerned with the antithesis between the supernatural and the human. His concerning with it accounts for much of the complexity of his later verses. In other words, his sense of reality becomes deeper as he grows old.

But he neither escapes nor is frustrated from the present situation he faces where there always exists conflict between the two extremities such as nature and are, youth and age, and body and soul. On the contrary he eagerly wants to challange the present situation he is forced to face with a strong will. By doing so he can not only solve the conflict but also overcome reality. He writes poems in the attitude of overcoming reality. So we can say that the tighter the conflict between his real world and the ideal world is, the more prefound the depth of his art becomes.

Byzantium poetry was written in this situation and they show Yeats's strenuous will to overcome reality with a strong spiritual power and to make his art eternal.

The human instinct and desire for immortality may be the original vitality for art, and so Yeats wants to make his works of art sublimated with such instinct and desire for pursuing immoral art.

We can evaluate Yeats as a realist in the sense that he continuously tries to pursue his poetic possibility and widen poetic scope with the intention of overcoming the given situation.

W.B. Yeats in his later times was deeply concerned with the antithesis between the supernatural and the human. His concerning with it accounts for much of the complexity of his later verses. In other words, his sense of reality becomes deeper as he grows old.

But he neither escapes nor is frustrated from the present situation he faces where there always exists conflict between the two extremities such as nature and are, youth and age, and body and soul. On the contrary he eagerly wants to challange the present situation he is forced to face with a strong will. By doing so he can not only solve the conflict but also overcome reality. He writes poems in the attitude of overcoming reality. So we can say that the tighter the conflict between his real world and the ideal world is, the more prefound the depth of his art becomes.

Byzantium poetry was written in this situation and they show Yeats's strenuous will to overcome reality with a strong spiritual power and to make his art eternal.

The human instinct and desire for immortality may be the original vitality for art, and so Yeats wants to make his works of art sublimated with such instinct and desire for pursuing immoral art.

We can evaluate Yeats as a realist in the sense that he continuously tries to pursue his poetic possibility and widen poetic scope with the intention of overcoming the given situation.