! ART - Yeats, Tragic Joy and the Sublime

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Yeats: Tragic Joy and the SublimeAuthor(s): R. Jahan RamazaniSource: PMLA, Vol. 104, No. 2 (Mar., 1989), pp. 163-177Published by: Modern Language Association

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R. JAHANRAMAZANI

Yeats: ragicoy ndthe ublime

It is a violencefromwithinhatprotects s from vio-lencewithout.t s the maginationressingackagainstthe ressurefreality.tseems,n he ast nalysis,ohavesomethingo dowith urself-preservation;ndthat, odoubt, swhy he xpressionf t, he oundof tswords,helpsus to liveour lives.

WallaceStevens

Do not go gentle nto hatgood night,Old age shouldburn nd rave t closeofday;Rage,rage gainst hedying fthe ight.

DylanThomas

L IKE HIS MODERNIST contemporariesEliotandHulme,Yeats arely sesthewordsublime.Hiscritics avebeen ll toowilling

toadopthisaversionotheterm, ven houghhisprophetic nd apocalypticyrics ftragicoy de-scendfrom heRomantic ublimeof Blake andShelley and eventhoughhis primary estheticcategories-ecstasy, assion,terror,prezzatura,joy-descend fromhevocabularyfwritersnthe

sublimefromLonginusto Schopenhauer.1eatscontinually rawson thisrhetoric-for xample,when he defines hepoet's "ecstasy"as arising"from he ontemplationfthings aster han heindividual nd imperfectlyeen,"orwhenherec-ommendsymbolsnart s a means toescapethebarrenness ndshallowness f a tooconscious r-rangement," r,perhaps essobviously,whenhemythologizesife ndhistorys a turningetweenantitheticalermsAutobiography19;Essays 87).Theoriesof thesublime an help us interprethefamily esemblancesmong Yeats'scontroversial

lyricsffirmingeath nddestruction:atepoemssuchas "The Gyres" nd "Lapis Lazuli," middlepoemssuchas "The SecondComing"and "TheFascinationfWhat'sDifficult,"ndeven nearlypoem, "The Valley ftheBlackPig." Byreadingthesepoems synchronicallyn the light of thepoeticsof theRomantic ublime,we can betterunderstandhe tructurendgenealogy ftheir f-fective ovementromerroro oy the sycholog-ical sublime) as well as theircharacteristicallyviolent iguresndfragmentarymagesthe hetor-

icalsublime).Moregenerally,his pproachanalso revealhe nterrelationsetweenhe ublimeand uch elated odes sprophecynd he urse.Althoughhe ublimes not unitaryoncept,hope o how, ith eats's elp, hat eaths ts l-timateccasion.2

Howdoesthe ublimeelateo the raditionalgenrenalysisf hese oemsn ermsf ragedy?Intheoreticaliscussionshe ublimeverlaps ithepic, ragedy,yric,ndprophecy,ut of thesegenresragedysthe rimaryestheticxampleor

Kant ndSchiller,swell s a frequentouchstonefor onginus.3chillerites tragicrt" s the es-theticounterpartf thendividual'sublimen-counter ith he pectaclef hangennaturendhistory,hangehat destroysverythingndcre-ates tanew, nddestroysgain" 210).ThisviewanticipatesrisMurdoch'sontentionhat he he-oryof the sublimepprehensionf "formlessstrength"s close ndeed o being theoryftragedy268). twould emore earlyccurateosay hathe heoryf he ublimesclose obeing

a theoryfwhatYeats alls"tragicoy,"for hesublimeransformshe ainfulpectaclefdestruc-tion nddeathnto joyful ssertionfhumanfreedomnd ranscendence.eatsmostmemorablyconjoinshe ragicnd he ublimenhisdescrip-tion fShakespeareaneroes ho ncounterheirdeathswith n ecstaticnlargementf vision,"Heaven lazingnto he ead;/Tragedyroughtto itsuttermost""Lapis Lazuli"294).Anothertragicero, edipus,s for eats resonantmblemof ragicoy, s he sfor onginusnemblemf hesublime478-79).nthentroductionoA Vision

Yeatswriteshat is ookwill proclaimnew i-vinity":Heragedgainst is ons, ndthis agewasnoble.. . He knewothingut ismind,ndyet ecause e pokehatmind ate ossessedt ndkingdomshangedccordingohis lessingndhiscursing"27-28). heutterancesfYeats's edipusexemplifyhe hetoricaliolencef he ublime,violence hat trace nYeats's avoriteublimemodes-the urse, heprophecy,nd the poca-lypse. ut begin y ttemptingodetermineheaffectiveasisfor his iolence.

163

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164 Yeats:TragicJoy nd the Sublime

I. TheAffectiveublime

"Tragicoy" xpressess wells any ther ormu-lation n he istoryf riticismhe motivetruc-

ture nd ambivalencefthesublime,ince hesublimenvolveshe onversionf ffectsrome-feat ndterroro freedomnd oy.4 considera-tion fthe recedentsor eats'svocativehraserevealsssumptionsharedy arious heoristsfthe ublime.nthe irstull iscussionfthe sy-chologicalublime,dmund urke reates com-parablexymoron:delightfulorror,hichsthemost enuineffect,nd ruestestf he ublime"(73).Schillerxplicateshe inaryffect:Thefeel-ing f the ublimes a mixed eeling.t s a com-position f melancholyhich t itsutmost smanifestedna shudder,ndof oyousness hichcan mount orapture . . " (198).This remark ocloselypproximateseats's escriptionftragicecstasyhat, xceptor hewordublime, tcouldalmost e thework fhispen.Yeatswrites,or x-ample,the oblenessf he rts s n heminglingof ontraries,he xtremityf orrow,he xtremityof oy" (Essays 255).ThesublimenKant lsoseems,s Schillerhrasest,"two ontradictoryperceptionsn single eeling"198). utKantriestounpackhe ynchronicffectlong diachronic

axis, eparatingt ntomomentsfdefeatnd oun-terassertion.hreateningbjects raise he nergiesof he oul" nddiscovernusthe courageomea-sure urselvesgainsthe pparentlmightinessfnature"100-01). eats's oems f ragicoyoftenaimatcouragentheface fBlakean ature-auniversefdeath hatwould rap hemind.5 eatsremarks,uchike ant, hatonly he reatestb-stacle hat an be contemplatedithout espairrouses hewill o fullntensity"Autobiography132). nhis ystem,eatsmythologizeshis bsta-cle s"the ody ofFate,"butnhis yricshe inalform fthe ealityrinciples death tself.

In myview, eathprecipitateshe emotionalturningalledhe ublime,lthoughheoristsf hesublimeften eferodeath y ther ames,rbywhat ennethurke ermsdeflections":othing-ness,astration,hysicalestruction,emioticol-lapse, efeaty precursor,nd nnihilationf heego.6Death s therecurrentbsession or hesetheorists,romonginusoHeideggerndBloom.Longinusffersariousonceptsf the ublime,buthis xamples aket lear hat eath s his r-

ganizingrope-witnessappho's roken-tongued

gasp, I seem ear odying,"ndHomer'serrifiedsailors,carriedway romnder eath, ut nlyjust" 473).The ublimetrifeetweeneroesndgods, spirantsndmasters,sgoodformortals,

but nlyf hemortalsurvivehe hreatenedn-nihilation476). or dmundurke,oo, ideas fpain,nd bove llofdeath,"ccasion he ublime(65).Oneofhismost rominentxampless Deathitself, n Milton's llegory59). Kant amendsBurke'smphasisn errory rguinghatwemustbesecures wepictureoourselvesangerndde-struction,ut venhen,hemaginaryhreats sogreat hatweknow all resistance ouldbe al-togetherain"100). t sour pparentecurityhatallows urfundamentalnsecurityocome ntoview. isnotionfthe irsttep nthe ublimesa defeat fthemagination,momentaryheck-ing, s a kind fmomentaryeath, he quivalentof Yeats's Black out" in "Lapis Lazuli" andWordsworth'swhen height f ense Goes ut"inThePrelude 1805, .534-35).ForFreud, his sthemomentf nxietyver astrationn he edi-palstruggle;or eidegger,he uddenall f on-science hat isclosesasein's uiltndnullity-acall that comesfromme ndyet rom eyondme"(320). Formynterpretationf the ublimes astagedonfrontationitheath,draw nthe sy-

choanalyticccountsfHertz ndWeiskel,up-plementinghem ithHeideggerianmphasisnthe cstaticncounterith eath. ut t s nYeatsthathe ublimesexplicitlystagedonfrontationwith eath: is ragiceroesonveyn heir inal t-terancesthe uddennlargementftheir ision,their cstasyt the pproachfdeath" Essays522-23).

Inthe emporaltructuref he ublime,he n-ticipationfdeath ives ise oa counterassertionof ife.Having orn uthis yesnhorror,eats'santitheticaledipus eassertsimself ith ragethatseemedo ontainll ife"Vision8). npsy-chologicalerms,hehero nd he oet urmountthe hreatf he estructiveatherhroughdentifi-cationwith im.7 hisoedipaldynamics clearand pervasiven Yeats'spersonal istory,venthoughReveries verChildhood and Youthdis-places he iguref ggressionnto is randfatherPollexfen,manwhom eats onfused ith odandLear, rayedofor unishment,nd mulatedas a model fcourageAutobiography,4,22).

Thispsychoanalyticodel f the ublimean

helpusinterprethe verarchingffectiveove-







R. JahanRamazani 165

ment f Yeats'spoemsoftragicoy. nbrief,hesepoems ntrojectheviolent, aternalhreat,herebypermittinghe onversionf defensivendpatheticenergynto oy. In thepsychic conomy fthese

lyrics he energy eleasedby theescape from hefather-or from eath, hefinalform f author-ity-oftenmanifests tself s laughter. ightingblindly he poet-hero uddenly laughs aloud"(326;see also 159, 50,293). TheShakespeareanc-tors n"Lapis Lazuli" do not"weep./Theyknowthat Hamletand Lear aregay" (294). In genericterms,heunexpectedoyofthe ublime rises romtherelinquishmentfelegiacpathos. ndeed,thepoemsoftragicoy might ethoughtf as a coun-tergenreoelegy.fmournings thepsychicorrela-tiveof elegy, s Sacks maintains 1-37), maniacorresponds o the sublime;and mania,writesFreud, s theovercomingfmourning:

Inmania,he gomust ave ot ver heoss f he bject(or itsmourningver he oss,orperhaps heobjectitself),ndthereuponhewhole uotaofanticathexiswhichhe ainfulufferingfmelancholiaaddrawnoitself romhe ego and "bound"willhavebecomeavailable. ("Mourning"55)

Thetransitionrom legiacmourningoaffirma-

tionmarks he middlemovementfmany oemsoftragicoy. nthepivotal ineof"Meru,"gaietysupervenes hen hepoetreleasesost ivilizationsfrom he grip of mourning: Egypt and Greecegood-bye,ndgood-bye, ome!" 289). nthemid-dle stanzaof "The Gyres," heyouthful,legiacpoetwhowept nd "sighed" s overriddeny theNietzschean ommand"Rejoice" (293). Havingfacedhisowndeath,Yeats writesn a late etter,"How stranges the ubconscious aiety hat eapsup before anger rdifficulty.havenothad a mo-

mentof depression-thatgaiety s outsideone'scontrol"Letters 33).Terrorsconvertedntooy,"[g]aietytransfiguringll thatdread," as Yeatswritesnhisstrongestontributiono the ublime("Lapis Lazuli" 294).

Butas Longinus eminds s, the oyofthe ub-lime sultimatelyasedonan llusion: It s ourna-ture o beelevated y rue ublimity.illedwithoyandpride,wecome obelievewe have reatedwhatwe have onlyheard" (467). The sublime s themomentaryllusion hat ranslatesearernto ra-tor, on ntofather,ndtheweepinglegist f"The

Gyres" nto the "Old Rocky Face." In Stevens's

words,t llows he iolence ithinoconquer heviolence ithouts a matterfself-preservation.This llusions ometimesangerouslyompletenYeats'syricsf ragicoy,wherehe oetmayeem

to cast oocold n eye ndeathnd o nure im-selfoviolence.ncorporatingheOtherannihila-tive iolence,numb ightmare,"uperegontherampage),he peakerf "TheGyres,"or xam-ple,discards he ingular ronoun-associatedwith he arlier, eepingelf-and xultssa plu-ral dentity:We hatookonbut aughntragicjoy" 293).The yricttemptsodeliverhe oeticself romhe eathlyictimagefpassivepectator-ship the efeatedearerfLonginus)y onvert-ing udiencento uthor,heRockyacewillinghebloody pectacletmust bserve.

The heoryf he ublime,s we an lreadyee,helpso xplainhe ntersubjectiveramafYeats'svisionaryyrics.uch oems nact he trengthen-ing f he goby ntrojection,ndyet,ndoing o,theydmitn "alien oice," sHeideggeralls t,thateemso ear he oundariesf he go, ring-ingtperilouslylose o nnihilation321). hepoetsays fOedipus,much s Longinus oesof thePythianriestess,hat elphi spokehroughim"(Vision 7-28).Yeats's heoryf hemask sa the-ory f elf-transformationhroughmitationf he

not-self,theoryognate ithhe ublimenbothprivileginghe ubject nd violatingts ntegrity:"all oyous r reativenergysa re-birthssome-thing ot neself,omethinghich asnomemoryand s createdn a momentndperpetuallye-newed" Autobiography40). The voice thatemergesromheRocky ace is "notoneself,"thoughtsmessage freassuranceould eemn-tended o rouse he elf o tsfullesttrength.f"TheSecond oming" imilarlyehearseseath,puttingn thepower ftherepressedathert

representss rough east, hentrisksestabilizingthe elfwhileryingo chievetability.ppropri-atingheviolencef therough eastfor tsownaural ction nd mpact,he oemnacts,nHertz'sphrase, "transferfpower" ypicalf the ub-lime; ut he ransferotentiallyndangershe n-tegrityf he oetic elfHertz,Reading" ). The"vastmage" tartsnto hepoet'smind utof amind othisown:

Surelyome evelationsat hand;Surelyhe econd omingsat hand.

TheSecond oming! ardly re hosewords ut







166 Yeats:Tragic oy ndtheSublime

Whena vast mageoutofSpiritusMundiTroublesmy ight. . . (187)

TheOtherf heYeatsianublimesthatmind e-

yond urminds,nimaMundi,theDaimon, heMask,whatwemightlso call asYeats ccasion-ally oes) he ub- runconscious,abeled heRea-sonbyKant,he ivine ossessoryLonginus.nYeats'sublimeoems,words nd mageseem ohave n"independenteality,"nvadinghemindfromeyondt, ach ike n "emblem"hat sailsinto he ight"Mythologies 84;Poems244).

Nevertheless,nterpretationsf he ublimehatoveremphasizehishreato hedentityf he ub-ject iskurninghe ublimentomysticism,ressedupinLacaniangarb.8hesublime

oetnd

themystichare he onvictionhat,s Yeats utst,"theborders f ourmind reever hifting,"utwhereasorhemystiche nergylowsnonedirec-tion, rom ther nto elf, he ublimeoet lsoreverseshe irection,n reaction-formation,e-lievinghathe elf asproducedhatthasheard(Essays28).However ard eats ries o bea mys-tic, he yricelf nhispoems srarelyhepassivevessel ftheDaimon. elf ssertstsprerogativesovermysticoul nmanymoreyricshan A Dia-logueof SelfandSoul," andpoetic dentitys

generatedy heirgon. ven ouldoesnot peakconsistentlynthe hetoricf elf-abnegationutinsteadpens he ialogue ith favoriteeatsiancommand,I summon,"much s the eeminglymysticpeakerf AllSouls'Night"epeatedlys-serts isprovenanceithhe hraseI call" 234;228-29).n declamatoryoemhatummonsastandfuture,To Ireland ntheComing imes,"materia oetica ssaid ocome fromnmeasuredmind," ut he aradoxsthathe oet'smposed''measure'gives ccess othemeasurelessther

(50).Withoutuchheroicelf-assertion,hepoetwould emain,ike appho nLonginus'sreatise,broken-tongued,nthe ame onditions Soul n'A Dialogue fSelf ndSoul,"whose tongue'sstone"235), r s Soul n"Vacillation,"[s]truckdumb n he implicityffire!"252). nthe ialec-ticofthe ublime,hepoetmust isefromhismomentaryeath, hetongue ecoverromtsmuteness.yanalyzingheformaltrategiesfYeats'sublimeyrics e an oncretizehis eneralunderstandingfthepoems' o-and-froetweenpsychicnnihilationnd ssertion,errornd oy.9

II. Structure,magery,ound,andRhetoric

Because theYeatsian ublime ften ompressesthemoments f tsdialectic,tdoesnot lways ol-

low theclearKantianstages of assertion f theImagination,efeat rprostheticeath, ndrescueby heReason,or even he impler utcomparablestepsnBurke fterrornd oy, nLonginus fdai-monicpossession ndexpulsion. venso,a struc-tural imilaritysperceptiblensuchpoems s "TheValley ftheBlackPig," "The SecondComing,"and the yrics omposing he finalmovementsf"MeditationsnTimeof CivilWar" nd"NineteenHundred ndNineteen." achopenswith visionthat hattershe leepy omplacency rbounded-nessofthepoetic elf, ubstitutes more

oncen-trated mage forthisconfused nd fragmentedvision, ndthen, avingnlargedheboundaries fthe goandtotalizedeality,rops veil oseparateselffromOther.0SomeofYeats's ublime oemsdo notstrictlyonformothis emporalmap. In"NineteenHundred ndNineteen," or xample,the ncubusArtisson-the quivalentftheblackpigandtherough east-"lurchespast"only fter,andnotbefore,hedistancing oment fdroppingwindand settling ust 210). Nordo thesublimelyrics asilyseparate ntoKant'scategories: he

mathematicalublime,ncrementalndrepetitive,and thedynamical ublime, ingular nd abrupt.Nevertheless,Leda andthe wan"and"TheColdHeaven" xemplify,ith heirstonishinglyiolentopenings,he udden ndsinglemomentfrupturecharacteristicfthedynamical ublime:

A sudden low: he reat ings eatingtillAbove he taggeringirl. (214)

Suddenlysaw he old ndrook-delightingeavenThat eemedsthoughceburnedndwasbut hemore

ice.... (125)

A Heideggerian all ofconscience lasts hroughthe peaker f"The Cold Heaven," as if twerethunderboltut of Longinus:"Until cried ndtrembled nd rocked o and fro,/ Riddled withlight."Otherpoems-for example, The Magi"andpart of"Nineteen undred ndNineteen"-areexercisesnthemathematicalublime, ision-ary encounterswith n infinite epetition hoseformalcorrelatives re iterativeyntax "With








all their . . / Andall their . . / Andall their[126]) and diction "Violence . . . vio-

lence,""round andround" 210]).11

"The SecondComing"conjoins hemathemat-

icalandthedynamicalublime. he initial tanzais a vision of anarchicrepetition, turningndturningwithout enter, ounding n its firstinewith n insistent actylic hythmnd, in its astlines, eaving he maginationxhausted y he f-fort ototalize:

Turningnd turningnthewidening yreThe falcon annothearthefalconer;Thingsfall part; thecentre annothold;Mereanarchys loosedupon theworld....

(187)

Butthe errifyingeast hat urstsnto hemindnthe econd tanza eemsmore heviolent ather fthedynamical ublime,whom hepoemattemptstointrojectnorder oquell.Thiscrisscrossingfthe mathematical nd the dynamicalsublimeshouldnot urprises, ince venKantdoesnotdis-tinguish etweenhemwith onsistency.imilarly,"The Magi" isabout an exhaustionhrough epe-tition fthequest:

Nowas at all times can see inthemind's ye,In their tiff,ainted lothes, hepale unsatisfiednesAppearand disappear ntheblue depth fthe skyWith ll their ncient aces ikerain-beatentones,And all their elms f silver overingide byside,Andall their yes till ixed, oping ofind ncemore,BeingbyCalvary's urbulence nsatisfied,The uncontrollablemysteryn thebestialfloor. (126)

Therepetitionfthe uest sduplicatedwithinhepoet'smind, he poetholdingwithin themind'seye" he uesters'eyes till ixed." ut ofthe yric's

enactmentftheir hythmicalppearance nddis-appearance,which reates hemathematicalub-lime's exturef "on andon,"erupts he ast ine'sunpredictable and "uncontrollable mystery"(126). 2

In a passageworthyfLonginus rKant,Yeatsdescribes hisdynamic fthesublime:

Does not ll art omewhen nature, hatnever easestojudge itself,xhausts ersonal motion nactionorde-sire o completelyhat omethingmpersonal,omethingthathas nothing o do with ction or desire, uddenly

startsntots lace,omethinghichs sunforeseen,scompletelyrganised,vensunique,s themages hatpassbeforehemind etweenleepingndwaking.

(Autobiography22)

The Imagination ollapses and theReasonstartsintoplacewith ts ranscendentalnowledgef theinfinite. he roughbeastand theuncontrollablemysteryhatterhe extureftherepetitive entalactofattemptingograsp eality.ngenericerms,theYeatsian ublime riseswhenone "exhausts

. desire" nquest-romanceritstemporaln-verse, legy. hemind annolonger trainowardlibidinal bjects:

I thinkhatwewho repoetsnd rtists,ot eing er-mittedo hoot eyondhe angible,ustofromesiretowearinessnd otodesiregain,nd ive ut or hemoment hen ision omes o ourwearinessike erri-ble ightning. (Mythologies40)13

A Longinian lash, he ublime ipsunpredictablythrough eats's legiaccycles fdesire, he mindtransportedeyondts bjects. he"insolentiend"lurches ntoview t the nd of"NineteenHundredandNineteen" nly fter hemindhaswearied t-self nthe fforto holdontothehorses' reaking

circle fmovement210).Whirling,yring,piring-theYeatsian ublimeoftenbolts out of suchrhythmicnd repetitivemovement.n"The WildSwans tCoole,"thepoettries ocount he wans, ettingnmotionhemen-taloperationhatKantdescribess themathemat-ical sublime:

Thenineteenthutumnas ome ponmeSince first ademy ount;I saw, eforehadwell inished,Allsuddenly ount

And catter heelingngreat rokeningsUpon heirlamorous ings. (131)

Therepetitivectofcountingollapses sthe wansmount bovethepoet, ransportingismindwithan ntimationf ncalculableggregates.hesebro-ken ings eappear s thewidening yrendreelingdesert irds n"The SecondComing"and as thebreakingquestrianoursesn"Nineteen undredandNineteen." hemovementssublime ecauseitsets nmotion hecircle fColeridgean ormal-ism andbreaks tapart.







168 Yeats:Tragic oy nd the ublime

For Yeats thisfigures emblematic f eternalrecurrence,concepthe shareswithNietzsche utmodifieso allowfor emporalariation. ne ofthemost mportant istoricalinks etween eats nd

the sublime is, in my view,Nietzsche'sewigeWiederkehr.4Nietzsche enerallyvoidsthe ermsublime, r das Erhabene, uthe doesoccasionallyuse tto describe ragedy,s whenhesays hat hesublimesubjugates errorymeans f art" Birth52; Werke 9). Further,would ike osuggesthathisnotion f eternal ecurrences a covert ersionof themathematical ublime, houghhe wouldneverdmit uch debt oKant.ForbothNietzscheandKant, he ntuition rrivesuddenly;tcomesfromhefailureoconstellateealityntohigherndhigher ggregates;t s an intuition otsubject o

empiricalests; nd t sa revelationfthe nfinitethat s at once mpoweringndterrifying.ietzscheand Yeatsboth takemuchpride ntheir bility oreconcile hemselvesoeternal ecurrence,s Yeatsannounces n "A Dialogue ofSelfand Soul":

I am contento ive t llagainAndyetgain,f tbe ife o pitchInto hefrog-spawnfa blindman's itch,A blindmanbatteringlindmen. ... (236)

Here the poet imagines ternal ecurrencen apersonal ather han historical ense ndarrivesat a view f tthat pproximates reud's epetitioncompulsion,nothermodern ersionfthemathe-matical ublime. hepoet willshisendless eturnto theblindness f norganicmatter. utthis ffir-mation fthe ternal, utochthonouseturns alsocompensatory.hekinship etweenternal ecur-rence ndthe ublime houldhelpus see that venthoughbothYeats ndNietzsche hink hat heirbeliefnrecurrencendicates heir elease romhespirit frevenge,r llwill oward ime,t s nfactanillusion hat llows hem o think hat hey avetranscendedime,hat heyan ive n nfiniteum-berof ives,nd that hey ave hereforescaped hethreateningcythefthefather eyond llfathers.

Because thesublimemay be viewed s the at-tempto dentify ithhefatherndthus vercomethe hreat fdeath-or ofwhat sychoanalysison-siders tsunconscious orrelative,ymbolicastra-tion-Yeats's imagesof thesublime re perhapsapotropaic epresentationsf this hreat.Manyofhis ublimeyrics ave atentmages fdecapitation

orcastration. eadswithoutny lear onnection

with heir odiesfrequentlyppear n these oems."The Magi" have"ancientfaces ike rain-beatenstones," ut ofwhich heir yes tare ixedly126).Such Rocky acereappearsn"TheGyres," here

it s a totemic eminderf thepaternalawofneces-sity, nd thus also an apotropaic mblem f theMedusanfate. hismask ndthegeneralheoryfthemask nYeats-theseverancefbeing rom elf-identity-may e inpartmediations fcastrationanxiety.At the end of "NineteenHundred andNineteen," hehead ofRobertArtissonlso lookspetrified,his great yeswithouthought Underthe shadow of stupidstraw-paleocks," and it"lurches ast"with he utomaticmovementftherough east n"The SecondComing" 210). Bothincubus nd beasthavethesameblank gaze and

nightmarishissociation fheadfrom ody.ThelateplaysA FullMoon inMarch nd TheKing oftheGreatClock Tower eatureastrativeehead-ings s their rincipalymbolicction. n"TheSec-ondComing," he head of a man" s fixed nto a"lion body" (187). The fetishisticmageencodessimultaneouslyhe ggressive,epressed atherndthecastrationhathasthreatenedhe on. Inrhe-torical erms,t s a violation fdecorum, or thasmuch ncommonwith heexamples hatHoraceconsiders t thebeginningf theArspoetica:

If painterhould ecideo oin heneck f horse oa human ead, ndto aymany-coloredeathersponlimbsaken romere r here,o thatwhat s a comelywomanbove nded s a dark, rotesqueish elow,could ou,my riends,fyouwerellowedo ee t,keepfromaughing? (51)

The sublime breaksthroughdecorum and thewholeness fthebeautiful.t s a rough east hat,as the eer f The SecondComing" uts t, [t]rou-blesmy ight."

Itmay lsotrouble he ar.Therhythms,hone-micpatterns,ndrhetoricaliguresftheYeatsiansublimeproduce the mpression f formlessnessbreaking hrough ormor, in Yeats'sterms, fTransfigurationccurringaradoxically ithinnaesthetic f IncarnationLetters 02). AlthoughYeatsuses theword ublime paringly,eborrowsCastiglione's otionofsprezzatura,r "reckless-ness,"a pre-eighteenth-centuryategory orthenonrationalnart that nticipatesheconcept fthe ublimeMonk,"Grace"). Thevery trictness

ofYeats's ightlyontrolled uralpatternsmakes







R. Jahan Ramazani 169

rhythmicariationseem llthemore eckless. isfew ommentsn the ubject ccordwith heLon-giniandoctrinehat nsistentlyepetitivehythmscan make he uditor cstatic. ut the ublimityf

thismathematical ounding ccelerateswhen, tthe ndof his ater ambic yricsnthismode,Yeatssuddenly btrudesnto he peechrhythm poly-syllabicword thatcontainsa dactylic adence,breaking partthe predictableequence:punish-ment, urbulence, ncontrollable, errible, eth-lehem, indifferent, arkening, monuments,unfashionable,littering.his ntrusionfrhyth-micchange ften oincideswith he uddenheight-ening of alliterative esonances, speciallythevoiced topsb, g, and d: "beauty sborn," Beth-lehem o beborn," glitteringyes,regay," ndsoon."5These dark sounds heighten he effect fboundlesspowerand mysteryhuddingnto ex-istence:

. . . and trickenBythe njusticefthe kies or unishment?

("TheCold Heaven" 25)

Being yCalvary'surbulencensatisfied,Theuncontrollableysteryn the estial loor.

("TheMagi"126)

Are hanged,hanged tterly:A terribleeautys born. ("Easter, 916" 82)

Andwhat ough east, tshour ome ound t ast,Slouchesowards ethlehemo beborn?

("TheSecond oming" 87)

We reblest y verything,Everythinge ookupon sblest.

("A Dialogue fSelf ndSoul"236)

Before hendifferenteak ould ether rop?("Ledaandthe wan" 15)

Where he wan riftspon darkeninglood.("CoolePark ndBallylee,931" 45)

Thatdaybringsound henight,hat efore awnHis gloryndhismonumentsregone.

("Meru" 89)

. . . and llthingsunOnthat nfashionableyre gain.

("TheGyres"93)

Their yesmidmany rinkles,heir yes,Their ncientlitteringyes, regay.

("LapisLazuli" 95)

The endingsfthese yricslsoexemplifyhemany hetoricaligureshat onginusssociateswith he ublime:he hetoricaluestionmphasiz-ing hemomentaryualityf motionrisingrom

the ccasion,syndetoninderinghe eadinghilepressingt nward,naphoraombiningithsyn-deton oforce eaningo eap head,nd o forth.As Longinusays fDemosthenes,Hisordere-comes isorderly,is isordern urncquirescer-tain rder"483;480-89). hese ormaltrategiescombineohurryhemind utofform,eachingtoward hat eats alls, choing helley'spithetfor hewestwind, he uncontrollable."'6ntheearly eats,n ontrast,he oetic uest ordisem-bodied eauty" allshort fthe ublime,ackingthe omplementarympulsen the ater eats o"create orm" ndworkhrought Letters 02).

III. The Curse

Yeats'sater yricsometimesarry ecklessnessto theviolentxtremef the urse. xaggeratingcertaineaturesfthe ublime,he urse anhelpusanalyze urtherhe sychicndrhetoricaltruc-ture ftheYeatsianublime.ntheiragernessoassumehe oice f he ggressiveather,oemsike"TheGyres"nd Under enBulben" eem owill

the estructionheyontemplate.ndeed, irtuallyallthepoems ftragicoydraw n the ursemo-dally. hey eveal hedestructiverge, r deathdrive,t work n thepoetics f the ublime.Weshould eep his road ffinitynmind s we ookatmore irect anifestationsf he ursenYeats'sprosendpoetry.othAllenGrossmanndHughKenner iscuss The Fish" s an instance f theIrish enre f the urse, ut he urse urfacesnmany ther yrics,ssays, nd storiesGrossman162;Kenner08-10). he lder eats ntitlestrea-

tise n theBoilerout ffondnessor mad hip'scarpenterhowould enounceisneighborsndthewickedimes.nanotherate elf-portrait,eatscalls he cursing" edipus is new ivinity."searlys the toryTheCrucifixionf he utcast,"Yeats elebrateshe urse.Mistreatedt a monas-tery, gleemanets tubupside own nder iswindowndmountst o sing bard's urse n heabbot"Mythologies 50). est he leemaneachthe urseo hildrenndrobbers,he bbot ecidestocrucifyim. or hemonks,he urse ypifiespoetic peech ecause f theway tviolentlynd

unpredictablyransformseality.f eft live, he







170 Yeats:Tragic oy ndthe ublime

gleemanwould ursewheneverthemood to cursewould omeuponhim," is oul,path, ndpurposeas unfixed s thewind Mythologies 51, 53).Butwhile hecurse s a spontaneous nddirectpeech

act, t s also,as Geoffrey artman bserves, neof the oldestkinds of formalizedpeech 130).However udden and unpredictablehe urgetocurse, hespeakers eempossessedbya languageand passion beyondthemselves,s in the othermodes of the sublime.

Yeats'sfirst ull-fledgedurse nrhyme ppearsin the tory Red Hanrahan'sCurse."A young irlwho mustmarry n old man asks RedHanrahanfor elpbecause heunderstandshe urse obe thepoet'sversion f the extalionis:when t speopleofthis arth hathave harmedyou, t s yourselfknowswell the wayto putharmon them gain"(Mythologies 40). Modelsoftragic aiety or heolderYeats,OedipusandKingLearwish n thosewho have hurt hem n equivalent ain of thank-lessness r destruction. he younggirl nYeats'sstory nadvertentlyoundsRed Hanrahanby ell-inghimhe s old, so thathiscurse eemspartlynattempt o recoverfrom his subversion f hispotency. ike the gingLearandOedipus,Hanra-hancurses oregain nd dramatize hismasculinepotencynd aggressivity.eeingan old and gap-

wingedeagle and noting hat t resembles im,Hanrahangoesontocurse eremoniouslyotonlyhisold, oedipal fathersut also himself:

The poet,OwenHanrahan,under bush of may,Calls downa curseon his own headbecause twithers

grey;Then on thespeckled agle-cock f Ballygawley illBecause it is theoldest thing hatknowsof cark and

ill.... (243)

He curses he ge, mpotence,nddeath ssociatedwith hefather,ut n doing o, he also assumes hevoiceofthefather,othat he urse ecomes self-curse oo.Here s in he thermodes fthe ublime,therelation fpoetto fathers simultaneouslyneof dentificationndaggression. s he curses, hepoetcomesdangerously lose to turning imselfinto heforce f death o avoidbecomingtsvictim.ButHanrahan's urse ackfires: ispresumptionnadopting hefather'soicebrings own n him hefatherlyOld Men,"aswell s "Old Age and TimeandWearinessnd Sickness" 245). The cursere-

dounds on thecurser.

"The Fascination f What's Difficult"maybeYeats'smostpowerfulbsorption f the urse ntolyric, nd t s also a paeanto the ublime93). LikeHanrahan ndLear,the peaker fthispoem be-

ginshisdenunciationn a moment f mpotence,theblockage rproleptic eath hat ets he ublimeinmotion:

The fascination fwhat'sdifficultHas dried he ap out ofmyveins, nd rentSpontaneous oy and natural ontentOut ofmyheart.

Sprezzatura asbeen ost,buteven s thepoetbe-ginstodescribehisdeadness,hestarts o recoverfrom t,for he rope f rendings itself sublime

figure fdislocation.ttransformshedestructivepower fdifficultynto hefigurativeiolence fthepoem:

There's omething ils our coltThatmust, s if t had notholybloodNor onOlympuseapedfrom loudtocloud,Shiver nder he ash, strain,weat nd oltAs though tdragged oadmetal.

Yeatspictures egasus,his maginativeower, strappedunder heweight f form nd theevery-

day."7 ut insteadof remaining nderneath p-pressive orces fconstraint,hepoet s suddenly"on" topofthem:

My curseon playsThat have to be setup infifty ays,On theday'swar with very nave nd dolt,Theatre usiness,managementf men.

The very ctof utteringhe urse estoreshepoet'spower.Bywilling estruction n others, he poetdefines imself, estores issovereignty,nd tran-scends he nonymityfthe veryday.uthis urse,like heprotagonist'snPrometheusUnbound, salso a self-curse,or tfalls artly n hisownwork.Althoughtrituallynumeratests ntendedbjects,it lso seems pontaneous ndsudden, n nflux fpowerfter lockage. his mpressionsheightenedbytheasyndetons nd unparallel bjectsof thecurse.Thepoemendswith full estorationfthepoet'sstrength:

I swearbefore he dawncomes round gain

I'll find he table nd pull out thebolt.








Counter o therepetitiveevolutionsf the un, hepoet assertshis own unpredictablend violentenergy fself-disclosure.

Thecurse s a spontaneous verflow fpowerful

feelings, ut the feelingsdischargedbelong toThanatosrather han to Eros. In thesectionof"Meditations n Time ofCivilWar"entitledMyDescendants,"hepoetcurses,nanextraordinaryact ofanticipatoryengeance,hehomeof hisoff-springfthey houlddegenerate:

Maythis aborious tair nd this tark owerBecomea roofless uin hat he owlMay build nthecrackedmasonry nd cryHerdesolation o thedesolate ky. (203)

Thepassage offers sublimemageoffragmenta-tion,but tpurchases ts ublimity ith symbolicact of self-destruction,isplacedmetonymicallyonto hedescendants' ower. ikeLear, hepoetde-fines isownpotencyywillingheruin f hiskin,buthe attacks hem yway f the otemicower-thevery mblem f thepoet and of the book ofpoemstowhich his ursebelongs.The objectofaggressions thus figure or he elf,much s theuncanny ky s fortheowlthatcriesto it."8An-other fYeats'sbirdswith nuncannyhadow elf

leaps nto he kyn"Nineteen undred ndNine-teen," refiguringpocalypticompletionnd stir-ring hepoet tocursehisown work:

That magecan bringwildness, ring rageToend all things,oendWhatmy aborious ife magined, venThe half-imagined,hehalf-writtenage.

(209)

Writings a veilbetween hepoetand integrationwith hefinalform freality-death.The act ofcursing isownwork ssimilateshepoet othede-structivewinds ofwinter,"winds haterase thewordand theworld 209). Attemptingo evadedeath, hepoet dentifies itht.Thetranscenden-tal mpulse fthe ublime sultimatelypocalyp-tic and self-destructive-aage notonlyagainstorderbutalso against heself nd language.

IV. Prophecy, pocalypse, nd thePoliticsoftheSublime

Anothermodality fthe ublime, rophecy as

longbeenthoughtoberelated othe urse, nd t

too anhelp s nterpretragicoy nYeats.'9wiceinRichardII, for xample,hakespeareellinglymisremembersueenMargaret'sarlierproph-ecies"as "curses"3.4.15-18,.1.25-27). ames

Kugel emarksnhis nalysisfHebraicrophecy:"the rophet'speech ad lwayseen owerful,f-fective;t ould e said fhimwhatwas aid f hesoothsayeralaambenBe'or,thosewhomyoubless reblessed,ndthosewhom ou urse recursed'Num.22:6)" (81).As speech cts thatsimultaneouslynnouncend ransformhe hapeofreality,rophecynd the urse nite hewordwith ivineuthority,he ranscendentalignifier.Butwhereashe ursemorebviouslylters orldandwordy isfiguringhem,he entralifficultyabout prophetic tterance,nd aboutYeats'spropheticyrics,sthe elationetweenassive it-ness ndactive ransformation.nthe ropes fShelley'sDefense fPoetry," documenthatYeats uotes xtensivelyndapprovingly,s thepropheticoet mirror"r"legislator"?nthem-ageryf he ublime,shethe efeatedonortheviolentather?herhetoricfprophecynevitablydraws nboth trandsffigure,opingo urnheinterpreterfrealityntots reator,ust sthe ub-lime onvertshe assiveictimntohe eroicra-tor. LapisLazuli" nd TheGyres"rophetically

envision brutal nd violentworld;buttheyattempto alter heprophet'selationovision,changinglegiacubmissionntoctiveelebration.We hould ecarefulbout quatingeats ithnepoleofprophecyrthe ther:nsofarshispro-pheticyricsf ragicoy re ublimendnot anat-ical, heynhabithe sychicndrhetoricalpaceofbothwitnessnd egislator.hepoeticctivityofthese oemss "the hootingfthegulf"-asEmersonefinespower"-betweenpectatorshipand reation, hichreboth ssentialoprophecy(271).Withouthe efeatedon hereanbeno fa-ther;withouthewitness,o egislator;ndwith-out he legist,oRocky ace.

Kantwarns, owever,hat he ublimemay e-come anaticismf negoes madwitheason"r,inthe erms fFreud'sGroupPsychology nd theAnalysis f the go, foneallows heheroic atherorpoliticianoreplacehe uperegoKant 16).Wehave lreadyeen hat eats'syricransformationsof he ursepproachuch nextreme.theratelyricsomedangerouslylosetocelebratinghefanaticismfcompletedentificationith he a-

ther nd destructiveness,uch as thecanceled







172 Yeats:Tragic oy ndthe ublime

"ThreeMarchingongs." TheapocalypticmpulseinYeats ometimespproacheshis xtremeswell;itshares he lchemist'sconsuming hirst orde-struction"ftheworld ndthe half-writtenage,"

the onging or completentegrationf selfwith"the desolationofreality"Mythologies 69-70;Poems289).

Another roup fYeats'svisionaryyricstraysfrom heauthentic ynamic fthe sublime. fwethinkfapocalypsenot s conflagrationut s thedisclosure nd totalization freality,eatswritesmanyyricshat ssume napocalyptic erspectivetowardhistory-the anoramic rgod's eyeviewthatWhitakerontrasts ith hedramaticnYeats'swriting.oems ike TheValley ftheBlackPig"and "Two Songsfrom Play" are in a mode ofprophecyhat odistancestself romhedrama fhistoryhat t osesanysenseofcontingencyndvulnerability-historicalualitiesalliedwith hesublime s againsttheaestheticnecessityf thebeautiful. hesepoems llustrate hatwemightallYeats's ropheticinarism,or heyrrange istoryaccording o binaryoppositions,much ikethemythicmind nLevi-Strauss"Structural tudy"177-81). n theextraordinaryarlynote to "TheValley ftheBlackPig," Yeats etsup a series fparadigmaticpposites-light/dark, inter/sum-

mer,sterility/fruitfulness-aualistictendencyreflectedoo inthepoem'sneatdivisionntofourlinesofviolence nd four frecoveryndprayer.Thepoem'sreductionfthe pocalyptic attle o"unknown" oundsheard at a distance uggeststhat heprophetic inarism asallowed hepoet ocontrol nd miniaturizeheviolent cene all toowell,helping im doptthe nvulnerableerspec-tive fthedestructiveMaster": the lash ffallenhorsemenndthe ries Ofunknownerishingr-miesbeat aboutmy ars" 65). "TwoSongsfrom

Play" alsodefeatshe ublime error fviolent p-heaval y ondensingistorynto ntitheticalairs:Virgo/Spica,Athena/Dionysus,Mary/Christ.20Thepropheticinarismfthese oems, ike hat fA Vision,muzzles hesublime,ndonemust skwhetheruch a poeticsofminiaturizationome-timesnures hepoettotherupturesfhistory.similarendencyway romhe ublime anbeseeninthe ynchronisticesthetic fYeats'smodernistcontemporariesliotand Pound. nsofar sA Vi-sion emphasizesviolentupheavals, bruptcon-fluences of deityand man, dizzyingrotations

between ternallyecurringntinomies,t sa sub-

limevision fhistory.ut nsofar s thiswork,ikesomeof thepropheticyrics, ompresses istoryinto he ontrolled inary atternsfa miniature,itmayfinally itmore roperlynto n aestheticf

thebeautiful.2'What is the political formof the sublime nYeats?As wehave een, hepsychologicaltructureof thesublime an lead to identificationith heviolent athernd,ultimately,ith hedeathdrive;hence, it helps to explain the attraction hatauthoritarianismnd eugenicsheldfor heolderYeats. ven hough hekinship etween eats's aterpolitics nd thepsycholinguistictructure f hissublime emains nremarked,eats's rief flirta-tion" with he xtremeightontinues ogeneratea great eal ofscholarship,upplementinghema-jorstatementsyElizabeth ullingfordnd ConorCruiseO'Brien.Butwemay tillhave he ingeringsuspicionhatYeats's bhorrentuthoritarianiewsarenot he ole political otentialityftheYeatsiansublimeor of the sublime n general.StephenSpenderclaimsthatYeats'sapocalypticpoems,such s "The SecondComing,"were nimportantsource f nspiration or he intellectualeft" ofhis owngenerationSpender -6, 13).How is thatpossible?Maybewe should look at the literaryprecedentsftheYeatsianublime ofind utmore

aboutitspoliticalparameters,skingwhethertsviolence spartof a larger oetic mpulse o use aviolencewithin ocounteractheviolencewithout.Ifso,thenmuch fwhatwecondemnnthese yricswould ogically ntail condemnation fthe ub-lime s a whole.Aspacifists emaywell hoosetorejectthesublime ltogether, ut can we legiti-matelyeject eats's ublime ecause f tsviolence,as Bloom does, and stillpraisetheviolence ofearlier ersions? oget tthese uestions, emightconsider irstheprecedentsorYeats'sdisturbing

exultationnwar.22 anyofLonginus's xamplesofthe ublime escribe ombat rbloodshed, ndKant rgues ot nly hatweveneratehe oldier e-cause "hismind sunsubdued ydanger"but lsothat [w]ar tself . . hassomethingublimen t"(102).Perhapsnthis ontext hepraise fwar ndthewarriorn"UnderBen Bulben" s ess stonish-ing, hough ormany as forme)no essdeplorable:

YouthatMitchel's rayer ave heard,"Send war n ourtime, Lord!"Knowthatwhen ll words re said

And a man s fighting ad,








Something ropsfrom yes ongblind,He completes ispartialmind,Foran instant tands t ease,Laughsaloud, his heart t peace. (326)

The sublimes nextricableromhedeath rive,hehero's partialmind"resemblinghe half-writtenpage" of"NineteenHundred ndNineteen"; othmust be destroyedn thesearchforapocalypticwholeness, reunion,nFreud'sreduction fthesublime,withnorganicmatterPleasure rinciple36-39). Ifthe mind s alwayspartialbecause t sneveromplete ntil xtinguished,nd fwritingsalwayshalf-writtenecause tnever bsorbswhatit ignifies,hen eats's pocalypticublimeggres-

sively ttempts oovercome he tructurefdefer-raland desire nherentneverycene ofthinkingandwritingseeDerrida87).

Shelley ndBlake nverse, o ess hanLonginusand Kant nprose, eveal he nevitableonnectionbetween he ublime ndviolence.nPrometheusUnbound, helley ries otranscendhe ttractionofpoetic iolence ydecontextualizinghe ublimecurse nd makingtan echo,but theforce fthework's ear-likehetoricrisesnthefirstct fromPrometheus'swilling"endurance" of violence;similarly heWitch fAtlas,whomYeats nvokesatthebeginningf"UnderBenBulben,"observesstrifendsuffering,et little idthe ight isturbher soul . . . " (Shelley, "The Witch of Atlas"63.545).23 n theprophetic oemAmerica,Blakecelebrates rc's fieryoy" indestructionplate8,line 3). Andthoughwe mayregrethat he RockyFace knows nly hewordRejoice, hisword choesthroughoutheendofTheFourZoas inresponseto totaldestruction. f we recallthe "irrationalstreams fblood" in "The Gyres" hathaveun-nerved ritics,ndcompare hemwith he treams

of blood in "NighttheNinth," tseems hardtoshareBloom'sview fYeats's ragicoyasuniquely"[i]nhumane" Yeats434-39):

Intothewinepresses fLuvahhowling ell heClustersOfhumanfamilies hro hedeep.thewinepresseswere

filldThe blood oflifeflowd lentiful.

Thepoem ppropriateshepower fthe cene's io-lence, haring he pocalypticoy ofLuvah's onsanddaughters, otthemerely umandismay:

How red he ons & daughtersfLuvahhowthey readtheGrapes

Laughing and shoutingdrunk with odors manyfalloerwearied

But ntheWinePresses heHumanGrapes ingnotnordance

Theyhowl& writhenshoalsof tormentnfierce lamesconsuming..

The crueloyof Luvahs aughtersacerating ith nivesAndwhip[s] heir ictims deadly ports f Luvahs ons

(Four Zoas 135, ines36-39; 136, ines 16-17, 1-27)

These "Victims" re acrificeso the ublime, heirpain essential o the oy assumedbythe ons anddaughtersf Luvahand bythepoem tself. n allversions f the sublime, ot ust Yeats's, he mo-ment fgaiety resupposes hepain or deathfromwhich t rises.

Some recentworks n literarypocalypses ndprophecies ssert hat hese ublimemodes re n-herentlyonsistent ith oliticallyadicalrevolu-tion see, e.g., Hoagwood 57). Derridaremarks,"Nothing s ess conservativehan he pocalypticgenre" 89). Others, uch as GaryShapiro,haveargued hat he ublimehas strongffinities ithfascism216).No doubtthepoliticalform fthesublime's endencyoward anaticisms authoritar-ianism.No doubt, oo, thesublime s a visionofhistory rivilegesiolent upturesfthe ortweas-sociatewith evolution,espite urke's ontradic-tory islike or heFrench evolution.hesublime,inotherwords,sneitherleft"nor right," houghit canbe appropriated yeither olitical hetoric.The "BeautifulNecessity" merson raises ttheend oftheessay"Fate" and thesimilar"Power"'

Shelleynvokesn "Mont Blanc"might e used foreither ascistelebrationsfforce r radical isionsofa force hat an "repeal/Largecodes of fraudand woe" (Emerson 967-68; Shelley, "MontBlanc," ines16,80-81).The sublime oesnot as-ily ccommodate entristnd pacifist olitics, utitdoes nottherefore elongto fascism.24eats'slyrics ftragic oyturn he ublimena reaction-arydirection:n"TheGyres" he peaker elebratesdestructionecause tushersn feudal oliticalr-der, nd n"MyDescendants"he curses hehomeof hischildrenfthey houldmarrynto a lower







174 Yeats:Tragic oy nd the ublime

class. Butthese olitical iews avenoexclusivee-lation to theYeatsian ublimeor to the sublimegenerally,nymore han heHeideggerianublimeis intrinsicallyascistic-eventhough fascism,

partly yadopting he Romantic ublimefor tsownpurposes, roved ttractiveo bothYeats ndHeidegger. ecausethe ublime anrouseusfromtheblind and timidpoliticsof theeverydayndgrant s the"courage," s Kant alls t, o faceourowndeathswith nticipatoryesolutenessHeideg-ger'sEntschlossenheit),t spotentiallyn instru-ment fradicalism, ven nYeats.

Twoplays llustrateow heYeatsian ublimed-mits f a widerpolitical ppropriationhanmostcritics aveunderstood nd howSpender's ener-ationcould thereforeead thepoemsagainst hegrainof Yeats'sownauthoritarian iews. n TheKing's Threshold,Yeatsexplores he subversivepotential f tragic oy.Having deprived hepoetSeanchan of his traditional ights,heking om-pareshis own nstitutionalondstotheanarchicsublimityfverse:

But that it throne,And akemymeasureromheneeds fthe tate,Call hiswild houghthat verrunshemeasure,Makingwordsmorehan eeds, ndhisproudwill

Thatwould nsettlell,mostmischievous,Andhehimselfmostmischievousan.(Variorum61-62)

Seanchan's oetic houghtsmeasureless,reakingthroughll form,ndthusdangerous o the hier-archies fstate.His laughters an energyhatde-fies all boundaries, venthe finalboundaryofdeath.He declaresnhis final aunt: King!King!Dead faces augh" 310). ntheplayYeats lso inks

the ublime oa repugnantacial heoryfmasterybythe"white-bodied"310),but, gain, thasnoinherentndexclusiveonnection ith uchviews.In TheUnicorn rom he tars, hepeasants nter-

pretMartin'sublime ision f the pocalypse s apropheticall for evolutionnd for hedestructionoftheir ppressors-theEnglishLaw and enslav-ing Church Variorum 84-85). The play turnsagainst uch an interpretationftheapocalypse,Martinthinkingn theend thatthedestructionmustbe ethical nd internal. heorists owcom-monly istinguishetweenhe onservatismf theinternal pocalypse associated withAugustine)and therevolutionaryrientation f theexternalapocalypse associatedwith uther).25ut nthisplay,Yeats hows hat he ropes or heouter ndinnerpocalypse, s for henaturalndpsycholog-ical sublime, reeasily ranslatednto achother.Ifweregard eath s theoccasionofthe ublime,themovement romnner oouterbecomes ntel-ligible,ince eath sneithernenor he ther. ndperhapswe shouldbe more ware hatYeats'splayconceives fradical ction s a potentialrticula-tion fthe ublime,fnot he ne tprefers. nthebasis ofsuchrevisionaryeadings,pender ouldgoso far s toclaim hat he ommunistapocalyp-tic vision"wascompatiblewithYeats's 13). Even

though eandother oetsofthe hirties ouldul-timatelyeject eats's pocalypses,ndeven houghYeatswillnever e a heroofthe eft, heYeatsiansublimemay till esusceptibleothekind ftrans-valuationthat Auden describes n his elegy forYeats: thewords f a deadman/Aremodifiednthegutsofthe iving" 197).26

Universityf VirginiaCharlottesville

Notes

1HaroldBloomalone nvokes he ublime o nterpreteats.Butherestrictsimselfothesublime finfluencend, evenwhilecelebratinghetranscendencef thehuman n earlierRomantics,ondemns s inhumane he yrics hat eem ometomanifestheYeatsian ublime. omparehisresponse owhathecallsYeats's [i]nhumaneonsense"Yeats 38) with ispraisefor homasWeiskel'sssertion: the ssentiallaim f the ub-lime sthatmancan, nfeelingnd nspeech, ranscendhehu-man. A humanisticublime s an oxymoron"Bloom,Forewordii;Weiskel ). In a later ssay nYeats, loomrevises

hisnegative iew ftheYeatsian ublime utrefersismissively

to theposition elaborate ere: hat he daemonic rSublimeisthusmerelynother vasion ftheunacceptable ecessityfdying" Poetry 09). Yeats'srelationship ithBlakeand Shel-ley s theprimaryubject fAdams'sBlake and Yeats,Born-stein'sYeats nd Shelley, nd Bloom'sYeats.

2 Muchworkhasbeendonetosynthesizehe ublime, ang-ingfromMonk'sclassic,TheSublime, oWeiskel -33.Forthesimilaritiesetween onginus ndEdmundBurke n the ub-lime, eeFry, each60-61. nthis ssay draw nFry's iscus-sion,which ssimilatesKant'smathematicalnd dynamical

sublime o Longinus'sversion; nWeiskel'synthesis;nd on








Hertz's interreading f Longinus,Burke,Kant, and Freud("Notion").

3 More recent ritics aveunnecessarilyompartmentalizedthetheories ftragedynd the sublime. he sublime s not agenre, nd its heoristsrehappy oemphasizets fluidmove-

ment crossgeneric oundaries.Nevertheless,he ublime asan affectivetructurend a rhetoric-among he ualities hatdefinegenre-and so itmight e thought f as an extendedmode,relatednturn o othermodes, uchas the pocalypticand the curse fora discussion fmode,see Fowler106-07).Engelberg166-77), Reid,and Patrides elate tragic oy" totragedy,s doesYeatshimself. orthe ounterassociationfthesublimewith he omic, eeShapiro's ommentsnHegelandMarx 225-26) andModiano'sgenealogy fthe omic ublime(231-39).

4For an analysisof the ambivalence f the sublime, eeFletcher 43-52.

5 Bloomacknowledges eats'sresistance o thedeathof the"object-world";tmakes eats ossiblyne ofthe ast Sublime"

poets Poetry 09). Bornstein lso brings ut this ntinatural-ism nYeats'svisionary oems Transformations7-30).

6 Kenneth urke's thesaurus" f thenecessarydeflections"ofdeathdiffersromminecf.Burke 69).Nothingtself,eathexemplifiesndexaggerateshehiddenmetonymicaltructureofthe ublime, nd indeedof all naming, ecause deathmustinevitably ndergo ranslation.A literal-mindedeadingofYeats'smythfthe fterlifeould, fcourse, nnul he mpor-tance f death nany fthese orms,ut twould lso be ncapa-bleofexplaining is yrics'more mbivalentepresentationfdeath s anoccasion for ourage.

7 On theoedipal or preoedipalnature f thesublime, eeHertz, Reading,"andWeiskel 1-106. or my nalysis ftheinterrelationetweenedipal dentificationnd aggression,alsoborrow rom acan (Speech 79; Ecrits -29).

8 Guerlac's ersion fLonginus ometimespproaches ucha view, hough er nalysissgenerallynsightful. ith hehelpof he aterHeidegger, uerlac rgues gainsthe ffectiveheoryofthe ublime ecause"feeling" bscures he hreat f therhe-toricalublime o the ubject'self-identity.utHeidegger'snal-ysisof the intersubjectiveasis of Stimmungmood,' andespeciallyfMitbefindlichkeitco-state-of-mind,'reservesheaffectiveublimewithoutndorsingn ideological oncept fthe self.

9Whitaker escribes hese womomentsn the arly poca-lyptic omances s thepsychicnnihilation f "Rosa Alchem-ica" and thecomplementarynflation f "The Tables of the

Law,"the elf-negatinghrist nd the elf-assertingucifer44).10As BrendaWebster rgues fYeats'sbird nd sword, heconcentratedmagemaybethoughtf as a "talismanicbject,"a "defense gainst ears fnothingnessnd oss of ndividual-ity" 207). Itmay lso be ikened o Hertz'smoment f"figura-tive reconstitution"n the sublime after the moment of"disintegration""Reading" 14).

11Hillis Millerreadsthefigurative ovement f "NineteenHundred ndNineteen" s a violent evolving ithout enter(347).

12Weiskel ses thephrase n and on to describe hemathe-matical ublime 22).

13For anelaborationfYeats's entralestheticenets nthebasisof thispassage, eeVendler 8.

14See Essays288. On eternal ecurrence,r ewigeWieder-kehr,nYeats ndNietzsche,ee Bohlmann 7-68.Foranothergeneral iscussion fYeats'sdebt oNietzsche, eeOppel.

15Althoughhe lderYeatswasfond f suchwords ndsuchsounds ngeneral, hey onvergen a numerically igher uan-

tityt the ndsofhis ater ublimeyricshan hey oelsewhere.Theyboth ntensifyndsurpass hegeneral tylisticreedomfhisversenthis eriod. he characteristicariationsnmeter-asinstanza ndrhyme-have een mply escribedy riticsromGross 48-55) to Parkinson182-91) ndDoughertynd neednot be rehearsed ere.

16Shelleyddresseshewindwith he postropheO Uncon-trollable!" nthe "Ode to theWestWind," ine47.

17Remaking imself,eats imultaneouslyonvertswo nti-sublime oets ntoprecursorsf his ublimity.n An EssayonCriticism,"opegrudginglyllows or hewaywardnessfPega-sus nd then uggestshat heres a semisublimityr"Gracebe-yond heReach ofArt" lines150-55). Further,eats'sverbalpileup choesBenJonson's atiric Ode toHimself": Runon,

andrage, weat, ensure,ndcondemn . . though hy ervesbeshrunk,nd bloodbe cold . . . thy train "(lines9-10,45, 49).

18On therelation funcanny oubling o thesublime, eeFry, Possession" 196-201.

19On Yeats nd prophecy,ee Stallworthy. hitaker ffersthebest nalysis f the pocalypse nYeats, mphasizingts n-ternal nd alchemicalnature34-54).

20 For a discussion fthepairs n "Two Songsfrom Play,"see Ellmann 60-63;onminiaturizationndbinarism,eeLevi-Strauss,TheSavageMind 16-33.

21Whiteuses theregulativeesthetic ategories f thesub-lime and the beautiful o analyzethe discipline f history

(125-37).22 Foran overviewf Yeats's houghtn war, ee Farag.ForBloom'sposition nYeats's iolence, ee,for xample, he ead-ings f "The SecondComing," LapisLazuli," nd "TheGyres"in Yeats.

23 Yeats uppresseshis ideofShelleywhenhederideshimfor eing terrifiedftheLastDay like Victorianhild" Es-says420).

24 I do notwish,however,oexaggeratehepolitical lexibil-ity fthe ublime. he sexualpolitics fthe ublime astradi-tionallyeen ntifeminist,ndwe till eed full eministeviewofthe ublime s theviolentgon of fatherndsonor as a mas-culinewarwith anger. orthese easons, s well s for acifistconcerns,we mayultimatelyecide to reject hesublime l-

together,s longas wedo so consistently.ut, nmyview,wemight lso attempt oconstruct version f the sublime hatwould be compatible withcertainformsof revolutionaryfeminism.

25 See Lewis 184-235.Douglas Robinson riticizes ewis'sdistinctionutgoes on to argue hat heAugustinian,piritualview s "suited o political onservatives"s against implicitlyrevolutionary redictiventerpretations"-an ssertion hatwould eem o be contradictedyrecent undamentalismntheUnited tates. eeRobinson's elpfulntroductorynalysis17).

26 My thanksgo to RichardFinneran, aul Fry,ThomasWhitaker,nd GeorgeWrightor heir aluable ommentsnearlier rafts f this ssay.







176 Yeats:TragicJoy nd the Sublime

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! ART - Yeats, Tragic Joy and the Sublime