Abstract

The importance of A Vision to an advanced understanding of William Butler Yeats's work has been underrated. From 1917, when his wife, George, took up her mediumship, to his death in 1939, Yeats called on the framework and terminology of his system for the creation of his poetry and dramas. Despite its importance to Yeats's literary work as a whole, the actual substance and influence of A Vision have not been fully explored. This dissertation traces the source material of A Vision--the mystical, mythological, and philosophical traditions which Yeats called upon in the creation and ordering of his system. Following this, the study addresses the influence of his system on the content of specific poems and the final arrangement of the Collected Plays