Yeats

by Harold Bloom

At once praised and condemned by his contemporaries and by critics ever since for his highly complex poetic vision, William Butler Yeats remains one of the most important and controversial twentieth-century poets. In what has become a classic work of literary criticism, award-winning critic Harold Bloom breaks new ground with his radical interpretation of Yeats' relationship to the English Romantic tradition. Yeats tells the continuous story of the lifelong influence of Shelley, Blake, and the Romantic tradition upon Yeats' work. Through his analysis of the full spectrum of Yeats' poems and plays, Bloom offers a profound reinterpretation of poetic influence in general.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Poetry, Nonfiction, Irish Literature, British Literature, Ireland, Biography

512 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 1972

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

A horrendously indulgent piece of pseudo-scholarship. Bloom's avowed 'guiding question' in this book is investigating whether Yeats is more, at root, 'Shelleyean' or 'Blakean'. The former tendency he clumsily identifies as the young romantic's yearning for self-actualization & escape from the world (as typified in the works Alastor & Queen Mab). The latter tendency is the old man's yearning for self-transcendence & embodiment in the world. I have already articulated those two words better than he.
Nowhere throughout the book are the ridiculous crutch-words of 'Shelleyean' and 'Blakean' really explicated. There are essentially no substantive comparisons drawn, just hand-waving about 'influence' and 'lineage'. It is important to point out for those unacquainted with Yeats that neither Shelley nor Blake were actually formative for Yeats development as a writer, they were not his 'inspirations' nor particularly his canon, they are just Bloom's attempt at describing the two warring motives working in the mind of Yeats.
This book is truly horrendous, I recommend it to nobody. An empty, dry hovel of near-nothing.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really worth reading. Much of it went completely over my head. It gave me the impression that Bloom didn’t much like Yeats, so I’m not sure why he wrote 470 pages about him. Much of the book is about Blake and Shelley rather than Yeats. As a guide to Yeats for a novice reader, this book is pretty useless.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderfull! I Loved it!