Affective Power Of W.B.Yeats’s Political Poetry:a Literary Stylistic Approach

William Butler Yeats(1865-1939)was a famous Irish poet and playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.Throughout his career,he was always concerned with the changing political climate in Ireland.His thoughts and concerns about politics permeate his political poetry,inspiring strong resonance in readers.It can be said that affective power is an aesthetic quality of his political poetry.Mainly using the literary-stylistic research method,supplemented by the thematic classification method based on human mental faculty,cognitive-poetic method and social-historical contextualization approach,we explore in detail the source of affective power and artistic expression of Yeats’ s political poetry from three dimensions — “emotion,” “thought,” and “volition.” By carefully analyzing the relevant poems in his collections,Michael Robartes and the Dancer(1921),The Tower(1928),The Winding Stair and Other Poems(1933)and Last Poems(1938-1939),we find that,on the one hand,Yeats admires the unwavering faith and indomitable spirit of the Irish up-risers,is moved by their heroic spirit of sacrificing themselves for national freedom,feels deep sorrow and compassion for the cruel reality of their murder,while at the same time was outraged by the brutal acts of the British colonists.On the other hand,he doesn’t approve of the bloodshed and violence of the insurrectionists,believing that mortal triumph is transient and that greatness comes from bitterness,therefore advocates non-violent revolution.What’s more,Yeats also expresses his desire for freedom and peace and his high hopes for the young Irish poets of the future.The poet’s sincere feelings,wise reflections and ardent hopes are conveyed in the subtle art of language that makes Yeats’ s political poetry uniquely infectious.