Image and Mask Ideas in Works of Yeats - Essay Example

Discuss the Proposition that 'Image' and 'Mask' are Closely Connected Ideas in Yeats's Work, with Reference Both to Poetry and Prose Writings Introduction William Butler Yeats is one of the most well-known of Ireland's poets. Born in Dublin in 1865, the son of John Yeats and Susan Pollexfen, he spent his early years in both Ireland and London; he would later identify strongly with Irish mythology, nationality and Celtic tradition, and this would form the backbone of his poetic matter. Yeats was living in Ireland and London, where he joined first the Theosophy group of Madam Blavatsky, and, later the Golden Dawn, (being instrumental in preventing Crowley's accession to the leadership) and deeply in love with Maud Gonne, an actress and revolutionary who had previously made a pact with the devil ("One evening she quietly made a pact with the Devil. She agreed that in return for the ability to control her own life, the Devil could have her soul" (Golden Dawn date unknown). Yeats "Was to remain infatuated with her for most, if not all of his life and who was also to a certain extent influenced by her nationalistic outlook" (NLI, 2006, page 1), a complex relationship that informed some of his greatest poetry, although it remained unrequited. She repeatedly refused Yeats' proposals but even after she married, Yeats waited until 1917 before he married Georgie Hyde-Lees, a partnership made strangely happy by Georgie's automatic writings: "When the 'almost illegible writing' had first appeared, Yeats found it 'so exciting' that he 'offered' he said 'to spend what remained of life explaining' his vision preoccupied him until the day that he died" (Wilson, 1999, page 225). Only a few years after their marriage, Yeats became a Senator within the Irish Free State (1922), and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1923), although he had previously refused a British Knighthood; he was still writing poetry until his death in 1939. Yeats was a polymath with a wide variety of interests; a recent editor of his work describes him as a: "Playwright, literary journalist, critic, editor, public speaker, student and recorder of oral tradition, genuine and independent investigator of the Occult, mythologist and mythmaker" (Webb in Yeats, 2000, page XIV). As a man obsessed with the concepts of masks and performance, it should not be surprising that he adopted so many guises: as well as literary leanings; Yeats also used a number of personas in his poetry, masks or identities behind which he could say what he chose, and not be ridiculed for it. His creative role was not merely to be a spokesperson for Irish nationalism, or an occult movement, or resurgence in interest in Celtic mythology, but to be the creator that takes on the masks of ancient myths in order to give voice to a society: Celtic revivalists like W.B.Yeats and Douglas Hydedeliberately set about searching out Ireland's ancient past to create a sense of identity and self-respect for the Irish peoplethey were determined to establish national pride by seeking out the origins of Irish Civilization (McCaffrey and Eaton, 2002) This essay will attempt to study the role of Masks and Imagery in the works of W.B.Yeats. Looking first at the way in which Yeats' ideas of Image developed from his experiences in the Golden Dawn and other esoteric groups, and considering how this is reflected in his work, the essay will then look at how his use of the Mask reflects some of Yeats' ideas of the self, and whether "The doctrine of the Mask is so complex and so central in Yeats that we can hardly attend to it too closely" (Splittgerber, 2005). The essay will then return to consider the connections between the mask and the image in Yeats' work, and whether these are as closely connected as proposed. The conclusion will then draw these ideas together to provide a solution to Yeats' use of such symbols in both his prose and poetical works. Yeats and Imagery Yeats spent a number of years as a member of The Golden Dawn; significantly, this magical order emphasized use of the Tarot and other imagery; other magicians of the order were strongly influenced by the order, including Aleister Crowley, and other authors have found "Direct correspondences between imagery in the Tarot and Yeats' writings" (Timmerman, 2006, page 5), and Yeats definitely agreed upon the connection between great works and powerful symbolism: "[His statement] 'Great mind and great memory can be evoked by symbols' confirms that the conceptions of poetic and occult symbols have much in common" (Timmerman, page 6). It is clearly established that, while Yeats did not introduced direct occult images into his works, he nevertheless used his occult training to create a series of universal symbols, which even he may not have completely comprehended at the time of writing: "Any one who has any experience of any mystical state of the soul known how there float up in the mind profound symbols, whose meaning.one does not perhaps understand for years" (Yeats, 1900) The notion of the image seems to represent for Yeats the other self, commonly called a Daemon (not a demon, it is more like a secondary or Higher self). Yeats clearly considered this Daemon to be part of the Image, which he separates from his own identity: "I take pleasure alone in those verses where it seems to me I have found something hard and cold, some articulation of the Image which is the opposite of all that I am in my daily life" (Yeats, quoted in Splittgerber, 2005). In this instance, like the Mask, the Image is an isolated being which contrasts with the real self. In one poem, Ego Dominus Tuus, Yeats suggested that the creation of the image was a call to the double or opposite self. The two voices here contrast the different associations of the self and the Daemon: Ille seeks to find the double through the use of Image, Hic seeks his 'self', and not the Image: "By the help of an image I call to my own opposite, summon all Hic: And I would find myself and not an image Why should you leave the lamp Burning along beside an open book Ille: Because I seek an image not a book (Ego Dominus Tuus in Yeats, 2000, 105-7) Other quotes by Yeats suggest that he saw the Image as, not a separate identity as suggested by the above poem, but something deeply intertwined within: He states that "It is not possible to separate an emotion or a spiritual state from the image that calls it up and gives it expression." (Shaughnessy, 1984). Unlike a Mask, which suggests the possibility of removal, an Image is inseparable from experience and physical existence. Therefore, Image is something more permanent than Mask - it is separate enough from the self that it can be 'sought' and found by a determined seeker, but at the same time, emotions and other human experiences cannot be lived without the use of the Image. It and 'self' therefore co-exist in Yeats' use of the symbol, whereas the mask, as shall be demonstrated, only exists as a mechanism for the 'self'; while the natural self cannot be without the Image, the Mask is a replacement for that initial self, and is often mistaken for it; Cuchulain's confusion over the unsuitable appearance of his soul is symbolic of this Mask/Self misidentification. Yeats and the Mask Yeats' idea of the mask was probably heavily influenced by his interest in Japanese Noh Theatre, where "all actors wear masks or wear make-up that appears to be a mask to create a sense of illusion, and intense absurdity. The actors speak in a haunting chant and dance about the stage in a stylized manner." (Sands, 2005). After his discovery of Noh, Yeats created a number of plays which incorporate this style of Japanese theater: "he also incorporated the use of masks. All the characters in this play are wearing masks or have faces with make-up that resemble a mask and this serves to create a sense of "simplicity, impersonality, and profundity in symbolism" (Sands, 2005). We can conclude from this that Yeats saw Noh Theater as a way to explore the conflicts between identity and society; simple backgrounds and stark phrases mean that there are fewer distractions from this message. Ellman described three ways in which Yeats can envisage the mask in his works: firstly, as a pose, or identity, which all individuals must assume, and is worn in both public and private. Secondly, as a defense against the possibilities of being hurt, emotionally or physically, and thirdly, as "A weapon of attack; we put it on to keep up a noble conception of ourselves; it is a heroic ideal which we try to live up to" (Ellman, quoted in Splittgerber, 2005). Yeats refers to Masks throughout his essays, and he appears to regard them as a symbol of both the opposite Self which can be reached through perseverance and study (as in the poem Ego Dominus Tuus), and also of the character moving into another life, which cannot be reached until the person makes the transition into the alternative life. In the statement below, he appears to consider that the assumption of masks is necessary in order to ensure happiness; and that the 'discipline' of assuming a mask is necessary in order to prevent others from forcing the person into roles that he has no desire for: "I think all happiness depends on the energy to assume the mask of some other life, on a re-birth as something not one's self, something created in a moment and perpetually renewedin a grotesque or solemn painted face put on that one may hide from the terror of judgment.If we cannot imagine ourselves as different from what we are, and try to assume that second self, we cannot impose a discipline upon ourselves though we may accept one from others. Active virtue, as distinguished from the passive acceptance of a code, is therefore theatrical, consciously dramatic, the wearing of a mask" (Shaughnessy, 1984) In this statement, Yeats makes a few things clear about his idea of the masks; firstly, they are a creative act: assuming them allows the being to take an active role in his own creation. Secondly, society obliges the man to take on a mask, and to wear that mask continually, in order to prevent other masks (roles or obligations) from being given to him. Thirdly, he states that all active measures (such as art, creative drive, or action) that result in the creation of a virtuous persona, are 'consciously dramatic' - not socially natural, but made up by the wearer of masks in order to prevent a 'code' being forced upon him. This idea clearly has connections to the Nietzschean Outsider, preparing to take on his own 'mask' as a defense against the pressures of society, thereby defining himself. As has been noted by recent critics, including Edward Shaughnessy, the idea of the mask was not the creation of Yeats, but instead was used by a number of poets and writers of Yeats' generation. Eugene O'Neill, for example, also used the mask within this works "As a device to illuminate the human condition" (Shaughnessy, 1984). What remains significant is Yeats' idea of the Mask and its relation to the image of human beings; Shaughnessy criticizes Yeats for using the Mask to create a distance between the audience and the writer: "Yeats' purpose was the more recondite, his attitude uncompromisingly elitist" (Shaughnessy, 1984), however this distance seems to have been there already - Yeats was simply reflecting the idea that, in order to be a man in society, one must adopt a mask; indeed, the Mask is the deliberate repressing of the natural expression of emotions: "What I have called 'the Mask' is an emotional antithesis to all that comes out of their internal nature." (Yeats, quoted in Splittgerber, 2005). In this, Yeats' concept of the Mask is very different from his concept of the Image; whereas emotions and experience cannot exist without the Image, the Mask is being seen as a transformative device, a separation or repression of difficult emotions: "The Mask as a psychological concept in Yeats' system describes a division of personality, and the Mask as a dramatic term refers to a deliberate form of role-playing." (Berryman, quoted in Shaughnessy, 1984) Berryman sees Yeats' Mask as a form of social recreation of normal emotional responses; this in turn relates back to Yeats' statement about Masks being worn as a defense against society. Clearly, therefore, the Mask is a stand-in for the self - it is not connected to the self, but works as a modifier of experience and of expression. In poems, the characters need the Mask in order to exist: "For Yeats, only a kind of disembodied voice is required behind the mask since it is an image assigned to men by the poet" (Shaughnessy, 1984). The created characters are puppets of the poem-maker, and their image, or the different masks that they wear during the play or poem, are related to the image which the writer has created for them; they are, in fact, the writer's Mask, or persona, and exist to channel and refine his emotions. This sort of Mask Yeats seems to have envisioned as a uniting of the 'Mask' (outward identity) with the 'Self' (inner identity) "There must be 'a crisis that joins that buried self for certain moments to [the] trivial daily mind" (Yeats, quoted in Spore, 2005). The Connection between the Mask and the Image Yeats seems to see both the Mask and the Image as aspects of the self: indeed, he refers to just such an association when he states that "Man or nation can no more make this Mask or Image than the seed can be made by the soil into which it is cast" (Yeats, quoted in Splittgerber, 2005). The hidden identity, or self, creates an Image through which life and experience can be mediated; on the creation of this Image, it is necessary to project a Mask. His otherworldly characters plainly exist without such 'Masks'; they do not mediate their emotion. Emer, Cuchulain's wife in Yeats' poetry, is one such being who reflects a stability of Self. Emer may be made up to look as if she wears a mask. Perhaps this is the playwright's way of saying that her mask represents permanence of personality. An inhabitant of the world of threshold and hearth, Emer cannot fathom the possibilities of one's assuming different masks (Shaughnessy, 1984) Emer has only a sense of identity, of Image, whereas Cuchulain echoes his loss of self through the illusion of the mask in the play The Death of Cuchulain: The shape that I shall take when I am dead My soul's first shape, a soft feathery shape, And is not that a strange shape for the soul Of a great fighting man (Sands, 2005) Cuchulain here shows that he sees himself as the mask, the hero or 'great fighting man'; yet his real self, his final being and original persona, is opposed to this image, instead being the form of a bird. Cuchulain has so identified himself with that image, that he cannot understand how his destiny can be nothing but "A soft feathery shape" (Sands, 2005). Yeats is here describing the separateness of the 'self' and the 'mask' - although Cuchulain's persona has become completely identified with the Heroic Mask, in fact his real identity is still within him - and different from the Mask. The poem which is most often taken to refer to the Mask of identity is Sailing to Byzantium. In this poem, describing the differences between youth and Age: "Life and emotions are restrained before the audience, contained and pressurized. The Self experiences progression with this restraint" (Spore, 2005). It also suggests that Yeats rejects the old age which his outward form has adopted, instead seeing himself in the Youthful Mask of a poet: An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress; Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing (Sailing to Byzantium in Yeats, 2000, page 128) Yeats' own Mask in this poem is that of an old man rejecting his coming death, and considering himself separate from this mask - his after-life image, 'once out of nature', will be distinct from it. Once again in Yeats, Image and Mask prove to be two different aspects of the human 'self'. Conclusion Early on in his poetic career, Yeats created the idea of the Mask; the outward face which men presented to the world. He himself used many masks within his lifetime, creating personas who narrated his poems or series of poems, and through which he could speak freely; he also created a number of roles for himself - Yeats the poet, Yeats the playwright, the occultist, the nationalist - masks which enabled him to explore these aspects of his personality without limiting himself creatively. One of the motivations for his use of these personas was no doubt to take on the voices and roles of ancient gods and heroes: this is connected to the nineteenth and twentieth century interest in ancient myth. Yeats, and others, used this Celtic revival to create an image; which Yeats became increasingly conscious was simply a mask for greater passions. The Mask in Yeats' work became a symbol of the outward, or projected persona, which the creative person uses to drive a wedge between himself and his society. In turn, the image became a reflection of the anima or double, which Yeats had learned to intuit through his work with the Golden Dawn. As his poetry and prose demonstrate, Yeats actually saw these two ideas, which might be thought of as identical, as completely separate; while the Image remains inextricably linked with the idea of the original 'self', the Mask becomes something entirely independent of that 'self'. In Cuchulain's eyes, the original self becomes something terrible or pathetic, which he cannot identify with himself despite the fact that it is his true self. The Mask has completely overtaken his understanding of himself, and Cuchulain's image of himself does not reflect the true Image, which is of course inescapably linked with his hidden or inner self. Bibliography Golden Dawn (Date Unknown) "Maud Gonne" http://www.golden-dawn.com/temple/index.jsps=articles&p=gonne retrieved 05/05/2008 MacCaffery, Carmel and Leo Eaton (2002) In Search of Ancient Ireland New Amsterdam Books, 2002, quoted from http://www.knowth.com/celtic.htm retrieved 05/05/2008 NLI (National Library of Ireland) (2006) "1916 The 1916 Rising: Personalities and Perspectives Maud Gonne MacBride and Inghinidhe na hEireann" http://www.nli.ie/1916/pdf/3.2.3.pdf retrieved 05/05/2008 Sands, Maren (2005) "The influence of Japanese Noh Theater on Yeats Phantasmagoria fall 2005 Shaughnessy, Edward L (1984) "Masks in the Dramaturgy of Yeats and O'Neill" Irish University Review, Dublin 1984 Splittgerber, Jonathan (2005) "Sailing to Obscurity: Mask and Self, Artifice and Eternity" Phantasmagoria, fall 2005 Spore, Lindy (2005) "The Juxtaposition of Yeats' Mask and the Self" Phantasmagoria, fall 2005 Timmerman, Anke (2006) "'Pictures passing before the mind's eye': The Tarot, the Order of the Golden Dawn, and William Butler Yeats's Poetry" Societas Magica Newsletter Number 15, Summer 2006 Wilson, Frances (1999) Literary Seductions: Compulsive writers and Diverted Readers Faber and Faber, London 1999. Yeats, William Butler (2000) Selected Poems Timothy Webb (ed). Penguin, New York, 2000. (1900) "The Philosophy of Shelley's Poetry" http://www.yeatsvision.com/Shelley.html retrieved 05/05/2008 Read More