Yeats and the Visual Arts » (1st Edition)

Among the artistic trends that influenced Yeats are the Pre-Raphaelites, and later in his life, the work of Michelangelo, according to Loiseaux (English, U. of Maryland, College Park). The book's chapters describe the art and ideals of the Pre-Raphaelites, Yeats' father's initial involvement with their ideas, the strong current of Pre-Raphaelite ideas that informed Yeats' early work, and the shift to new themes of his later poetry. The volume is well illustrated in b&w. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

Loizeaux ably demonstrates how influences in Yeats's early years, especially his interest in Pre-Raphaelite painting, helped shape his aesthetic theory and practice as a poet. She argues that the analogies Yeats often used between the visual arts and literature provide an apt way to characterize his own work. In the early verse, the governing analogy is poem-as-painting; later, influenced by his work in the theatre, Yeats writes poems analogous to the three-dimensional forms of sculpture. Loizeaux's thorough documentation and scholarly approach make her book a useful contribution to our understanding of Yeats's poetry. Recommended for academic subject collections. Michael Hennessy, English Dept., Southwest Texas State Univ., San Marcos