茵尼斯菲至拜占庭: 葉慈之尋魂之旅

Abstract

本論文受索頓之“茵尼斯菲拜占庭幾呎遙？”之啟發，旨於補充索頓在其文章中所忽略的包括兩個幻想之地的比較及前後期葉慈之間的差異。藉由精細比較《玫瑰》與《塔》之中的詩作申辯茵尼斯菲與拜占庭之間的距離如索頓指稱，為「毫無差距」。葉慈之風格轉變是預謀而非意外，其風格之變為其障眼之戲法，藉想像的姿態呈現其多面之自我。且即便葉慈看似尋獲跳脫生之輪迴的答案，死亡仍舊是不能被解決的謎題。總結來說，葉慈一生中總是探索著非常類似的主題，但卻用極度不同的語言和風格作表達。即便他在文學生涯裡探觸到許多不同的課題，靈魂之課題仍是他最心之所繫。

Inspired by R. K. R. Thornton’s essay, “How Far is it from Innisfree to Byzantium?,” this thesis intends to supplement what Thornton has overlooked in his paper by including a more detailed comparison between the two imaginary locales and the difference or / and the similarity between the early Yeats and the late Yeats. By closely comparing poems from The Rose and The Tower, this thesis argues that the distance between Innisfree and Byzantium is “no distance at all” as Thornton maintains, that Yeats’s change of style is intentional rather than coincidental. Yeats’s change of style, therefore, is his sleight of hand, a way of presenting his multi-faceted self with imagined gestures and poses. And even though Yeats seems to have found the solution for haunting sensual music, the problem of death is actually insolvable. To sum up, Yeats had been fumbling upon the similar themes within different language and styles. Even if he touched upon many different issues along his literary career, the issue of the soul had always been what he concerned most.