Shan Yang

Wei Feng

ABSTRACT

In memory of Lady Gregory’s son Robert Gregory, Yeats composed four elegies: “Shepherd and Goatherd,” “In Memory of Major Robert Gregory,” “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” and “Reprisals” (unpublished). In the first two poems Yeats extolls the ideal man Major Gregory, while in the politically charged “Reprisals,” he assaults Robert’s irresponsible individualistic behavior of joining the army. This article maintains that the relevant historical facts, as indicated by the conflicting symbols in “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” cannot be possibly reduced to metaphysics. Thus, contextualizing this poem within the history of the Irish War of Independence and World War I, this article revisits the conflict between symbols that reconstruct history. Through a close analysis of the process of construction, the article finally reaches a conclusion that the emotional reverse along with the conflicting symbols of identity anxiety and subjective crisis are reflections of Yeats’s exploration of poetic compensation out of the predicament by drawing spiritual power from Occultism.

KEYWORDS: “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” conflicts of symbols, identity reconstruction, subjective crisis, poetic compensation

摘　　要

 為悼念格雷戈里夫人之子羅伯特．格雷戈里，葉慈曾作詩四首：〈綿羊牧人與山羊牧人〉、〈追憶羅伯特．格雷戈里少校〉、〈一愛爾蘭飛行員預見死亡〉以及〈報復〉（生前未發表）。前兩首充滿對羅伯特完美人格的誇讚，第四首則以直白政治詩的姿態毫不留情地批判羅伯特不負責任參戰的個人主義行為。這種轉變往往被視為反映葉慈「二律背反」式哲學的證據。本文認為，悼亡詩中的歷史事實不能僅以形而上哲學概括，而是應該回到歷史現場和文化語境以揭示葉慈對羅伯特身份建構的動因。而〈飛行員〉中彰顯愛爾蘭性的神話符號與表徵階級立場的地理符號衝突，反映了英國殖民末路下英—愛階級的民族身份焦慮和戰爭下秩序顛倒世界中的主體性危機，葉慈在四首詩中的情感突轉實則為其探索主體性危機出路的詩學補償。

關鍵詞：〈一愛爾蘭飛行員預見死亡〉、符號衝突、身份建構、主體性危機、詩學補償

DOI: 10.30395/WSR.202306_16(2).0005

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