Abstract

The study of Yeats’ works is fruitful. These subjects the scholars had already studied include mask theory, poetic symbolism, mysticism and political poetry and etc. The majority of people hold a view that Yeats expressed his admiration towards Moud Gonne and his sorrow of Gonne’s no response to his deep love. This traditional opinion has its limitation. Both Irish revolution and feminist movement have huge effects on Yeats’ attitudes towards woman. This paper takes Leda and the Swan and When You Are Old as examples, and analyzes the features of woman images in these two poems. There are similarities and differences between the female images in Leda and the Swan and those in When You Are Old. Through this study, the European woman status since the end of 19th century to the start of 20th century and the opinions to woman from Yeats can be learned about.
This paper consists of four parts. The first part introduces the life experiences of Yeats and the female images of Yeats’ works briefly. The second and the third part make an introduction of these two poems separately. The changes of status of women in the 19th and 20th century and the social background and life experience of Yeats would be analyzed together in these parts. The last one, it pays attention to the tendency of woman status and the resistance to woman.

Key words: Yeats; Moud Gonne; female images

摘  要

国内外对叶芝的研究成果颇丰，包括对其面具理论、象征主义、神秘主义和政治诗歌的研究。多数人认为叶芝在作品中表达了对毛特•冈美貌的赞赏和对她求而不得的哀伤。这种传统观念有一定的局限性，在叶芝所处年代里，爱尔兰革命、女权运动等都对叶芝对于女性的观念产生了相当大的影响。本篇论文结合叶芝两篇著名诗篇—《丽达与天鹅》和《当你老了》，分析叶芝作品中的女性形象及其特点。《丽达与天鹅》和《当你老了》中塑造的女性形象，既有相似之处也有所区别，通过对其的具体分析，了解19世纪末与20世纪初，欧洲社会中女性地位，以及在与爱尔兰女革命家毛特•冈接触中，叶芝对于女性的态度与看法。
本文分为四部分，第一部分简单介绍叶芝的生平和他作品中的女性形象，然后，第二、三部分分别研究叶芝的著名诗篇《丽达与天鹅》和《当你老了》，充分结合叶芝所处的社会背景和叶芝生活经历，对该两部诗篇进行具体分析，讨论十九、二十世纪女性地位的变化。最后一部分进行女性地位在现今社会的变化的探讨以及对现代女性地位发展的动力和阻碍的深思。

关键词：叶芝；毛特•冈；女性形象