Columbia University Press Yeats & the Masks of Syntax

YEATS AND THE MASKS OF SYNTAX Joseph Adams What has made modern literature the way it is? Taking the poetry of Yeats as a paradigmatic case, this insightful study argues that modern literature is created out of the connection between the fields of "literature" and "language," a connection frequently mis- understood. This study is concerned with illuminating the interpenetration of these fields of thought as we witness it taking place in the works of one of the chief figures of modern poetry. As modern language-with its differential, diacritical nature-permeates literature, it produces anomalous linguistic manifestations. The analysis of such manifestations as they appear in Yeats's work is the task this book undertakes. These forms, or "masks of syntax," as they are referred to by the author, are categorized and treated according to the kind of syntactic unit they bring into play. Taken as a whole, the resulting analyses provide a comprehensive and precise description of Yeats's powerful poetic language. Throughout the book, the author draws on a great deal of recent theoretical work in both linguistics and philosophy, particularly the work of the linguist M. A. K. Halliday and the French writer Gilles Delcuze. This highly original work combines practical criticism with discussion of the issues most crucial to current literary theory. It should be of value to students of aesthetics, poetics, and literary criticism.