William Butler Yeats: The Hidden Nationalism Amal Riyadh Kitishat Department of English Language and Literature, Ajloun University College, Al Balqa’ Applied University, Ajloun, Jordan Abstract—W.B. Yeats the famous Anglo Irish poet and dramatist was accused of a lack of sense of nationalism. His achievements in the reviving of the Irish culture as a means to establish a dependent Irish identity was regarded with suspicions simply due to his being a descendant of Anglo -Irish origins.In this light, the study comes to shed light on Yeats’ tremendous achievements concerning his sense of nationalism and his role in the reviving Irish culture. Also, the study aims at refuting the charges against Yeats which considered him as a representative of the colonizer’s class. Finally, the study proved that Yeats revealed a mature vision of nationalism which most of his contemporaries failed to notice since they only focused on one aspect of Irish identity and neglected the other; in discussing the Irish question, they were either politicians or culturalists. Whereas Yeats shows a higher degree of awareness as he believed that establishment of an identical distinctive Irish identity must be done with having both the cultural and the national elements united in one word that is “Irishness." His national creed is rooted in a kind of cohesion between culture and nationalism. It is this conclusion that not only refuted the charges againstYeats’ nationalism but also put him in a position superior to any other Irish Nationalists. Index Terms—W. B. Yeats, modern Irish drama, modern theatre, national identity, postcolonial literature I. INTRODUCTION William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) is recognized today as one of the most significant literary figures in the twentieth century. Many critics deal with him as a distinctive Irish writer,for instance Kitishat (2012) refers Yeats ’ importance to his efforts “in the national employment of liter ature for national purposes were the fountainhead by which he was able to present the national cause of his country.”(p. 83) Many critics deal with him as a writer who "bears a very special relation to a particular culture." (Brooks, 1978,p. 44). Though Yeats is considered the key figure in the re-making of the Irish identity, still subsequent critics deal with his works suspiciously, politicians also degraded his national efforts. Because of his hybrid Anglo-Irish origins, he has seen a representative of the English hostile stereotype of Irish identity. Many Irish Nationalists did not believe in his nationalism simply because he is from an Anglo-Irish class and thus they identified him as reporting the English stereotype. About this point, Louro indicates that Yeats' plays were "attacked for not serving well enough the nationalist cause." (1991, p. 2382). Being a descendant of Anglo-Irish stock, Yeats was accused of disloyalty to Ireland, because he did not show much nationalism. Many critics undermined Yeats' efforts accusing him of belonging to a "colonial class," a representation of English occupation. For instance; John S. Kelly in "The Fifth Bell," argues that "after some attempts to identify with the people, [Yeats] fell back into colonial and authoritarian attitudes".(1989,p. 110) II. YEATS BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND CULTURALISM Subsequent critics supplement the suspicious attitude toward Yeats; Kiberd for instance in Inventing Ireland argues that Yeats was working from "a version of a version" (1996,p.137), which means that he introduces a “romantic English” vision of the Irish life: English rather than Irish. Still, some critics believe that Yeats embodies a "national" rather than mere "Provincial- Culturalism," for the latter is an embodiment of the English colonized perspective of Ireland as a "province" of England. This "Provincial" view of the Irish literature undermines its importance; and thus Irish writers, including Yeats, rejected this exclusive colonized attitude toward their literature as being secondary or "disposed culture"(Brooks, p. 44). Moreover, Yeats' hybrid origins caused him much trouble since he did not match with all the main categories that were listed of the "Irish national being." For example, in Synge and Anglo-Irish-Literature, three forces were introduced to identify the Irish national literature: they are best summarized in the following headlines; "the Religious consciousness[…], Irish Nationalism, the Land.” (Brown, 1988, p. 83). In this light, being of an Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy, Yeats though "a major voice," did not truly speak for "Irish reality," he "stands for the Irish tradition as broken." (Brown, 1988, p. 83) Though Yeats attempts to refute these charges, still as Donna Gerstenberger in “W.B. Yeats: Politics and History" points out that the debate over Yeats' nationalism continued “unsettled, unsettling, and unsatisfying”(p. 81). The main charge directed to Yeats is his hybrid stock. Regarding this point Gerstenberger comments: Yeats stood on the margins between two centuries; culturally, he belonged to neither of the classes he admired most, peasant or nobleman, his life divided him between England and Ireland; his ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 484-488, May 2019 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1003.11 © 2019 ACADEMY PUBLICATION