The legacy of tradition in the poetry of W B Yeats, Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon

Abstract

Tradition is a vague term since it touches upon several domains like culture, nationality and faith. Religious tradition is strong and continues to hold on people for it descends from parents. But the present work engages itself with the literary tradition of three Irish poets, W.B.Yeats, Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon especially to the treatment of landscape in their writings. Landscape is the symbol of territorial identity, and so it is demarked between home and the world. Religious identity has been a thrust focus. In some culture, the cultural habits and rituals are considered markers of identity. As far as Irish Poets are concerned, they are able to synchronize all identities in terms of landscape. The three-tier symbolism-water, stone and tree, available in their works forms the major focus so as to figure out the continuity of literary tradition in the chosen authors. The thesis comprises four parts and the first part contains two chapters; the second consists of three chapters and while the third has two chapters, the fourth one is given as a concluding chapter. The Part I- deals with tracing both Irish political history and religious history. The political history gives an account of the history of Celtic Ireland, various foreign invasions from Vikings, Normans and the English. It also discusses the entry of Christianity and the establishment of Irish Missionaries. And, it traces the historical facts from the English rule in Ireland to the modern period including Partition of Northern Ireland from Ireland. Also, the geographical description of both Ireland and Northern Ireland is given to support the historical perception. The religious history traces the Celtic rituals, pagan elements, and the Celtic-Irish faith in nature worship connected to stone, water and trees and plant cults.