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www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 the song-bird perspective, so the relegation of the same symbol of perfection as an illusion becomes easier for him. Thus crop up the golden bird image and the poet asserts: Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enamelling To keep a drowsy emperor awake; Or set upon a golden bough to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come. (Yeats, sailing 25-32) The golden bird being inanimate is not subject to the bickering of the flesh, and thus stands apart from the bondage of desire and action (vasana and karya). Again since the mineral, vegetable and mineral worlds are related to each other by continuous degrees according to Swedenborg’s doctrine; it becomes possible for Yeats to make the symbol of perfection all the more credible. Moreover, a “Clinamen” it may be claimed has been accomplished here. Unlike Milton’s Satan (Bloom’s archetype of the modern poet), whose inability of a slight swerve during his fall from heaven led to the creation of the mere opposite; the ephebe in Yeats successfully effects a swerve, and through his much deliberated symbol of perfection (the golden bird), achieves a “misprision proper” that is both “intentional and involuntary”.(Bloom, Anxiety 14) In conclusion a critique of Bloom’s theory of poetry as explicated in the “Anxiety of Influence” becomes imperative. Poetic influence says Bloom, always starts by “misinterpretation” and “misprision” according to him is “perverse, willful revisionism”. However misinterpretation only becomes meaningful within the context of interpretation. Bloom’s theory therefore intends to situate interpretation at the very centre of discourse by making it somewhat normative, and empowering it with what Derrida calls “the metaphysics of presence”. It fails to realize, that this centre is perpetually elusive, as projection of an objective paradigm of interpretation is both impossible and absurd. Furthermore it ought to be understood that poets do not necessarily misread or misinterpret, and a subsequent poet doesn’t nullify his precursors; he corrects them. Nevertheless the theory still remains as an alternate interpretive method, that by questioning the deep structure of poetry—its intentions, impulses and desires— lays bare the multiple dialectical nuances of the creative process. Works Cited: Bachchan,Harbans Rai. Mohini Chatterji and Tagore. Delhi:Motilal Banarsidass Pvt Ltd,1965. Print. W.B.Yeats and Occultism:A Study of his Works in relation to Indian Lore,the Cabbala,Swedenborg,Boehme and Theosophy. Bloom,Harold. The Anxiety of Influence. New York:OUP,1973. Print. ---. The Tower. London: OUP, 1972. Print. Yeats. Eliot,T.S. Tradition and Individual Talent. London: Mentheun, 1950. Print. The Sacred Wood. Hollander,John. Rev.of The Anxiety of Influence, by Harold Bloom. 5 May 2011. Web http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/01/specials/bloom-influence.html Keats,John. “Ode To A Nightingale”. The Poetical Works of John Keats. Ed.H. Buxtor Forman. London:OUP,1953. Print. Lodge,David;Nigel Wood, eds Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. Longman pub group, 1999. Print. Vol. II. Issue. III 34 September 2011
www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 Rudra,Arup. Ode To a Nightingale and Sailing to Byzantium. Calcutta: Academic pub, 1991. Print. Modernism’s Romantic Journey. Yeats,W.B. “Ego Dominus Tuss”. W.B.Yeats Selected Poetry Ed. A. Norman Jeffares. London: Pan Books Ltd, 1974. Print. ---. “A Meditation in Time of War”. W.B.Yeats Selected Poetry. Ed. Jeffares. ---. “ Sailing To Byzantium”. W.B.Yeats Selected Poetry. Ed. Jeffares. Abstract Poetic influence as Harold Bloom theorizes in his “The A nxiety of Influence”, necessarily presupposes an oedipal complex situation, whereby a strong poet has to negotiate a Freudian castration complex, involved in a predecessor poet’s exhaustion of his (the strong poet’s) poetic space. It is this love/hate relationship with the predecessor, which compels him to misread a predecessor poet thereby enabling him to carve out his poetic space. The present initiative was tipped off by an intention to trace the possible ‘map of misreading’ encountered by William Butler Yeats, which might have been instrumental in providing him with the much needed poetic space in “Sailing To Byzantium”. Key words: [Anxiety of influence, castration complex, Bloom, Sailing to Byzantium] Bio-data Avijit Chakraborty is presently employed in the capacity of Asst. prof in English with the N.B.S Mahavidyalaya, at Jaigaon in the district of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. He may be communicated to at the following address: Avijit Chakraborty Vol. II. Issue. III 35 September 2011
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