Yeats started his earlier poetic life, trying to express everything of his life in his poetry. Naturally, all the characteristic elements of Yeats’s poetry are closely related with his own life and experiences. And some of the autobiographical elements which characterized his life and poetry are: his innate introspective, romantic disposition and strong imagination; teachings of his father who advocated artistic solipsism; his deep affection for ancient Irish legends and myths; his strong belief in mysticism and magic; his intense ideological propensity; his readings in Blake and Shelley; his acquaintances with Pre-Raphaelites; his unrequited love for Maud Gonne. The dominant notes of Yeats’s early romantic poetry are tinged with deep sorrow or pathos for the changes of the human world, elapsing of time, ungraspable and fading love, growing old, and coming death. Romantic ideologist as he was, he would stay in the pure ideological dimension where all would vanish out of human grasp. His seeking for the supernatural mythic world without conflict reflected another aspect of his escapism which was to end in vain. As a matter of course, his early poetry is a record of spiritual growth of an agonizing romantic escapist. On the other hand, Yeats succeeded in generalizing or objectifying his lyrics by adopting various symbols from the ancient Irish myths and legends. Besides, his early poetry contains many symbols, images, themes, and rhythms from which those of his later seasoned poems were to develop.
예이츠 및 관련 분야에 대한 회원들의 학문 발전을 도모하고 연구 의욕을 고취시키기 위해 다음과 같은 일을 기획하고 수행함을 그 목적으로 한다.
1) 학술 발표회 및 세미나 개최
2) 학술 정보의 수집과 자료 교환
3) 연구논문집 『한국예이츠저널』(The Yeats Journal of Korea) 발간
4) 회원 상호간의 학문적 교류와 친목 도모