The magic of repetition: the narrative presentation of time in Yeats’s poetry

1 Introduction

In the theoretical research of narratology, the study of time is a focus of attention and an important entry point for research. Roland Barthes believes that in narrative texts, the diachronic features are more likely to be ignored, while the text’s re-logicization is emphasized. The analysis of narrative structure “tends to ‘dechronologize’ the narrative continuum and to ‘relogicize’” (Barthes 1978: 99). Todorov (1971) examined the features of story time and discourse time, which are essentially different. Discourse time is to some extent linear time, while story time is “multidimensional,” because multiple events can occur simultaneously. This “déformation temporelle” (temporal distortion) (Todorov 1971: 33–37) is a conventional artistic device in narrative art. As for the narrative study of lyric poetry, Tan (2017) holds that the time narrative in both poetry and novels involves the issues of sequence, duration, and frequency, as defined by Genette (1983 [1972]) in his Narrative discourse. “Lyric poetry presents temporality and eventfulness” (Tan 2017: 111–121). If the three aspects of sequence, duration, and frequency are taken as the entry points for research in poetry, it is possible to sketch out the basic forms of the representation of narrative time in lyric poetry. John Henry Raleigh quoted Nikolai Berdyaev’s analysis of British novels based on three different concepts of time (Raleigh 1954: 430). These three concepts of time – cosmic time, historical time, and existential time – profoundly reflect people’s general attitude to time and their way of understanding it. These concepts are not isolated from each other but interwoven and complementary, jointly constituting our comprehensive perception of time.

Firstly, cosmic time is a macroscopic concept of time, characterized by periodic phenomena in nature, such as the changing of seasons, the alternation of day and night, and the regular movements of celestial bodies. This kind of time has no definite beginning or end but presents an eternal and cyclical state. Throughout history, humans have gradually developed an understanding of cosmic time by observing these regular changes in nature. For instance, farmers arrange their farming activities according to the changes of seasons, and spring sowing and autumn harvest are specific applications of cosmic time. Moreover, many cultures have philosophical thoughts about cosmic time, such as the ancient Chinese idea of “the cycle of heaven” or the Hindu concept of “kalpa,” which attempt to explain the infiniteness and repetitiveness of time.

Secondly, historical time represents a linear and irreversible view of time. It focuses on the development process of nations, civilizations, and the entire human society. Unlike cosmic time, historical time emphasizes the uniqueness and continuity of events. Each period of history is unique and cannot be repeated. For instance, the occurrence of the Industrial Revolution completely transformed human production methods and social structures, and this process is irreversible. Historical time not only records past facts, but also provides us with valuable lessons and experiences, helping us better understand the present and plan for the future. Therefore, historical time plays a crucial role in shaping collective memory and identity.

Finally, existential time is a microcosmic time experience that mainly operates at the individual level. It is a form of time based on personal perception and subjective feelings, varying from person to person and even from situation to situation. For the same person, the passage of time may seem completely different in different states. For instance, when we are fully absorbed in an interesting task, time seems to fly by, while in the process of waiting for an important result, every minute may seem interminably long. This subjectivity makes existential time a highly personalized experience. At the same time, existential time is closely related to one’s life stage. In childhood, with less experience, every day is filled with novelty, making time seem particularly long, but as one grows older and accumulates more experience, with the same events recurring, time begins to pass more rapidly.

In conclusion, although cosmic time, historical time, and existential time each have their own emphases, they are closely interrelated. Cosmic time provides the background framework for historical time, while historical time influences individual existential time. The interaction of the three enables us to understand and feel the significance of time from multiple dimensions. Whether it is facing the eternal cycle of nature, reviewing the progress of human civilization, or examining our own inner experiences, time remains an indispensable part of our lives.

In the realm of literature, time is an eternal theme, especially in lyric poetry, where it manifests in various ways and influences readers’ perceptions. Specifically, the three different concepts of time mentioned above – linear time, cyclical time, and existential (eternal) time – each have distinct forms of expression in lyric poetry and are conveyed to readers through the poets’ unique language and imagery. Firstly, linear time, as a concept based on the continuous flow of past, present, and future, is often associated with historical events or personal experiences, emphasizing the reversibility and passing nature of time. In the works of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, we can observe his profound contemplation of linear time. For instance, in his renowned poem “The Second Coming” (Yeats 1991: 231–232), Yeats depicts the long historical process from ancient civilizations to the modern world, demonstrating how time drives social changes and the transformation of individual destinies. This representation of linear time gives readers a sense of urgency and of an inescapable historical fate.

Secondly, the concept of cyclical time, being more closely related to the laws of nature, such as the changing of seasons and the rising and setting of the sun, often appears in poems that explore the cycle of life or the order of the universe. In Yeats’s poem “When You Are Old,” he skillfully employs elements of cyclical time. The interweaving of “love” and “time” in the poem suggests how emotions and memories recur as time passes. Through such expressions, readers can experience a depth of emotion that transcends a single moment, as if time, in its constant cycles, bestows new meaning upon life.

Finally, eternal time, representing a state of existence beyond the constraints of mundane time, is often related to religious beliefs or philosophical thoughts. In some of Yeats’s later works, he attempts to explore the connection between the human soul and eternity. For example, in the poem “Sailing to Byzantium,” Yeats uses the symbolic location of Byzantium to express his longing for immortal art and the eternal spirit. This focus on eternal time not only broadens the thematic scope of poetry, but also prompts readers to reflect on the meaning of their own existence during the reading process.

Yeats’s poetry, through its multiple interpretations of linear time, cyclical time, and eternal time, intensifies the poetry’s reflection on history, time, and reality. These time concepts are not isolated but interwoven, collectively forming a complex and rich poetic world. For readers, understanding these temporal dimensions helps them appreciate the charm of Yeats’s poetry more deeply and provides them with a more diverse perspective to examine their own life experiences. Yeats wrote in A vision:

Yet when I wander upon the cliffs where Augustus and Tiberius wandered, I know that the new intensity that seems to have come into all visible and tangible things is not a reaction from that wisdom but its very self. Yesterday when I saw the dry and leafless vine-yards at the very edge of the motionless sea, or lifting their brown stems from almost inaccessible patches of earth high up on the cliff-side, or met at the turn of the path the orange and lemon trees in full fruit, or the crimson cactus flower, or felt the warm sunlight falling between blue and blue, I murmured, as I have countless times, ‘I have been part of it always and there is maybe no escape, forgetting and returning life after life like an insect in the roots of the grass.’ (Yeats 2006: 5)

Yeats always held a wise heart and deeply contemplated the power of time. In his poetry creation, the three concepts of cosmic time, historical time, and existential time are all prominently presented. Yeats was particularly adept at using the technique of repetition, and his thoughts on cyclical cosmic time run like a main thread throughout his poetry creation process. On the one hand, he acknowledges the powerful influence of historical time, while on the other hand, he places more emphasis on the existence form of cosmic time and its profound impact on human society. Overall, Yeats’s works reflect the influence of such ideas and show a reliance on repetition to achieve the desired effect. The three forms of time are not isolated from each other, but interweave and influence each other, jointly constructing a complex and profound time system. This system not only enriches the connotations of his poetry, but also provides readers with a multidimensional and three-dimensional perspective to examine the intricate relationship between time and human existence.

2 Repetition and time narration in poetry

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes states “A double blessing is a double grace” (Act 1, Scene 3). Repetition in lyric poetry implies an emphasis on the same idea. What are the specific characteristics of repetition in lyric poetry? Boulton (1953: 79, 89) believes that the application of repetitive forms in poetry produces two effects: “intellectual effect,” and “pure magical effect.” In terms of the intellectual effect, repetitive forms include lexical repetition and sentence structure repetition. Such repetition can express a progressive relationship at the structural level and also reflect the process of emotions gradually reaching a climax. Multiple repetitions can also serve an emphasizing function. The pure magical effect is like witchcraft and spells, usually achieved through repetition, leading the listener into a mysterious realm. In the process of repeatedly reciting and listening to the verses, it creates an atmosphere of being immersed in poetic meditation. For lyric poetry, the intellectual effect is based on the discourse level to achieve the purpose of meaning progression, emphasis on key points, and emotional intensification, while the pure magic effect focuses on highlighting an indescribable and mysterious atmosphere.

In the realm of fiction, repetition is also a significant phenomenon that cannot be underestimated. In his work Fiction and repetition: Seven English novels, J. Hillis Miller categorizes the repetitive phenomena found in novels into the following three types:

(1) On a small scale, there is repetition of verbal elements: words, figures of speech, shape or gestures, or, more subtly, covert repetitions that act like metaphors, as the cigar-smoking Alec d’Urberville is said to be “the blood-red ray in the spectrum of [Tess’s] young life” (ch. 5), while the sun’s rays coming into her room in a later episode are said to look like that phallic-shaped garden flower called “red-hot poker” (ch. 14). On a larger scale, events or scenes may be duplicated within the text, as Tess’s life is made up of re-enactments of the “same” event involving the same cluster of motifs: somnolence, the color red, some act of violence done or received. Motifs from one plot or character may recur in another within the same text, as ‘Liza-Lu, Tess’s sister, seems at the end of the novel destined to reenact another version of Tess’s life. A character may repeat previous generations, or historical or mythological characters, as Tess’s violation repeats the violence done to long-dead peasant girls by Tess’s male ancestors, or as her death repeats the crucifixion of Christ or the prehistoric sacrifices performed at Stonehenge. Finally, an author may repeat in one novel motifs, themes, characters, or events from his other novels. (Miller 1982: 1–2).

The above content can be summarized as follows: (1) at the micro level, repetition covers aspects such as vocabulary, rhetorical devices, external appearances, and internal psychological states; (2) at the meso level, repetition involves events and scenes within a work; (3) and at the macro level, repetition phenomena appear across different works, involving multiple dimensions such as themes, motifs, character, and imagery. The rich meanings of literary works are achieved precisely through the countless superimposed repetitions and literary significances in the history of literature.

Miller divides repetition into two forms: one is “Platonic” repetition and the other is the “Nietzschean mode of repetition.” He points out that, “What Deleuze calls ‘Platonic’ repetition is grounded in a solid archetypal model which is untouched by the effects of repetition” (Miller 1982: 6). All the other examples are copies of this model. “Each thing, this other theory would assume, is unique, intrinsically different from every other thing. Similarity arises against the background of this ‘disparité du fond.’ It is a world not of copies but of what Deleuze calls “simulacra” or “phantasms’” (Miller 1982: 6). Here, the discussion on the forms of memory repetition indicates that the former type of repetition has a very high degree of rational participation and is a brief account based on logic. The second type of repetition, however, is a reconstruction of memory, presenting a non-linear feature. If compared to a tree, the memory of the former is just like the dry branches after all the flowers have withered and the leaves have fallen, clearly highlighting rational logic. The memory of the latter is like a tree full of lush branches and blooming flowers. Although the “repetition” of the branch veins can be vaguely seen, the memory is filled with countless branches adorned with flowers of imagination. Due to its greater appeal, both the author and the reader can obtain a new overall experience from it.

The narratological analysis of lyric poetry, by Peter Hühn and Jens Kiefer, is regarded as “the only work in Western narratology that focuses on the narratological study of lyric poetry” (Shu and Tan 2023: 12). In the fields of literary studies and poetry analysis, scholars have creatively proposed two distinct cognitive models for poetry: frames and scripts. These two models offer fresh perspectives for understanding the deep structure of poetry. The first of these, the frames model, mainly focuses on providing the context for themes or states. By constructing a specific background framework, it helps readers better understand the core ideas or emotional states conveyed by the poem. For instance, when reading a poem depicting natural scenery, the frames model might guide readers to focus on elements such as seasons, time, or geographical locations, thereby providing a clear reference system for the interpretation of the entire poem. The role of this model is to make the imagery and symbols in the poem more concrete, facilitating readers’ connection with their own experiences and knowledge.

The second cognitive model, the scripts model, is more concerned with describing a series of ordered events or processes. It not only includes model sequences, but also involves information related to natural processes or development. For example, in an epic narrating a hero’s adventurous experiences, the scripts model can help readers sort out the timeline and development of the story, including the hero’s growth process, the challenges faced, and the ultimate victory. The advantage of this model lies in its ability to reveal the dynamic changes within the poem, allowing readers to feel the progression of the plot and the ups and downs of emotions. In summary, these two cognitive models have their own focuses but complement each other. Frames provide static background support, while scripts show dynamic process evolution. By combining these two models, researchers and readers can grasp the connotations of poetry more comprehensively and also deeply appreciate the unique charm of poetry art. This theory is not only applicable to the study of traditional poetry, but can also be extended to the analysis of modern literary works, building bridges for cross-cultural and cross-temporal literary exchanges (Hühn and Kiefer 2005: 6).

Whether in the author’s conceptual framework or in the reader’s cognitive framework, the repetitive form of poetry constitutes the reinforcing point for the author to express the theme of the poem and the trigger point for the reader to recognize the theme of the poem. The phenomenon of repetition in Yeats’s poetry not only reflects Yeats’s poetic thought and philosophical view, but also serves as a key to understanding the temporal narrative features of lyric poetry.

3 The repetitive framework pattern interweaving historical time and cosmic time

Yeats’s poetry is renowned for its distinctive artistic style and profound ideological content. One of its significant features is its repetitive framework pattern. This pattern is not only reflected in the formal structure of his poems, but also runs through their thematic expression. Specifically, Yeats often constructs a complex concept of time by having similar events recur at different points in time. This technique enables his works to transcend simple narration and ingeniously interweave linear historical time with cyclical cosmic time, as in Yeats’s “Down by the Salley Gardens”:

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;

She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.

She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;

But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,

And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.

She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;

But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

(Yeats 1991: 75–76)

This short poem vividly portrays two meetings between the lyrical protagonist and his beloved. The two narrative segments are mutually reflective, establishing a pattern of repetition. Both encounters are set in the vibrant spring, with the only characters being the lyrical protagonist and the object of his affection. Notably, the first meeting transpires in a willow garden, while the second occurs on the grassy bank by the river. This shift in location subtly implies the passage of time. In the realm of Chinese classical poetry, this narrative device of using spatial transitions to metaphorize the progression of time is rather prevalent. Take, for instance, Du Fu’s poem “Meeting Li Guinian in the Jiannan” from the Tang Dynasty (Du Fu in Yuan 2019: 357). The poem reads, “Often in Prince Qi’s mansions I saw your face; / Again in Chancellor Cui’s halls I heard your song. / Now in the Jiannan the scenery’s fair; / Amid falling flowers I meet you once again.” Here, the spatial leap from Prince Qi’s mansion in the capital during the prosperous Tang Dynasty to the Jiangnan (the south of the Yangtze River), a region associated with decline in the late Tang Dynasty, not only represents a change in geographical location but also symbolizes the inexorable passage of time. The critical turning point in the decline of China’s Tang dynasty was the eight-year “An Shi Rebellion.” During this period, northern China experienced extensive destruction, and social order descended into chaos. This situation prompted a large number of people to flee the war-torn areas and migrate southward. In contrast, the Jiangnan region remained relatively unaffected by the conflict. Consequently, Du Fu and Li Guanyin’s encounters at two different locations in the southern region not only reflecte a shift in geographical space but also symbolize the passage of time and the profound changes in human affairs amid historical vicissitudes. It poignantly reflects the transformation of life from prosperity to decline.

In Yeats’s poem, the protagonist’s initial impression of his beloved is her snow-white feet, while in the second encounter, it is her snow-white hands. The two encounters, while sharing a similar syntactic structure, exhibit a semantic shift from “love” to “life.” Furthermore, the change in setting, from the willow garden, which symbolizes cyclical time and the annual rejuvenation of nature, to the riverbank, which represents the unidirectional flow of historical time, is replete with profound implications. These elements work in concert to enrich the poem’s thematic depth and narrative complexity, inviting readers to explore the intricate interplay between time, space, and emotion within the text.

In this lyric poem, the protagonist’s love for the woman remains unwavering and unchanging over time. From the initial “snow-white feet” to the subsequent “snow-white hand,” the common element of “snow-white” in both depictions symbolizes the constancy of the protagonist’s affection, suggesting that despite the passage of time and the vicissitudes of life, the protagonist remains steadfastly loyal to this love. This steadfast devotion can be paralleled with Yuan Zhen’s poem “Li Si” (Yuan Zhen in Xie 2016: 570), written in the Tang dynasty: “Once having seen the vast sea, one cannot consider other waters as waters; / Except for the clouds over Wushan, all other clouds are not clouds.” Nevertheless, this enduring love has undergone certain transformations. The essence of love evolves, akin to fine wine that matures with age. Although the protagonists meet again and experience intoxication once more, the flavor has shifted, and the poet’s mental state has markedly altered. The entire poem encapsulates life experiences at various stages, reflecting the progression of historical time while simultaneously suggesting that human destiny aligns with the cyclical nature of cosmic time through the repetition of events.

In Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” there are also two different time threads of historical time and cosmic time, but the poem places more emphasis on the magic of the cyclical cosmic time:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

(Yeats 1991: 231–232)

This poem takes the Christian legend of the end of the world and the second coming of Christ to judge the world as its theme. The three stanzas of the poem determine the existence of cosmic time in meaning, starting from myths and legends, and strengthening the concept of historical cycles. The first stanza condenses two thousand years of history, from “innocence” to (political) “anarchy”: “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” “The ceremony of innocence is drowned.” The subsequent section suggests that prophecies and divine revelations have not been adequately addressed or analyzed by individuals throughout history. The text introduces the concept of “sphinx-like” entities, which are described as having human faces and minds but being governed by their animalistic bodies. This duality reflects a persistent condition where, despite historical advancements, cultural development remains stagnant in certain aspects. In this context, the sphinx serves as a metaphor for modern humans, highlighting the coexistence of human intellect with primal instincts. This analysis aims to explore the interplay between these elements without assigning subjective value judgments or engaging in evaluative commentary on specific figures or political matters. The “man-headed lion” here also alludes to the decline of ancient cultures. In the last stanza, the expression “The darkness drops again; but now I know / That twenty centuries of stony sleep / were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle” uses the return of night to shift the focus back to cyclical time, echoing the first stanza’s view of history and historical time.

Yeats believed that there exists a “great memory” passed down through generations in the universe, a mysterious ocean that gathers all knowledge and experience. In the last two lines, cosmic time confronts historical time. History moves forward, and the symbol of the barbaric modern civilization monster grows, but cosmic time decides all this in the unseen. “The Second Coming” will judge the modern civilization monster, but the giant of modern civilization has not yet realized the coming of the final judgment, being arrogant and ignorant, unaware that its end is near. Therefore, this poem has two distinct time threads: one is the linear historical time thread, and the other is the circular cosmic time thread. In terms of the theme of the poem, it is clearly beyond historical time and emphasizes the power of cosmic time.

Another poem by Yeats, “The Wild Swans at Coole,” also narrates a repetitious event of “returning to the old place,” but it goes a step further to overflow with thoughts on cosmic time and “eternity”:

The trees are in their autumn beauty,

The woodland paths are dry,

Under the October twilight the water

Mirrors a still sky;

Upon the brimming water among the stones

Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me

Since I first made my count;

I saw, before I had well finished,

All suddenly mount

And scatter wheeling in great broken rings

Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,

And now my heart is sore.

All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,

The first time on this shore,

The bell-beat of their wings above my head,

Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,

They paddle in the cold

Companionable streams or climb the air;

Their hearts have not grown old;

Passion or conquest, wander where they will,

Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,

Mysterious, beautiful;

Among what rushes will they build,

By what lake’s edge or pool

Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day

To find they have flown away?

(Yeats 1991: 171–172)

This poem spans from Yeats’s first count of the swans nineteen years previous to his encounter with them again. For Yeats, both his personal life and the world had undergone tremendous changes. Between 19 years prior and then, there were events such as the First World War, the Easter Rising of 1916, the death of the husband of Maud Gonne, whom Yeats had long adored, and his love proposal being rejected by her once again. The enigmatic and resplendent swans that are the subject of the poem prompted the poet to deeply contemplate the passage of time and the nature of eternity. How might one evade the inevitable fate of death? As Mukherjee (2015: 50) points out, whether on the water or in the air, swans fly side by side, they exist simultaneously in the mundane and the eternal. The human body is present in the here and now, yet someday, perhaps upon waking, an individual will find himself in the throes of mortality. Alternatively, could he attain a form of immortality through the medium of his poetry? The poet’s feelings at this moment are exactly the same as Shakespeare’s concerns about the passing of life and even the solutions in his sonnets: The value of a person’s life can be made eternal through poetry.

4 The “imagery” of history points to the script model of the eternal “meaning”

As Peter Hühn and Jens Kiefer point out:

In lyric poetry, stories tend to differ from those of novels in that they are concerned primarily with internal phenomena such as perceptions, thoughts, ideas, feelings, memories, desires, attitudes, and products of the imagination that the speaker or protagonist ascribes to him- or herself as a story in a monological process of mental reflection, defining his or her individual identity by means of that story. (Hühn and Kiefer 2005: 50)

How do readers identify the author’s script conception of imagery? For Yeats’s poems, the diachronic arrangement of imagery is usually emphasized, and major events in world history are adopted as imagery to express thoughts. His poetry freely switches among “images” of different historical times. No matter from which era or culture they come, they can all form a convergence in his poetry and ultimately point to a common “meaning.” Consider, for example, the following poem, “Long-Legged Fly”:

That civilisation may not sink,

Its great battle lost,

Quiet the dog, tether the pony

To a distant post.

Our master Caesar is in the tent

Where the maps are spread,

His eyes fixed upon nothing,

A hand under his head.

Like a long-legged fly upon the stream

His mind moves upon silence.

That the topless towers be burnt

And men recall that face,

Move most gently if move you must

In this lonely place.

She thinks, part woman, three parts a child,

That nobody looks; her feet

Practise a tinker shuffle

Picked up on a street.

Like a long-legged fly upon the stream

Her mind moves upon silence.

That girls at puberty may find

The first Adam in their thought,

Shut the door of the Pope’s chapel,

Keep those children out.

There on that scaffolding reclines

Michael Angelo.

With no more sound than the mice make

His hand moves to and fro.

Like a long-legged fly upon the stream

His mind moves upon silence.

(Yeats 1991: 371–372)

This poem links three famous events and figures from different eras: Julius Caesar of ancient Rome, Helen of ancient Greek mythology, and Michelangelo of the Renaissance. It depicts moments when they were fighting, dancing, and painting, as well as the involuntary blanks and moments of reverie in their minds. The long-legged fly symbolizes the inexplicable moments of annoyance and absent-mindedness in life. The repeated lines at the end of each of the three stanzas, “Like a long-legged fly upon the stream / His/her mind moves upon silence,” through their repetition across the three stanzas, portray a moment of reverie that is common to humanity, transcending time and space, like the disturbance of a long-legged fly. Whether it is the most powerful emperor of ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, the most beautiful woman of ancient Greece, Helen, or the greatest artist of the Renaissance, Michelangelo, they all experienced moments of reverie, which is a shared moment of life for all humans, regardless of era or race.

Paul Valéry believed that “poetry is a testing of the combinations of changing areas of meaning and changing effects of sound until the one combination succeeds, and with the inevitability of a mathematical formula” (Friedrich 1974: 145–146). Here, it is not only manifested in Yeats’s overall conception of poetic imagery, rhythm, and sound effects. Especially for the symbol of the long-legged fly, in the imaginative space of readers in almost all cultural backgrounds, it mostly points to an insect image that produces an annoying buzzing sound and is unpleasant to people. The imagery setting of this poem by Yeats almost completely achieves this inevitable combination effect. The buzz of the long-legged fly is a brief and annoying moment, but this fleeting second becomes the trigger point for readers to understand the imagery of the poem, connecting three important historical figures and three significant periods. Although the three people seemingly have no obvious connection, the repetition presents a commonality, As Yeats puts it in A vision:

Each age unwinds the thread another age had wound, and it amuses one to remember that before Phidias, and his westward-moving art, Persia fell, and that when full moon came round again, amid eastward-moving thought, and brought Byzantine glory, Rome fell; and that at the outset of our westward-moving Renaissance Byzantium fell; all things dying each other’s life, living each other’s death. (Yeats 1966: 270–271)

Yeats’s interweaving of characters and events from different eras originated from his personal belief in mysticism, witchcraft, and other such practices. Yeats believed that even if the physical eyes could not see them, the truth deep in the heart could summon the so-called ghosts passed down from ancient times, which was the foundation of all witchcraft practices. He thought that three points were extremely important:

(1) That the borders of our mind are ever shifting, and that many minds can flow into one another, as it were, and create or reveal a single mind, a single energy.

(2) That the borders of our memories are as shifting, and that our memories are a part of one great memory, the memory of Nature herself.

(3) That this great mind and great memory can be evoked by symbols.

(Yeats 2007: 75).

This “Long-legged Fly” is a symbolic representation, summoning the ghosts of different eras and presenting them before the readers. For the readers, these three famous historical figures, apart from being the greatest monarch, the most beautiful woman, and the most renowned painter of their times, share a common trait in the readers’ “great memory” and “great mind” – they are all key figures who have changed the course of history. The temporal narrative of this poem points to the manifestation of the cyclical universe. Despite the thousand-year interval and the burial of ancient Greek and Roman culture under Christianity, the cycle of history continues, returning from the political and artistic symbols of ancient Greece and Rome, Caesar and Helen, to Michelangelo, who inherited the art of the Renaissance. What is particularly remarkable about the ingenuity of this poem is that it incorporates Michelangelo’s depiction of God and Adam in the style of ancient Greek and Roman art, bringing together ancient Greek and Hebrew cultures within this single poem.

When Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, Per Hallström stated in his award speech in honor of Yeats that: “he inhaled from popular belief and popular stories the imaginative mysticism which forms the most distinctive feature of his race” (1924: 61), that is, the imaginative mysticism of the folk beliefs and folk tales of his native land. Consider his poem “The Gyres”:

The gyres! the gyres! Old Rocky Face, look forth;

Things thought too long can be no longer thought,

For beauty dies of beauty, worth of worth,

And ancient lineaments are blotted out.

Irrational streams of blood are staining earth;

Empedocles has thrown all things about;

Hector is dead and there’s a light in Troy;

We that look on but laugh in tragic joy.

What matter though numb nightmare ride on top,

And blood and mire the sensitive body stain?

What matter? Heave no sigh, let no tear drop,

A greater, a more gracious time has gone;

For painted forms or boxes of make-up

In ancient tombs I sighed, but not again;

What matter? Out of Cavern comes a voice,

And all it knows is that one word ‘Rejoice!’

Conduct and work grow coarse, and coarse the soul,

What matter? Those that Rocky Face holds dear,

Lovers of horses and of women, shall,

From marble of a broken sepulchre,

Or dark betwixt the polecat and the owl,

Or any rich, dark nothing disinter

The workman, noble and saint, and all things run

On that unfashionable gyre again.

(Yeats 1991: 337–338)

The ancient rock-carved faces symbolize ancient art, and Hector, Empedocles, and Troy represent the elegant era of the distant past. However, beauty is destroyed by beauty, value is counterbalanced by value, and the ancient countenances have been erased. The irrational blood has defiled the earth. The long river of historical time is erasing these beauties. And between the broken marble statues, or the polecat wandering on the ground and the owl that symbolizes wisdom and overlooks the earth, lies the space for human activities. The poem then proceeds to describe the characteristics of this space. What is discovered in the seeming abundance is nothingness. All those human artisans, nobles, and saints will once again operate on that outdated historical gyre. This is also a return of cosmic time. Yeats undoubtedly uses this to criticize modern society’s excessive emphasis on irreversible clock time and historical time.

Yeats also discussed in his book the historical perspective expressed by the combination of images: poets, painters, and musicians have been constantly creating and recreating humanity, because two different cadences or combinations cannot evoke the same emotion, which in turn is because at a lower level their impressions are fleeting, like day, night, clouds, and shadows. A little lyric poem evokes an emotion which will gather other emotions and fuse them into one in some epic (Yeats 2007: 173). Yeats often subordinated the combination of images in his works to his cyclical view of time. A thousand years and an instant have no essential difference. History does not simply repeat itself, but always rhymes in the same way. Yeats had a broad historical perspective, spanning from ancient times to the present, freely drawing on images from different eras, especially those from ancient Greek and Byzantine cultures. For Yeats, from the past to the present, from the fantasy of galloping through history to the contemplation of chaotic reality, the reflection on time was his persistent pursuit. He fused the two Hellenistic cultural traditions in his poetry. While narrating irreversible historical time on the surface, he emphasized more the repetitive and cyclical characteristics of significant historical moments and recognized the powerful force of cyclical universe time.

5 Wisdom, rationality, and emotion in eternal time: the cognitive fusion of poets and readers

Miller regards “Nietzschean repetition” as “that kind of involuntary memory which Benjamin calls forgetting” (Miller 1982: 7). Benjamin describes this kind of memory as an opaque similarity woven from numerous points of resemblance, calling it the “Penelope work of forgetting” (Miller 1982: 8). However, upon closer examination, one will find that “one thing repeats another, the former being strikingly different from the latter, yet astonishingly similar” (Miller 1982: 7). Through continuous interweaving in the text, a “fresh” text is eventually formed. In the same way, the manifestation of Yeats’s narrative effect of time in his poetry is inseparable from his absorption of ancient Celtic culture, Neoplatonism, and Eastern mysticism. He absorbed and digested them, especially the thoughts on time in these ideas, and created new poetic texts with his personal, characteristic thoughts. It is precisely the abstract nature of lyrical poetry language that renders the repetitive similarities between each stanza ambiguous. Both the poet and the reader encounter this ambiguity during the processes of writing and reading. Through the author’s construction of imagery, the articulation of poetic language, and ultimately shaped by the reader’s cognitive framework and accumulated memory, the true essence of the poem emerges. Similar to Penelope, who continuously weaves and unravels her cloth, these ambiguous elements recur and are subsequently forgotten. Although they may not leave a lasting impression on the reader, they create a translucent, crystal-like image in the reader’s memory. In the context of Yeats’s reflections on temporal narration, these ideas also manifest as independent and transparent forms within the reader’s mind.

In A vision, Yeats used geometric figures to explain the theory of historical cycles and the Hindu doctrine of transmigration of souls. He believed that two cones could replace one, with one representing the connection between the soul and fate and the other the connection between the soul and destiny. One line refers to time, which here is historical time, associated with objects and characterized by linear development. The other is emotion, symbolizing the soul that governs emotions and is related to the self. The right-rotating cone (representing morality, space, and objectivity) and the left-rotating cone (representing aesthetics, time, and subjectivity) are interwoven.

For Yeats, whether it is an emotional symbol or an object that brings joy or disgust, all are symbols. And these symbols must be those that can trigger thoughts, or those that can integrate thoughts and emotions together and thus be called true symbols, because the projection in poetry triggered by the mixture of symbols and emotions often has a much deeper significance than those merely based on emotions in poetry. The companion poems by Yeats “Sailing to Byzantium” and “Byzantium” are demonstrations of this kind of poetry writing that fuses ideas and emotions into symbols. The two poems advocate getting rid of material desires and breaking free from the constraints of the linear development model of historical time, in the hope of achieving immortality through purification, the use of reason, and literary works. In “Sailing to Byzantium,” Byzantium is a symbol of classical culture, a symbol with multiple meanings. The poem is also filled with various symbolic creatures. The birds, salmon, mackerel, etc. in the first stanza symbolize the noisy material world and the fleeting world; the old man and the tattered clothes in the second stanza symbolize the brevity of human life and the finiteness of time. He uses the recitation of milestone works in music schools to symbolize eternity and immortality, comparing the short lives of earthly creatures with eternal and immortal art. The third stanza contrasts the images of the saints in church mosaics with his own indulgence in “six desires and seven passions,” symbolizing the transition from the pure souls of the past saints to the souls of modern humans tormented by desires. The fourth stanza summarizes the meaning of the entire poem, elevates art, and proposes the wish to transcend nature and reach the immortal golden bird.

The thread of time’s passage expressed in this poem is very clear, but the core counterpoint of the entire poem is the resistance against the flow of historical time. The sigh over the brevity of human life and existence, the means to resist time, is eternal art, and finally it reaches the soul of the saints. Yeats moves toward ancient times, toward works of art, until he reaches the human spirit. This emotion and spirit is a return to ancient culture and the spirit of the saints. Only in the realm of the spirit can human beings transcend time and achieve eternity.

Yeats’s contemplation on historical time and cyclical time further promoted his notion of the contemplative meditation achieved through the joint efforts of the creator and the reader within the realm of existential time. In The Tower, Yeats declared his ideal:

I mock Plotinus’ thought

And cry in Plato’s teeth,

Death and life were not

Till man made up the whole,

Made lock, stock and barrel

Out of his bitter soul,

Aye, sun and moon and star, all,

And further add to that

That, being dead, we rise,

Dream and so create

Translunar Paradise.

(Yeats 1991: 246)

In “Lapis Lazuli” (Yeats 1991: 338), he believes that although time destroys everything, including artworks, everything will be rebuilt by people, and the people who rebuild are happy, so tragedy is also joy. He regards rhythm as a moment that can immerse people and prolong the poetic moment, a moment that is both asleep and awake, a moment of reconstruction. This state can inspire readers in the ups and downs of reading and gradually lead them into a true state of trance. He talks about the influence of falling into meditation during the process of poetry creation on the creation itself:

I was writing once at a very symbolical and abstract poem, when my pen fell on the ground; and as I stooped to pick it up, I remembered some phantastic adventure that yet did not seem phantastic, and then another like adventure, and when I asked myself when these things had happened, I found that I was remembering my dreams for many nights. […] I tried to remember what I had done the day before, and then what I had done that morning; but all my waking life had perished from me, and it was only after a struggle that I came to remember it again, and as I did so that more powerful and startling life perished in its turn. Had my pen not fallen on the ground and so made me turn from the images that I was weaving into verse, I would never have known that meditation had become trance, for I would have been like one who does not know that he is passing through a wood because his eyes are on the pathway. (Yeats 2007: 175)

When people are fully absorbed in the state of meditation, they can effectively isolate themselves from outside noise and distractions. Similarly, the melodious chanting in yoga music can also produce a similar effect, helping people achieve inner peace and concentration. The poet Yeats once compared his immersion in the process of creating abstract poetry to entering a mysterious realm, where he could eliminate all external disturbances and focus on the creation of poetry. The realm he described is a unique temporal and spatial state filled with repetitive rhythms. In this state, Yeats seemed to be able to transcend time and space and merge with the poetic imagery. However, when the pen slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a sound, this meditative state of being lost in poetry was suddenly interrupted. Nevertheless, this unexpected occurrence unexpectedly sparked a series of new associations and inspirations, bringing an unexpected turn to the creation.

The above description indicates that Yeats realized he was in a state of meditation. His understanding of the existence of time and perception was through the sense of “presence,” which was always in the sense of time. Its characteristic was that the length of physical time and existence time formed a huge contrast. Physical time had passed for a long time, but existence time perceived by people was only an instant. Yeats attempted to describe such a state of time existence through his own personal experience. Memory was no longer triggered by the outside world and a passive reaction in the manufacturing process. As Assmann (1999: 106) points out in relation to Freud’s perspective: “Recall is not a passive reply to recovery, but an effective behavior of new understanding. Freud referred to the activation of memory traces as semi-rewriting.” In Yeats’s continuous recollection and meditation, the final completed poems achieved the integration of his personal understanding of life, reincarnation, and the soul within temporal existence. This is a process that advocates the harmonious development of rationality and sensibility, combining “Nietzschean repetition” and “Platonic repetition,” and ultimately forging in the reader’s imagination the “crystal of Penelopean forgetting.”

6 Conclusions

The repetitive cycle of time in the universe can be explained by science and is also a philosophical reflection of human beings on the relationship between the world and time. In literary works, this cyclical trait of cosmic time is endowed with rich symbolic meanings. Yeats’s poems are a typical example. The repetitive elements in his poems are a vivid manifestation of the characteristics of the cosmic time cycle. In Yeats’s poetry, repetitive rhythms, images, and themes not only form the framework of the poem, but also serve as the golden key for him to explore the meaning of time. It is like an opaque crystal. On the surface, it seems regular and simple, but in fact, it contains the complexity and polysemy of human emotions. For the poet Yeats, it was as if he were imitating the brocade of Penelope from ancient Greek mythology, constantly collecting, savoring and recording the brocade of those forgotten important moments. At the moment of poetry creation, he would dismantle it and weave a new poetic brocade again. Seemingly repeating the same theme, it profoundly reflects the essence of human thinking about history, the present, and future development. The use of repetition in Yeats’s narrative poetry provides us with a unique perspective to perceive and understand cyclical time.