ABSTRACT
The profession of poetry may become increasingly difficult, and W. B. Yeats's self-consciousness is an indication that he himself found this in his relation with the modern world. William Blake's art becomes obscure from the very pressure and originality of his vision, but with Yeats the poet remains in control. At times this impression is so strong that Yeats seems to remain in a position similar to that of Rossetti or the early Swinburne of cultivating art for its own sake. His language in his essays is sometimes reminiscent of the early letters of Keats. The traditional becomes involved at times in a secret language, a hidden reference, which was not necessary for Geoffrey Chaucer, or William Shakespeare or John Milton. For the very reason that the 'romantic' has been mixed and diluted in England, there has been possible a marked continuity of tradition.
