ABSTRACT
This chapter is principally concerned with the interrelation between Yeats's and Pessoa's re-enactments of heroic poetry and the idiosyncratic type of literary nationalism that underpinned their engagement with the epic genre. It shows how Pessoa and Yeats used dramatis personae inspired by legendary or historical figures from their respective countries in their re-enactments of the epic genre. The Wanderings of Oisin and Mensagem display the closest affinities in their use of occult symbolism, which denotes analogous designs and common mystical influences. The unconventional symbolism that pervades Mensagem and The Wanderings of Oisin suggests that Pessoa and Yeats drew inspiration from similar occult theories and sources. Yeats's and Pessoa's myth-making was not limited to the (fictional or historical) past but also extended to contemporary political figures such as Charles Stewart Parnell and Sidonio Pais, whom Yeats and Pessoa respectively envisaged as modern heroes who had died tragically.
