Reviews of A Vision A

A Vision. By W. B. Yeats. (Werner Laurie.) £3 3s. net.

It has long been clear that Mr. Yeats is becoming increasingly dissatisfied; and he is seeking solace in ways increasingly unlikely to solace his admirers. Whether le roi s’amuse, or whether he is persuaded he is more likely to find the heart of reality by attacking the superficies at wholly new points, is a question. But it is less important since one can have no doubt that the satisfaction he seeks (we cannot believe he is, in any profound sense, gaining it) is almost purely personal. This adventuring in the mystical—or rather, the occult—discourages in its very approach by preciosity and a kind of dramatic mystification. It may be Giraldus; it may be Kusta Ben Luka; it is certainly Mr. Yeats—a phase of him—but it moves us neither as confession nor as literature. The book is handsomely produced; and the episodic poetry is often good, if not good from Mr. Yeats.