The Later Affluence of W.B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens

Book excerpt: Surveying the later work of W.B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens, Edward Clarke unfolds their very last poems and considers the two poets' relations with western literature and tradition. This book shows how these two latecomers transform the ways in which we read earlier poets. Edward Clarke considers a concourse of poets that move toward the late work of W.B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens. Sometimes encounters with predecessors are arranged by imitation or allusion, sometimes one poet is unconsciously influenced by another, and sometimes they meet by chance. This book surveys the later work of Yeats and Stevens through chapter length studies in order to unfold their very last poems, thereby following their relations with western literature and tradition, and showing how they transform our readings of earlier poets.