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영어

This study examines W. B. Yeats’s later poetry in The Tower, The Winding Stair and Other Poems, and Last Poems from the Perspective of Humanities Therapy. Humanities Therapy pursues mental health and happy living by preventing and curing mental and emotional problems of modern people with a humanistic spirit and method. One of its specific methodologies is poetry therapy. And the principle of poetry therapy that provides self-examination to those who suffer from mental crises coincides with the process of acceptance and recovery that Yeats found in his old age poetry. This process, of reading and writing poetry, is therapeutic because it helps people newly understand others and the world. In his old age, Yeats, who then had physical limitations, has more affection for a body that contains youth, sensuality, and power, than he had before. He then sails to the eternal spiritual world to be rewarded for his bodily decrepitude. However, he realizes that the soul exists within the body. The body and the soul have their real value when they are complementary and are one. Then, we can attain harmony. Yeats describes this state, employing images of dance and trees, in his poems, “Among School Children” and “Vacillation.” Therefore, Yeats’s long journey of conflict is complete, and he finally finds relief. In this sense, Yeats’s later poetry deals with the growth of the self and this theme coincides with the aim of poetry therapy.