The Subversion of Colonial Discourse and Politics of Resistance in the Selected Poems of William Butler Yeats: A Postcolonial Reading

In Europe, in the early twentieth century, especially during and after World War I, colonial powers such as Britain witnessed their colonies fighting and protesting against the colonial rule. In Ireland, meanwhile, in April 1916, a nationwide uprising called Easter Uprising against British colonial rule took place. Although the colonialists suppressed the uprising, the aftershocks of that were reflected in Irish society and literature. As the national poet of Ireland, William Butler Yeats opposed the British colonial discourse in his aesthetic world, and in his poems by creating a mythical world, he was able to reflect the important issues of his time and oppose the colonial system. Therefore, in this study, using the postcolonial reading, an attempt has been made to draw a picture of Yeats’ policy of resistance in the poem “Easter, 1996” and several other works of this Irish poet. This study also shows how the process of decentralization in “Easter 1916” leads to a deconstruction of colonial power and the defense of the Irish people.