Philosophy and Literature

Abstract:

This article offers a new reading of Yeats’s “The Fascination of What’s Difficult.” Rather than speculate, as do the mainstream approaches, on possible allusions in the poem to Yeats’s life, career, and professional concerns, it argues that he is personally intrigued by the difficulties inherent in the poetic process itself, which he views as a challenge to his own creative powers. The poem, in short, is a performative show of Yeats’s virtuosity as a verbal artist.