W. B. Yeats’s A Vision (1925)
Gyres in A Vision
A gyre supplies the geometrical foundation of the Wheel in Yeats’s 1925 exposition. He combines a line, associated with time and the subjective emotional mind, with a plane associated with the objective world and intellect. Because one tendency is always stronger, the gyre expands or contracts; for ease of representation it is drawn as a cone. The next page substitutes opposed cones to describe conflict, including the contrast between forms made by Will and forms imposed from outside. These figures organise an esoteric and poetic model, rather than serving as demonstrated physical mechanisms.
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In the sources
The cone is a representation
DocumentedYeats explicitly says that the gyre is drawn as a cone for simplicity of representation.
Opposed figures express conflict
DocumentedThe following page introduces two cones, associating their opposition with Fate, Destiny and the action of Will.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the complete edition of A Vision dated 1925 held in the Reader. It does not import revisions from the substantially different 1937 version. The terminology describes Yeats’s literary and esoteric model; references to types, faculties, phases or history are attributed to that model rather than presented as established psychology, astronomy or historical laws.
Original passages
Source 1
A Vision
the gyre is always expanding or contractingOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Book II, The Geometrical Foundation of the Wheel, section II, printed p. 129
Actual checksum-verified active Reader scan inspected. Short quotation transcribed from the scan; line breaks and spacing normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0374-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0374-E001-P0147
- Original scan leaf
- 154
- Recorded leaf number
- 154
- Current Reader position
- 148
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
A Vision
two conesOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Book II, The Geometrical Foundation of the Wheel, printed p. 130
Actual checksum-verified active Reader scan inspected. Short quotation transcribed from the scan; line breaks and spacing normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0374-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0374-E001-P0148
- Original scan leaf
- 155
- Recorded leaf number
- 155
- Current Reader position
- 149
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Illustrations
Continue exploring
The Historical Cones in A Vision
The red-and-black diagram that aligns dates, phases and historical Faculties in Yeats’s first A Vision.
Shared illustrationThe Four Faculties in A Vision
Will, Mask, Creative Mind and Body of Fate: the four interacting faculties in Yeats’s 1925 model.
Same subject and traditionPrimary and Antithetical in A Vision
The contrasting objective and subjective tendencies that Yeats calls the two Tinctures.