SOURCE: "The World that Shines and Sounds: W. B. Yeats and Daisetz Suzuki," in Irish Renaissance Annual IV, edited by Zack Bowen, University of Delaware Press, 1983, pp. 57-74.

In the following essay, Doherty focuses on several elements of Zen teaching—including the dissolution of antinomies and the violent shock of spiritual enlightenment—in the poetry of W. B. Yeats.

Yeats's fascination with Japan and its culture had its origins in his study of the Noh drama under the auspices of Ezra Pound during the winter of 1913-14. Thereafter, references to the "noble plays" of Japan and to Japanese art float casually into his essays, often to highlight some contrast between such plays and the Western predilection for social realism and the intimate personal mode of the theater. From 1927 onwards, however, there is a distinct shift of emphasis; the range of reference widens to include appreciative comments on Zen...