What major shift in literary movements does Yeats's work illustrate?

• A. From Romanticism to Modernism
• B. From Realism to Naturalism
• C. From Classicism to Romanticism
• D. From Modernism to Postmodernism

Answer: (A)

Yeats’s poetry shows a move away from romantic ideals toward modernist experimentation in form and perception. Early poems lean on nature as a source of inspiration and a vehicle for personal feeling, characteristic of Romantic poetry. As his career progresses, he adopts denser symbolism, mythic references reimagined in a modern context, and a fragmented, uncertain view of reality, which are hallmarks of Modernism. Works like The Second Coming reveal a vision that’s wary, ambiguous, and discontinuous, using myth and imagery to probe the instability of the modern world rather than to celebrate it. This blend of symbolic depth, formal experimentation, and concern with how modern life feels makes the shift from Romanticism to Modernism the best fit. It isn’t describing Realism to Naturalism, or Classicism to Romanticism, and it clearly isn’t a move into Postmodernism.