ABSTRACT
William Sharp, as 'Fiona MacLeod', wrote intelligently about Celticism, but for many the subject was cocooned in vague adjectives rather than discussed for its sources, nature and effectiveness.
By the time Yeats's 'Collected Works' appeared it was easier for reviewers to attempt assessments, but the shift in his development, the stripping of decoration, the reaction against earlier escapism and idealism was not appreciated at once, although Yeats's greater selfrevelation in the poems of 'Responsibilities' virtually coincided with the first of his autobiographical accounts in prose. It is significant that Ezra Pound in his review of 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' ('Poetry (Chicago)', May 1914) was quick to hail the new style, which suited his own imperative of making it new. Forrest Reid, who wrote a book on Yeats in 1915, had been more concerned with what had been achieved (and his assessment of the prose was particularly good). The next step was to recognise the flowering of Yeats's new manner: this did not seem to become generally accepted until some of the reviewers of 'The Tower', notably John Gould Fletcher, Theodore Spencer and the 'Times Literary Supplement' reviewer, began to assess the importance of his changed style and poetic authority.
