W. B. Yeats

by William Butler Yeats

Overview

'Tread softly because you tread on my dreams' is one of the most well-known and repeated lines of poetry ever written.

Less haunting, but still so relevant: 'Life is a long preparation for something that never happens.'

W B Yeats was one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. Winner of a Nobel prize, he was also a political figure, and, as is evident from his earlier work, fascinated by Irish folklore and the occult. He was also deeply affected by the First World War and the Anglo-Irish and Irish civil wars. It is a testament to the greatness of Yeats' poetry that he attempts to bear witness to these emotional and historical forces.

This perfectly pitched collection includes some of the greatest poetry of the 20th century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474625654
Publisher:	Orion Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/10/2023
Series:	EVERYMAN POETRY Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

William Butler Yeats was born on 13 June 1865 in Dublin, the eldest of six children. His father abandoned a career in the law for a precarious life as a painter and much of Yeats' childhood was divided between Dublin, London and Sligo. In 1897 he helped found the Irish Literary Theatre, which was to lead to the Abbey Theatre in 1904. Fascinated by Irish folklore, the First World War, Anglo-Irish and Irish Civil War intensified and increasing disillusionment with the modern world. In 1917 Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lees, whose automatic writing was the basis for his 'philosophy'. In 1922 he was appointed to the new Irish Senate and the following year he won the Nobel Prize.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

EARLY POEMS I: BALLADS AND LYRICS:
To Some I Have Talked with by the Fire - The Song of the Happy Shepherd - The Sad Shepherd - The Cloak, The Boat, and The Shoes - Anashuya and Vijaya - The Indian Upon God - The Indian to His Love - The Falling of the Leaves - Ephemera - The Madness of King Goll - The Stolen Child To An Isle in the Water - Down by the Salley Gardens - The Meditation of the Old Fisherman - The Ballad of Father O'Hart - The Ballad of Moll Magee - The Ballad of the Foxhunter

EARLY POEMS II:
THE ROSE: To the Rose Upon the Rood of Time - Fergus and the Druid - The Death of Cuchulain The Rose of the World - The Rose of Peace - The Rose of Battle - A Faery Song - The Lake Isle of Innisfree - A Cradle Song - The Pity of Love - The Sorrow of Love - When You Are Old - The White Birds - A Dream of Death - A Dream of a Blessed Spirit - The Man Who Dreamed of Faeryland - The Dedication to a Book of Stories Selected from the Irish Novelists - The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner - The Ballad of Father Gilligan - The Two Trees To Ireland in the Coming Times

THE WIND AMONG THE REEDS: The Hosting of the Sidhe - The Everlasting Voices - The Moods - The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart - The Host of the Air - The Fisherman - A Cradle Song - Into the Twilight - The Song of Wandering Aengus - The Song of the Old Mother - The Fiddler of Dooney - The Heart of the Woman - The Lover Mourns for the Loss of Love - He Mourns for the Change that Has Come Upon Him and His Beloved and Longs for the End of the World - He Bids His Beloved Be At Peace - He Reproves the Curlew - He Remembers Forgotten Beauty - A Poet to His Beloved - He GivesHis Beloved Certain Rhymes - To My Heart Bidding It Have No Fear - The Cap and Bells - The Valley of the Black Pig - The Lover Asks Forgiveness -Because of His Many Moods - He Tells of a Valley Full of Lovers - He Tells of the Perfect Beauty- He Hears the Cry of the Sedge - He Thinks of Those Who Have Spoken Evil of His Beloved - The Blessed - The Secret Rose - The Lover Mourns Because of His Wanderings - The Travail of Passion - The Lover Pleads with His Friend for Old Friends - A Lover Speaks to Hearers of His Songs in Coming Days - The Poet Pleads with the Elemental Powers - He Wishes His Beloved were Dead - He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven - He Thinks of His Past Greatness When a Part of the Constellations of Heaven

IN THE SEVEN WOODS:
In the Seven Woods - The Arrow - The Folly of Being Comforted - Old Memory - Never Give All the Heart - The Withering of the Boughs - Adam's Curse - Red Hanrahan's Song About Ireland - The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water - Upon the Moon - Chorus for a Play - The Players Ask for a Blessing of the Psalteries and Themselves - The Happy Townland

THE OLD AGE OF QUEEN MAEVE:
The Old Age of Queen Maeve

BAILE AND AILLINN:
Baile and Aillinn

THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS:
His Dream -A Woman Homer Sung - The Consolation - No Second Troy - Reconciliation - King and No King - Peace - Against Unworthy Praise - The Fascination of What's Difficult - A Drinking Song - The Coming of Wisdom with Time - On Hearing that the Students of Our University Have Joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Agitation Against Immoral Literature - To a Poet, Who Would Have Me Praise Certain Bad Poets, Imitators of His and Mine - A Lyric from an Unpublished Play - Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation - At the Abbey Theatre - These Are the Clouds- At Galway Races - A Friend's Illness - All Things Can Tempt Me - The Young Man's Song

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Introductory Rhymes - The Grey Rock - The Two Kings - To a Wealthy Man Who Promised a Second Subscription to the Dublin Municipal Gallery if it Were Proved the People Wanted Pictures - September 1913 - To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing - Paudeen - To a Shade - When Helen Lived - The Attack on the "Playboy of the Western World", 1907 - The Three Beggars - The Three Hermits - Beggar to Beggar Cried - The Well and the Tree - Running to Paradise - The Hour Before Dawn - The Player Queen - The Realists I. The Witch II. The Peacock - The Mountain Tomb - To a Child Dancing in the Wind - A Memory of Youth - Fallen Majesty - Friends - The Cold Heaven - That the Night Come - An Appointment - The Magi - The Dolls - A Coat - Closing Rhymes