One of the greatest poets of any century, the Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) drew upon Irish folklore and myth as inspiration for much of his early poetry. Mythic themes as well as many other topics are masterfully explored in this rich selection of 134 lyrics chiefly selected from six volumes of verse published between 1889 and 1914. Among the poems included are ‘The Stolen Child’ and ‘Down by the Salley Gardens’ (Crossways, 1889); ‘To the Rose upon the Rood of Time, ‘ ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree, ‘ ‘When You Are Old, ‘ and ‘To Ireland in the Coming Times’ (The Rose, 1893); ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’ and ‘A Poet to His Beloved’ (The Wind Among the Reeds, 1899); ‘The Song of Red Hanrahan’ (In the Seven Woods, 1903); ‘No Second Troy’ and ‘The Fascination of What’s Difficult’ (The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910); ‘To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing’ and ‘To a Shade’ (Responsibilities, 1914); and many more. This representative selection offers readers a splendid sampling of the distinctive Yeatsian voice — romantic, yearning, full of the magic and mysticism Yeats imbibed as a boy in the West of Ireland, later counterbalanced by an anguished realism grounded in the poet’s nationalistic and political sympathies.
Table of Content
CrosswaysThe 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
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
Who Goes with Fergus?
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 Some I Have Talked with by the Fire
To Ireland in the Coming Times
The Wind Among the Reeds
The Hosting of the Sidhe
The Everlasting Voices
The Moods
Aedh Tells of the Rose in His Heart
The Host of the Air
Breasal 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
Aedh Laments the Loss of Love
Mongan Laments the Change That Has Come upon Him and His Beloved
Michael Robartes Bids His Beloved Be at Peace
Hanrahan Reproves the Curlew
Michael Robartes Remembers Forgotten Beauty
A Poet to His Beloved
Aedh Gives His Beloved Certain Rhymes
‘To My Heart, Bidding It Have No Fear’
The Cap and Bells
Th Valley of the Black Pig
Michael Robartes Asks Forgiveness Because of His Many Moods
Aedh Tells of a Valley Full of Lovers
Aedh Tells of the Perfect Beauty
Aedh Hears the cry of the Sedge
Aedh Thinks of Those Who Have Spoken Evil of His Beloved
The Blessed
Th Secret Rose
Hanrahan Laments Because of His Wanderings
The Travail of Passion
The Poet Pleads with His Friend for Old Friends
Hanrahan Speaks to the Lovers of His Songs in Coming Days
Aedh Pleads with the Elemental Powers
Aedh Wishes His Beloved Were Dead
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Mongan Thinks of His Past Greatness
In the Seven Woods
In the Seven Woods
The Arrow
The Folly of Being Comforted
The Withering of the Boughs
Adam’s Curse
The Song of Red Hanrahan
The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water
Under the Moon
The Players Ask for a Blessing on the Psalteries and Themselves
The Rider from the North
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
‘To a Poet, Who Would Have Me Praise Certain Bad Poets, Imitators of His and of Mine’
A Lyric from an Unpublished Play
Upon a Threatened House
These Are the Clouds
At Galway Races
A Friends Illness
All Things Can Tempt Me
The Young Man’s Song
Responsibilities
‘[‘Pardon, old fathers, if you still remain’]’
The Grey Rock
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
Running to Paradise
The Hour Before Dawn
The Player Queen (Song from an Unfinished Play)
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
I. The Magi
II. The Dolls
A Coat
Alphabetical List of Titles
Alphabetical List of First Lines
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