The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
by William Butler Yeats
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Book Summary Information
Author: William Butler YeatsEditor: Richard J. Finneran
Edition: Paperback
Published: 1996-09-09
ISBN: 0684807319
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Scribner
Book Reviews of The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
Book Review: A wonderful poet!
Summary: 5 Stars
I must admit that I have a bit of a family bias toward Yeats. My family is from County Sligo, where Yeats partially grew up and wherein he is buried. My grandfather even marched in his funeral, and I have visited his grave in Drumcliffe several times.
With that confession out of the way, I'll make my contentious claim, that Yeats is the best poet of the 20th century. I cannot claim to have read all the poetry of the century (none can), nor even all of the greats, but I have read enough to feel myself at least partially justified in this claim! :)
His poems have a wonderful power to them, weight in the emotional and the lyrical senses, those two factors on which I judge poems most primarily. They flow wonderfully, display the full beauty of the English language, and contain a depth of thought not seen, some would say, since Wordsworth (I say since Keats or maybe Tennyson, but I cite the former claim from Harold Bloom).
Take the following, one of his earliest poems and, though good, not his best:
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
There is obviously a powerful Romanticism in this poem, and it is not his most original nor his most deep, but it is a wonderful poem nonetheless. Just speak it aloud to yourself; listen to how well it flows. Think of it emotionally, as though you yourself were the woman reading it, or you were the one writing it to your lover to be read after your death.
THE WINDING STAIR AND OTHER POEMS is his best book overall, and it is included in its entirety here, but almost all of these poems retain some value. Highly, highly recommend; besides Keats (no, it doesn't rhyme with Yeats! :)), Blake, Milton, and Shakespeare, I'd have to say he is my favourite poet!
A Further Recommendation:
If you are a fan of Yeats--and even if you are not--I highly recommend visiting Co. Sligo and his grave in Drumcliffe. The graveyard wherein he is buried and the surrounding area is the most beautiful, tranquil, and wonderful place I have yet seen on this planet, and I don't suspect I'll ever renounce that judgement. If you go there, walk a short way from the graveyard toward the main road, across from the round tower, and there is a road to a little creek with a pathway running along it. Walk down it, and think of the poems of Yeats and of things you love, and I promise you an unforgettable experience :)
Cast a cold Eye
On Life, on Death.
Horseman, pass by.
Summary of The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats, whom many consider this century's greatest poet, began as a bard of the Celtic Twilight, reviving legends and Rosicrucian symbols. By the early 1900s, however, he was moving away from plush romanticism, his verse morphing from the incantatory rhythms of "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree" into lyrics "as cold and passionate as the dawn." At every stage, however, Yeats plays a multiplicity of poetic roles. There is the romantic lover of "When You Are Old" and "A Poet to His Beloved" ("I bring you with reverent Hands / The books of my numberless dreams..."). And there are the far more bitter celebrations of Maud Gonne, who never accepted his love and engaged in too much politicking for his taste: "Why should I blame her that she filled my days / With misery, or that she would of late / Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, / Or hurled the little streets upon the great, / Had they but courage equal to desire?" There is also the poet of conscience--and confrontation. His 1931 "Remorse for Intemperate Speech" ends: "Out of Ireland have we come. / Great hatred, little room, / Maimed us at the start. / I carried from my mother's womb / A fanatic heart."Yeats was to explore several more sides of himself, and of Ireland, before his Last Poems of 1938-39. Many are difficult, some snobbish, others occult and spiritualist. As Brendan Kennelly writes, Yeats "produces both poppycock and sublimity in verse, sometimes closely together." On the other hand, many prophetic masterworks are poppycock-free--for example, "The Second Coming" ("Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer; / Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...") and such inquiries into inspiration as "Among School Children" ("O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?"). And at his best, Yeats extends the meaning of love poetry beyond the obviously romantic: love becomes a revolutionary emotion, attaching the poet to friends, history, and the passionate life of the mind. --Kerry Fried
The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats includes all of the poems authorized by Yeats for inclusion in his standard canon. Breathtaking in range, it encompasses the entire arc of his career, from luminous reworkings of ancient Irish myths and legends to passionate meditations on the demands and rewards of youth and old age, from exquisite, occasionally whimsical songs of love, nature, and art to somber and angry poems of life in a nation torn by war and uprising. In observing the development of rich and recurring images and themes over the course of his body of work, we can trace the quest of this century's greatest poet to unite intellect and artistry in a single magnificent vision.
Revised and corrected, this edition includes Yeats's own notes on his poetry, complemented by explanatory notes from esteemed Yeats scholar Richard J. Finneran. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats is the most comprehensive edition of one of the world's most beloved poets available in paperback.
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