Book description
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) began writing poetry as a devotee of Blake,
Shelley, the pre-Raphaelites, and of nineteenth-century Irish poets
including James Clarence Mangan and Samuel Ferguson. By the end of his
life, he had, as T. S. Eliot said, created a poetic language for the
twentieth century. The First Yeats deepens our understanding of the
making of that poetic imagination, reprinting the original texts of
Yeats's three early collections, The Wanderings of Oisin and Other
Poems (1899), The Countess of Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics
(1892), and The Wind Among the Reeds (1899). The poems were
subsequently heavily revised or discarded. Among them are some of the
best-loved poems in English Â- 'The LakeIsle of Innisfree', 'He Wishes
for the Cloths of Heaven' Â- fresh and unfamiliar here in their
original contexts, together with Yeats's lengthy notes which were
drastically cut in the collected editions. This illuminating edition
by Edward Larrissy, editor of W. B. Yeats, The Major Works (Oxford
University Press, 2000), includes an introduction that clarifies the
literary, historical and intellectual context of the poems, detailed
notes, and a bibliography. It offers essential material for reading
Â-and revaluing Â- one of the great modern poets.
'The excellent introduction by Edward Larrisy helps us to bridge the
gap between the young man and the older... It is a fascinating exercise
in literary archaeology.' - Michael Glover, The Tablet, 17 July 2010
Introduction A Note on the Text Bibliography THE WANDERINGS OF OISIN AND
OTHER POEMS (1889) The Wanderings of Oisin Time and the Witch Vivien The
Stolen Child Girl's Song Ephemera An Indian Song Kanva, the Indian, on
God Kanva on Himself Jealousy Song of the Last Arcadian King Goll The
Meditation of the Old Fisherman The Ballad of Moll Magee The Phantom
Ship A Lover's Quarrel among the Fairies Mosada How Ferencz Renyi Kept
Silent The Fairy Doctor Falling of the Leaves Miserrimus The Priest and
the Fairy The Fairy Pedant She who Dwelt among the Sycamores On Mr
Nettleship's Picture at the Royal Hibernian Academy A Legend An Old Song
Re-sung Street Dancers To an Isle in the Water Quatrains and Aphorisms
The Seeker Island of Statues LEGENDS AND LYRICS (1892) To the Rose upon
the Rood of Time Fergus and the Druid The Rose of the World The Peace of
the Rose The Death of Cuchullin The White Birds Father Gilligan Father
O'Hart When You Are Old The Sorrow of Love The Ballad of the Old
Foxhunter A Fairy Song The Pity of Love The Lake Isle of Innisfree A
Cradle Song ('The angels are bending') The Man who Dreamed of Fairyland
Dedication of 'Irish Tales' The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner When
You Are Sad The Two Trees They Went Forth to the Battle, But They Always
Fell An Epitaph Apologia Addressed to Ireland in the Coming Days Yeats's
Notes THE WIND AMONG THE REEDS (1899) 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 ('The Danann
children laugh...') 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 The 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 The 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
Yeats's Notes Notes on the Poems Index of Titles Index of First Lines
