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W. B. Yeats was Romantic and Modernist, mystical dreamer and leader of the Irish Literary Revival, Nobel prizewinner, dramatist and, above all, poet. He began writing with the intention of putting his very self into his poems. T. S. Eliot, one of many who proclaimed the Irishman s greatness, described him as one of those few whose history is the history of their own time, who are part of the consciousness of an age which cannot be understood without them . For anyone interested in the literature of the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century, Yeats's work is essential. This volume gathers the full range of his published poetry, from the hauntingly beautiful early lyrics (by which he is still fondly remembered) to the magnificent later poems which put beyond question his status as major poet of modern times. Paradoxical, proud and passionate, Yeats speaks today as eloquently as ever.
About the Author
RICHARD J. FINNERAN is General Editor, with George Mills Harper, of The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats and the editor of Yeats: An Annual of Critical and Textual Studies. He holds the Hodges Chair of Excellence at the University of Tennesse, Knoxville, and has published widely in the field of Anglo-Irish literature.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Over the last few months I have found myself writing a lot of poetry. This is something I've always dabbled in, but that seems lately to have acquired a new urgency and facility. As a result I have found myself reading a lot more poetry than I have at any point since my twenties when my early favourites were established (I've just turned fifty one). My recent reading has included the discovery of the excellent Tony Harrison, and a re-acquaintance with two early loves, Baudelaire and Rilke. I then found myself looking around for a new unfamiliar voice with which to engage. I had been introduced to several of Yeats' major poems at school, where they had made enough of an impression on me to still be able to recall sizeable chunks. Thus, I decided to give his Collected Poems a go.
I've been reading my poets cover to cover, and so I undertook to do the same with these. This took perhaps a week or so, and at the end I found myself rather under-whelmed, and rather glad to be finished. I couldn't understand the fuss. A Nobel laureate? The language seemed so quaint and un-spectacular, and yet he was considered modern? The references to Celtic myth were somewhat irritating, as what knowledge I had enjoyed in this area had grown stale with disuse. But most of all I found the meanings of the poems extremely obscure. Despite frequent re-readings I found I could make very little sense of by far the most of them. When I got to the end I had come to the conclusion that whatever reputation he enjoyed must have arisen from academic delight at obscurantism.
But just as I was about to put the book away, on a high shelf, I found myself with the feeling that I must have missed something. Surely such a reputation, guaranteed by the likes of Eliot and Auden couldn't be entirely without foundation? So, I decided to read them all again. This time I took them one at a time, very slowly, obliging myself to read and re-read each one, until I could untangle its meaning before proceeding to the next. Thus, it has taken me several weeks of careful, occasional reading, to get to the end of the book for this second time, with penetration to the meaning and music of some of these poems being a major personal intellectual challenge and achievement. The result has been a revelation and a completely new kind, for me, of poetic experience. I had no idea that you could work so hard reading a poem, and that the corresponding reward could be on the same level of intensity as that acquired from, say, an hour long symphony. I have realised that, until now, my appreciation of poetry has been confined to an overly imagistic level, with language assuming only a minor, secondary role. I have now learned that every word in a poem, no matter how seemingly small, is significant, and that the combination or juxtaposition of even familiar words can open up semantic spaces to which we have been inured by their unimaginative use in daily life. Reading this book has opened me up to a whole new artistic experience, and also, as a side benefit, completely altered my own poetic style of writing.
It is hard to communicate the love and affection I have come to feel for this man and his extraordinary mind, as one does after the most profound encounters with art.
I've been reading my poets cover to cover, and so I undertook to do the same with these. This took perhaps a week or so, and at the end I found myself rather under-whelmed, and rather glad to be finished. I couldn't understand the fuss. A Nobel laureate? The language seemed so quaint and un-spectacular, and yet he was considered modern? The references to Celtic myth were somewhat irritating, as what knowledge I had enjoyed in this area had grown stale with disuse. But most of all I found the meanings of the poems extremely obscure. Despite frequent re-readings I found I could make very little sense of by far the most of them. When I got to the end I had come to the conclusion that whatever reputation he enjoyed must have arisen from academic delight at obscurantism.
But just as I was about to put the book away, on a high shelf, I found myself with the feeling that I must have missed something. Surely such a reputation, guaranteed by the likes of Eliot and Auden couldn't be entirely without foundation? So, I decided to read them all again. This time I took them one at a time, very slowly, obliging myself to read and re-read each one, until I could untangle its meaning before proceeding to the next. Thus, it has taken me several weeks of careful, occasional reading, to get to the end of the book for this second time, with penetration to the meaning and music of some of these poems being a major personal intellectual challenge and achievement. The result has been a revelation and a completely new kind, for me, of poetic experience. I had no idea that you could work so hard reading a poem, and that the corresponding reward could be on the same level of intensity as that acquired from, say, an hour long symphony. I have realised that, until now, my appreciation of poetry has been confined to an overly imagistic level, with language assuming only a minor, secondary role. I have now learned that every word in a poem, no matter how seemingly small, is significant, and that the combination or juxtaposition of even familiar words can open up semantic spaces to which we have been inured by their unimaginative use in daily life. Reading this book has opened me up to a whole new artistic experience, and also, as a side benefit, completely altered my own poetic style of writing.
It is hard to communicate the love and affection I have come to feel for this man and his extraordinary mind, as one does after the most profound encounters with art.
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Yeats is without a doubt one of the most significant and influential poets of recent times, and probably the most important Anglo-Irish poet ever. His poems are deeply affecting, especially those concerning his unrequited love for Maud Gonne. They deal with diverse subjects like Irish politics of the time, the Republican movement, and more personal themes like love, growing old, death and the problems he saw facing an artist. My favourite poem is probably "Sailing To Byzantium;" "He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven" is beautiful too. I highly recommend this to anyone with even a passing interest in poetry.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am 13 years old, and was introduced to Yeats by my grandfather. I like poetry with a rhythm, poetry that is traditional and lyrical but which I can grasp. Yeats, as one of the best 20th century poets, fufills my quota. I love Down By The Salley Gardens, An Irish Airman Forsees His Death, The Lake Isle Of Innisfree and many of the other poems he wrote in his lifetime.
It is a clearly formatted edition of his poems, and apart from not liking the cover, I cannot fault this book. Lovely as an introduction to poetry.
It is a clearly formatted edition of his poems, and apart from not liking the cover, I cannot fault this book. Lovely as an introduction to poetry.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Collected Poems of W B Yeats - A Review by Barry Van-Asten
This classic introduction to W B Yeats (1865-1939) and his collected poems is a real work of art, and as can be seen the poetic strength of the great Irish nationalist, who was... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. B. P. Van-asten
The Collected Poems of W B Yeats
This book was bought for my husband, it arrived quickly and in pristine condition. What more can you say, but excellent and much appreciated!!
Published 1 month ago by Rosemary Hancox
Poetry by W.B. Yeates
Everything I expected from Ireland's greatest poet. Craft impeccable, contents always thought-provoking (even in the short lyrics). Read more
Published 6 months ago by M. P. Newman
Collected Yeats
I was fortunate enough to purchase this text cheaply at a book fair with its accompanying guide. It is a well-produced book - sewn sections, firmly glued - typical of Macmillan's... Read more
Published 8 months ago by RR Waller
W.B. Yeats
"Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight."
Isn't that just so beautifully put? Read more
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight."
Isn't that just so beautifully put? Read more
Published 12 months ago by Arwen Evenstar
Swept off my feet
I first had to study Yeats for a school project and, quite simply, fell in love. (Well done to the male reviewer who discovered this powerful weapon of a poem. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2004 by "nefertiti_thakrar"
"Keats and Yeats are on your side (and Wilde's on mine)"
I must be brief, as my lunch is dangerously close to completion, so here is my Yeats review condensed into a few points:
W.B. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2003 by Richard Magrath
Fall in love...
All I can say is fall in love with her, read her "He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven" and she will be yours.
Published on 6 Jun 1999
Remarkably... mediocre
William Butler Yeats is about as bad a poet one can be and still be considered "great". All of his poems are earnest and sincere, but they are totally appalling in... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 1999
Worth the time.
I began reading Yeat's collected poems twenty-five years ago and still turn to them regularly. The best ones do not fade with time but provide increasing enjoyment.
Published on 10 Mar 1999
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