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Review
wonderfully illuminating (Seamus Deane, The Guardian )
will remain a central text for all admirers of Yeats (Peter Ackroyd, The Times )
an instant classic - such style, wise humour and airy scholarship ... one to keep close by (The Sunday Telegraph )
the fullest and most reliable account of Yeats's career ... required reading (John Kelly, The Irish Times )
biography on the heroic scale (John Carey, The Sunday Times )
will remain a central text for all admirers of Yeats (Peter Ackroyd, The Times )
an instant classic - such style, wise humour and airy scholarship ... one to keep close by (The Sunday Telegraph )
the fullest and most reliable account of Yeats's career ... required reading (John Kelly, The Irish Times )
biography on the heroic scale (John Carey, The Sunday Times )
The Sunday Telegraph
"an instant classic - such style, wise humour and airy scholarship ... one to keep close by"
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you want to learn about Yeats' social, political context, this is the book for you. I've always loved Yeats, but, I'm ashamed to say, didn't know an awful lot about Irish history.
This book fixed that. Foster writes in crystal-clear, easy-to-read prose.The vast amount of information in this book is arranged perfectly. If you have the slightest interest in Yeats, you'll eat this book up.
However, if you are only going to read one book on Yeats. Or, if you want an introduction to Yeats this is not your book. Because Foster is concentrating on the political Yeats, he can be quite sarcastic about the spiritual/magic Yeats. This is great fun. It's entertaining, but Yeats was an intelligent man and he took this stuff seriously. It's central to his poetry. Foster doesn't take this side of Yeats seriously. He see's a lot of posturing and, although he shows a very human Yeats, this doesn't give an understanding of a lot of the poetry. A big chunk of the man is missing.
If you are looking for an introduction to Yeats,I recommend you start with Richard Ellmann's "The Man and the Masks", then go onto Foster.
This book fixed that. Foster writes in crystal-clear, easy-to-read prose.The vast amount of information in this book is arranged perfectly. If you have the slightest interest in Yeats, you'll eat this book up.
However, if you are only going to read one book on Yeats. Or, if you want an introduction to Yeats this is not your book. Because Foster is concentrating on the political Yeats, he can be quite sarcastic about the spiritual/magic Yeats. This is great fun. It's entertaining, but Yeats was an intelligent man and he took this stuff seriously. It's central to his poetry. Foster doesn't take this side of Yeats seriously. He see's a lot of posturing and, although he shows a very human Yeats, this doesn't give an understanding of a lot of the poetry. A big chunk of the man is missing.
If you are looking for an introduction to Yeats,I recommend you start with Richard Ellmann's "The Man and the Masks", then go onto Foster.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
William Butler Yeats offers a life of contradictions. Born in Dublin to a middle-class Protestant family, Yeats went on to become one of the premier poets of the twentieth century. As a writer and member of the Irish literary community, he also helped to forge Irish national identity through his words and his deeds. In this biography, the first of two volumes, Roy Foster offers an account of Yeats’ development into one of the leading figures of the Irish literary scene.
This is not an easy book. Foster recounts Yeats’ life in what is sometimes excruciating detail, covering every movement and literary battle the poet undertakes. Moreover, as he does so he assumes the reader’s familiarity with both the background of late nineteenth century Ireland and the members of the Irish literary community. People appear in his narrative with little introduction, creating a confusing jumble of names that limits the appreciation of their role in Yeats’ life.
Such problems aside, this is a first-rate biography. Foster does a great job examining Yeats’ life, in a text that while long is never dense. His coverage of Yeats’ occult interests is particularly good, as is that of the poet’s involvement in nationalist causes – both integral aspects of his poetry. Foster’s argument that Yeats’ involvement in the mystical was a reaction to the declining position of Protestants in Ireland, an effort to cope with the sense of dislocation by asserting psychic control, is a compelling one that helps to fit more of his poetry into the context of his times. Foster helps this process; while he asserts that his biography is about what Yeats did rather than what the poet wrote he does offer a perceptive commentary on aspects of Yeats’ work, which helps us better appreciate the connection between the man and his writings. The result is a book that is essential for understanding such a complicated literary figure and the role he played in his times.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Once more, Roy Foster has proved that he is not only a brilliant academic but also able to write in a pleasant style. His book provides great insight into the life and works of W.B. Yeats. The attention the biographer pays to details and the anecdotes are what makes this volume a 'must' for anyone interested in this great Irish writer.
Very often with famous writers like Yeats, on whom too much has been written, the risk is for a biography to repeat the same facts over and over again. You will be surprised after reading Foster's book to discover new arresting episodes in each chapter. This book is not only for the erudite, it will please anyone who wants to learn more about Yeats, and you will be surprised to find how much you have actually learned on Yeats, and that without ever feeling bored or sleepy, unlike many academic books.
As well as his personal touch, Foster's academic excellence is nonetheless very much there, as can be seen not only in his densely footnoted and well researched volume, but also in the very useful alphabetical index. In it, you can locate where to find out about Yeats's health, smoking habits, really anything...
Basically, if you are looking for something or someone that is very specific (thing, person, title of poem or play), you will find it simply by browsing through the index. And then once you have found it, you will be surprised to find yourself devouring the rest of book. Magnificent as well as affordable!!!
Very often with famous writers like Yeats, on whom too much has been written, the risk is for a biography to repeat the same facts over and over again. You will be surprised after reading Foster's book to discover new arresting episodes in each chapter. This book is not only for the erudite, it will please anyone who wants to learn more about Yeats, and you will be surprised to find how much you have actually learned on Yeats, and that without ever feeling bored or sleepy, unlike many academic books.
As well as his personal touch, Foster's academic excellence is nonetheless very much there, as can be seen not only in his densely footnoted and well researched volume, but also in the very useful alphabetical index. In it, you can locate where to find out about Yeats's health, smoking habits, really anything...
Basically, if you are looking for something or someone that is very specific (thing, person, title of poem or play), you will find it simply by browsing through the index. And then once you have found it, you will be surprised to find yourself devouring the rest of book. Magnificent as well as affordable!!!
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