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The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (Wordsworth Poetry) (Wordsworth Poetry Library)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811
EAN: 9781853264542
ISBN: 1853264547
Label: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
Manufacturer: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: November 05, 1994
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
Studio: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
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Editorial Review:
Romantic and Modernist, mystical dreamer and leader of the Irish Literary Revival, Nobel prizewinner, dramatist and, above all, poet, W.B.Yeats 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 Yeats 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 twentieth century, Yeat's poetry demands to be read and, what is more, to be read as a whole: this volume includes all of his published poetry, from the hauntingly beautiful early lyrics by which he is still best remembered, to the magnificent later work which put beyond question his status as the foremost poet of his age.
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Definitive Yeats Collection
William Butler Yeats published his collected poems in 1933. Yeats continued to write poetry until his death in 1939 and had planned to include his later poems in an expanded edition of the collected poems. Fifty years after Yeats's death, Irish literature scholar Richard J. Finneran published a second edition of the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats which he revised in 1996 based upon Yeats's handwritten notations and revisions to the manuscripts of the poems. Thus, this revised second edition is ... Read More
Rating: - A wonderful poet!
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 ... Read More
Rating:  - Great poems, poor paper.
Yeats' poems should not be questioned, thus I do not.
Good about this edition is that it covers a great scope of his works. I think there's almost everything. Nice typeface used, font is nor small nor huge (exception for appendix). It is good to read, easy to find.
Bad thing is: paper. Yes, its paperback and this sort of books is always cheap. There was no hardcover available at the moment nor any book of such size either. Not to speak of any choice in Russia (Translations? ... Read More
Rating: - Awesome Collection
This book contains all of Yeat's published poetry and I believe alot of his dramatic writings. Yeat's has to be one of the best english poets of all time. I put him up next to Shakespeare. His poems are full of mystery, and alot of romance and polotics. It's really great stuff.
Rating: - Yeats, one of the greatest
The short space that is offered here for reviews is nowhere near sufficient to review the life's works of one of Ireland's and the world's greatest poets. However I must at least try to describe the beauty that is the poetry of William Butler Yeats.
Perhaps Yeats is at his finest when reflecting on love, usually unrequited. Yeats manages to produce love poems that have a genuine passion that is surprisingly rare in poetry, specifically that of the modern day. Perhaps Yeats is representative ... Read More
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