The Poems of W. B. Yeats A Sourcebook

Edited by Michael O'Neill

Routledge Taylor & Francis Croup

LONDON AND NEW YORK Contents

Annotation and Footnotes XIII Acknowledgements xiv

Introduction I: Contexts

Contextual Overview 7 Chronology 16 Contemporary Documents 22

From W. B. Yeats, 'The Celtic Element in Literature' (1898) 22 From W. B. Yeats, 'Magic' (1901) 23 From W. B. Yeats, 'Anima Hominis', section V (1918) 24 From W. B. Yeats, 'Anima Hominis', section VI (1918) 26 From W. B. Yeats, (1926, 1937) 27 From W. B. Yeats, Introduction to The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, section IX (1936) 28 From W. B. Yeats, Introduction to The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, section X (1936) 29 From W. B. Yeats, 'A General Introduction for My Work' (1937) 30 From W. B. Yeats, Autobiographies: Reveries over Childhood and Youth (1916) 32 From W. B. Yeats, from Autobiographies: Four Years, 1887-1891 (1921) 33 From letter from to W. B. Yeats (8 November, 1916) 34 x CONTENTS

2: Interpretations

Critical History 39

Yeats and the Occult 40 Development, , Poetic and Cultural Legacy 41 Fascism, Right-Wing , Post-Colonialism, Feminism 43 Close Reading, Formalism, Deconstruction, Intertextuality 45

Early Critical Reception 47

From Lionel Johnson's review of The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics (1892) 47 From Arthur Symons's review of The Wind among the Reeds (1899) 47 From 's review of (1928) 48 From Louise Bogan's article on Yeats in the Atlantic Monthly (1938) 48 From F. R. Leavis's review of Last Poems and Plays (1940) 49

Modern Criticism 50

Louis MacNeice on character and style in Yeats (1941) 50 Richard Ellmann on Yeats's 'affirmative capability' (1954) 51 John Bayley on Yeats and the Mask (1957) 54 Jon Stallworthy on '' (1963) 55 C.K. Stead on'Easter 1916'(1964) " 62 J. R. Mulryne on 'Lapis Lazuli' (1965) 66 Harold Bloom on The Wind among the Reeds and 'The Secret Rose' (1970) 69 Denis Donoghue on 'The Secret Rose' and 'Adam's Curse' (1971) 71 Elizabeth Butler Cullingford on Yeats and fascism (1981) 74 Elizabeth Butler Cullingford on 'Among School Children' (1993) 76 M. L. Rosenthal on 'Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen' (1994) 80 Declan Kiberd on 'Leda and the Swan' (1995) 83 Marjorie Howes on 'Meditations in Time of Civil War' (1996) 84 Daniel Albright on symbolism in Yeats (1997) 85 Michael O'Neill on 'The Circus Animals' Desertion' (1997) 87

3: Key Poems

Introduction 93 Key Poems 95

The Song of the Happy Shepherd 95 The Lake Isle of Innisfree 97 The Sorrow of Love 98 When You are Old 99 Who Goes with Fergus? 100 To Ireland in the Coming Times 101 The Hosting oftheSidhe 103 The Moods 105 The Lover tells of the Rose in his Heart 105 The Song of Wandering Aengus 106 The Lover mourns for the Loss of Love 107 A Poet to his Beloved 108 To his Heart, bidding it have no Fear 108 The Valley of the Black Pig 109 The Secret Rose 109 He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven 111 Adam's Curse 111 No Second Troy 113 The Fascination of What's Difficult 114 . 115 Paudeen '• ,117 Fallen Majesty 118 The Cold Heaven 118 119 In Memory of Major Robert Gregory 121 -The Fisherman 125 Broken Dreams 127 129 Easter 1916 132 The Second Coming 134 A Prayer for my Daughter 136 137 The Tower 140 Meditations in Time of Civil War 147 Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen 155 Leda and the Swan 161 Among School Children 163 A Dialogue of Self and Soul 167 Byzantium 168 The Gyres 171 Lapis Lazuli 173 Beautiful Lofty Things 175 176 Long-legged Fly 177 Man and the Echo 179 The Circus Animals'Desertion 180 Politics 181

CONTENTS xi 4: Further Reading

Editions of Yeats's 185 Editions of Yeats's Prose 185 Biographies 186 Selected Criticism 186

Index l89