Authors: John Unterecker
ISBN-13: 9780815603405, ISBN-10: 0815603401
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Date Published: April 1996
Edition: Reprint
The poetry of William Butler Yeats presents unusual problems for the general reader. Yeats drew heavily upon mystical and theosophical systems of a more or less arcane nature. Moreover, he often referred to events in his own life and in the history of modern Ireland which require elucidition for the non-specialist. A Reader's Guide to William Butler Yeats not only provides the background needed for an understanding of the works but also reveals the structure of images and meanings of the various lyrics.
I | The Major Themes | |
The Use of Biography | 7 | |
The Doctrine of the Mask | 15 | |
Systems: Occult and Visionary | 18 | |
The Structure of a Poem | 29 | |
Images, Metaphors, and Literary Systems | 32 | |
The Great Design | 43 | |
II | The Poems | |
1. The Wanderings of Oisin | 47 | |
2. Crossways | 67 | |
3. The Rose | 75 | |
4. The Wind Among the Reeds | 87 | |
5. In the Seven Woods | 96 | |
6. From 'The Green Helmet and Other Poems' | 102 | |
7. Responsibilities | 112 | |
8. The Wild Swans at Coole | 130 | |
9. Michael Robartes and the Dancer | 157 | |
10. The Tower | 169 | |
11. The Winding Stair | 200 | |
12. From 'A Full Moon in March' | 241 | |
13. Last Poems | 255 | |
A Yeats Chronology | 296 | |
Suggestions for Further Reading | 301 | |
Index | 302 |