W. B Yeats
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"The Land of Heart's Desire," one of Yeats best and most well-known works. The play describes an encounter between a fairy child and newlyweds Shawn and Bridget Bruin, and explores themes of mysticism and the temporary nature of life. Yeats felt an internal struggle with the contradictions he felt in his nature and in life, and spent much of his life seeking out a philosophical system to resolve this conflict.
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Best known for his poetry, William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was also a dedicated exponent of Irish folklore. Yeats took a particular interest in the tales' mythic and magical roots. The Celtic Twilight ventures into the eerie and puckish world of fairies, ghosts, and spirits. "This handful of dreams," as the author referred to it, first appeared in 1893, and its title refers to the pre-dawn hours, when the Druids performed their rituals. It consists...
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Compiled at the height of the Celtic Twilight, a movement to revive the myths and traditions of Ancient Ireland, “Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry” captures a wide range of stories, songs, poems, and firsthand accounts from artists and storytellers dedicated to the preservation of Irish culture.
In "Frank Martin and the Fairies," a sickly man discusses the presence of dozens of fairies inside his weaving shop. When a child in his village...
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"The King's Threshold," first performed by the Irish National Theatre Society in 1903, referred to an Irish tradition that dates back to the 7th-8th centuries of commoners enforcing hunger strikes against people of higher status to whom they were indebted. It told the story of a bard who undergoes a hunger strike against the king.
7) Early Poems
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One of the greatest poets of the century, Yeats drew upon Irish folklore and myth as inspiration for much of his early poetry. Mythic themes and others are masterfully explored in this rich selection of 134 poems published between 1889 and 1914. Included are such favorites as "Lake Isle of Innisfree," "When You Are Old," "Down by the Salley Gardens," "The Stolen Child," "Fergus and the Druid," "To the Rose upon the Rood of Time," "The Song of Wandering...
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W. B. Yeats is one of the foremost figures of Irish literature, and in 1923 was the first Irish recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Here are collected five of his finest ghost stories, including 'Rosa Alchemica', 'The Sorcerers', and 'The Wisdom of the King'.
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You will remember that afternoon in Calvados last summer when your black Persian 'Minoulooshe,' who had walked behind us for a good mile, heard a wing flutter in a bramble-bush? For a long time we called her endearing names in vain. She seemed resolute to spend her night among the brambles. She had interrupted a conversation, often interrupted before, upon certain thoughts so long habitual that I may be permitted to call them my convictions. When...
11) The Player Queen
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In this volume we find one of Yeats' lesser-known works, "The Player Queen".
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William Butler Yeats was prompted to write "At the Hawk's Well" in 1916, after his close friend, Ezra Pound, exposed him to the symbolic theatre genre of Japanese Noh drama. The play, based on the Cuchulain legends of Irish mythology, uses Japanese-style masks and very simple sets to achieve an abstract, stylized form. The story is set by a dried up well on a barren mountainside, guarded constantly by a hawk-woman, and watched diligently by an old...
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A classic collection of Irish fairy tales and lore by award-winning author and poet W. B. Yeats
Originally published as two separate volumes in 1800s, this premier collection of Irish stories edited and compiled W. B. Yeats is the perfect gift for any lover of Irish literature and folklore. The lyrical prose and rich cultural heritage of each tale will captivate and enchant readers of all ages and keep them entertained for hours on end.
This volume...
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Born and educated in Dublin, Ireland, William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) discovered early in his literary career a fascination with Irish folklore and the occult. Later awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, Yeats produced a vast collection of stories, songs, and poetry of Ireland's historical and legendary past. Red Hanrahan is a character that Yeats returned to frequently, his creation influenced heavily by Celtic folklore. In this collection,...
15) Calvary
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William Butler Yeats's close friend, Ezra Pound, exposed the playwright to the symbolic theatre genre of Japanese Noh drama, prompting him to write a series of four plays in that style. The final play in this series, which were first printed together in "Four Plays for Dancers", was "Calvary". With Ireland in the midst of a hunger-strike, the story of the self-sacrificing Christ was particularly relevant. In the story, Christ dreams of his passion,...
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"The Dreaming of the Bones" was first published in 1919 and performed in 1931, it was one of the plays that comprised Yeats' "Four Plays for Dancers." Written in the Japanese Noh tradition, performed with masks, the play reflects on a belief that the dead may dream back.
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The stage is any bare place in a room close to the wall. A screen with a pattern of mountain and sky can stand against the wall, or a curtain with a like pattern hang upon it, but the pattern must only symbolize or suggest. One musician enters and then two others, the first stands singing while the others take their places. Then all three sit down against the wall by their instruments, which are already there-a drum, a zither, and a flute. Or they...
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If you have revisited the town, thin Shade,
Whether to look upon your monument
(I wonder if the builder has been paid)
Or happier thoughted when the day is spent
To drink of that salt breath out of the sea
When grey gulls flit about instead of men,
And the gaunt houses put on majesty:
Let these content you and be gone again;
For they are at their old tricks yet.
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"The Celtic Twilight" is a series of stories from Irish folklore by Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Beautifully and poetically written, they present a vivid portrait of those who lived near to the land in Ireland. Highly recommended for poetry lovers and those with an interest in Ireland.