Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
    Unavailable
    The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
    Unavailable
    The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
    Ebook878 pages7 hours

    The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

    By William Butler Yeats

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats includes all of the poems authorized by Yeats for inclusion in his standard canon. Breathtaking in range, it encompasses the entire arc of his career, from luminous reworkings of ancient Irish myths and legends to passionate meditations on the demands and rewards of youth and old age, from exquisite, ocasionally whimsical songs of love, nature, and art to somber and angry poems of life in a nation torn by war and uprising.  In observing the development of rich and recurring images and themes over the course of his body of work, we can trace the quest of this century's greatest poet to unite intellect and artistry in a single magnificent vision.

    Revised and corrected, this edition includes Yeats's own notes on his poetry, complemented by explanatory notes from esteemed Yeats scholar Richard J. Finneran.  The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats is the most comprehensive edition of one of the world's most beloved poets available.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribner
    Release dateJun 30, 2008
    ISBN9781439104774
    Unavailable
    The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
    Author

    William Butler Yeats

    William Butler Yeats is generally considered to be Ireland’s greatest poet, living or dead, and one of the most important literary figures of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.

    Read more from William Butler Yeats

    Related to The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A national TREASURE

      Jul 8, 2020

      It is spring 2020 and lockdown Britain faces its greatest crisis since the Second World War. During a TV address, the Queen borrows a famous lyric: ‘We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again,’ she says.

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Best Books Of The Year

      Dec 13, 2023

      The Best Books Of The Year
      8 min read

    • Article

      Daughters & domesticity

      Sep 3, 2020

      Daughters & domesticity
      6 min read

    • Article

      River Bridges

      Jul 9, 2020

      River Bridges
      2 min read

    • Article

      Alan Hull

      Feb 2, 2024

      Alan Hull
      6 min read

    • Article

      One, Two, Three

      Feb 3, 2022

      One, Two, Three
      1 min read

    • Article

      Rhiannon Giddens

      Mar 16, 2020

      Rhiannon Giddens
      4 min read

    • Article

      Have Your Say…

      Oct 28, 2021

      Have Your Say…
      4 min read

    • Article

      Terror From The Skies

      Oct 6, 2022

      Terror From The Skies
      4 min read

    • Article

      One, Two, Three

      Feb 4, 2021

      One, Two, Three
      1 min read

    • Article

      Poetry

      Jul 6, 2021

      Poetry
      2 min read

    • Article

      Circle of Friends

      Jan 7, 2022

      Circle of Friends
      5 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading

      Jun 7, 2019

      Summer Reading
      4 min read

    Reviews for The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

    4.5/5

    532 ratings16 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I have given hourlong recitations of Yeats's poems, among the easiest to recall in English; for example, his tetrameters in the late "Under Ben Bulben" which contains his epitaph. I defy you to say this aloud three times without knowing most of it by heart: "Whether man die in his bed,/ Or the rifle knocks him dead,/ A brief parting from those dear/ Is the worst man has to fear." And his own epitaph is memorable, "Cast a cold eye/ On life, on death/ Horseman, pass by!" It is anti-conventional, since most epitaphs were written by clergy to scare the readers back to church, like this one in Pittsfield, MA: "Corruption, earth and worms/ Shall but refine this flesh..." etc. I seriously doubt the interred was consulted about that one. Yeats counters, look at this grave, and fogggetaboutit, Pass by!By memory I still have "When you are old," his adaptation of Ronsard, "Lake Isle of Innisfree," so imitative of the water lapping the shores, in its medial caesuras, "I hear lake water lapping...Though I stand on the roadway..I shall arise and go now..." And so interesting that WBY first had a truism, "There noon is all a glimmer, and midnight a purple glow," which he reversed to the memorable, "There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon has a purple glow..." Ahh... a useful trick for writers. (My Ph.D. advisor Leonard Unger noted the influence of Meredith on Innisfree.) "The Second Coming," whose opening I said in my flight fears of landing. The problem in reciting that poem is "The worst are full of passionate intensity." I had to reduce the intensity of my aloudreading. "Sailing to Byzantium," and ohers.I have also set to music seven of Yeats' poems, including "Brown Penny," "Lullaby," "Her Anxiety," and even "Crazy Jane talks to the Bishop." Some of these tunes, played decades ago, can be heard on my google+ page, no middle initial.Yeats's son Michael, fathered in his late fifties, toured the US in the 70s. A friend in the Berkshires heard him recall his father mainly shooing him from the room to write or recite. Sounds accurate. (Maybe that's why Shakespeare lived in London, his kids in Stratford!)I mentioned learning Yeats at Leonard Unger's knee, but also from Chester Anderson, Joycean and Irish specialist
    • 5/5
      This anthology is thorough and well-organized. Yeats is one of the greatest poets of all time, and a student of his work cannot go wrong with this anthology. The notes on his works are not intrusive but provide just enough background.
    • 5/5
      My favorite book I have ever owned.
    • 5/5
      The best of the best.
    • 5/5
      I have enjoyed the poetry of William Butler Yeats for many years as evidenced by my well-worn copy of his Complete Poems. But there is more to enjoy when considering this protean author for throughout his long life, William Butler Yeats produced important works in every literary genre, works of astonishing range, energy, erudition, beauty, and skill. His early poetry is memorable and moving. His poems and plays of middle age address the human condition with language that has entered our vocabulary for cataclysmic personal and world events. "O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,How can we know the dancer from the dance?"("Among School Children", p 105)The writings of his final years offer wisdom, courage, humor, and sheer technical virtuosity. T. S. Eliot pronounced Yeats "the greatest poet of our time -- certainly the greatest in this language, and so far as I am able to judge, in any language" and "one of the few whose history is the history of their own time, who are a part of the consciousness of an age which cannot be understood without them."There are always new things to be learned when reading and meditating on the poetry of this masterful author.
    • 4/5
      The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats by William B. YeatsThe Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats by William Butler Yeats has a gift for language even when the subject of his poetry falls into the repetition of Irish myths. His way with words is astounding and his poems about God and angels speak to me.There is no doubt that he is a Shakespeare with his words, but he is always good and very enjoyable on rainy days. One of my favorite poems:"A mermaid found a swimming lad, picked him for her own,pressed her body to his body, laughed; and plunging down, forgot in cruel happiness that even lovers drown."Pure magic. I loved this book of poetry.
    • 5/5
      Lyrical, mystical, beautifully crafted. Yeats not only spoke to the his time and place, he transcended.
    • 4/5
      Not my favourite recent poetry reads though still very evocative in places.
    • 5/5
      a great collection!
    • 5/5
      Yeats moves in my thoughts and in my life everyday. I have two battered collections of his poems, the first given me by a now dead friend. Who else has such music, or such passion?
    • 5/5
      Beautiful. I regularly return to this collection and reread them at random, out loud, to savor the language - a sign of poetry done right.
    • 4/5
      One of the most powerful voices in English-language poetry of the twentieth century. Lots of symbolism, some of it is quite arcane, but much is easily accessible.
    • 5/5
      My favorite poet, and the ultimate volume of his poetry.
    • 5/5
      Yeats has a knack for approaching emotions and situations obliquely and obscurely at first, and yet somehow hitting them right on by the time he's through. A perfect subtlety, dancing on the thin line between pathos and authenticity.
    • 5/5
      The Spirits talked through Yeats' wife while she was in a trance-like state. Not for someone who is looking for a quick Astrology fix. How many voters know much, if anything, about Yeats' background in Magick, etc. That he shows up in one of Crowley's novels as the decidedly inferior poet Gates. That he and the Great Beast had 'psychic skirmishes. That he proposed to Maude Gonne several times and was turned down repeatedly. He even proposed to Gonne's daugter Iseult He became a randy old goat after a late start.
    • 5/5
      From his early Romantic poems to his later more visionary verse ensnared in occult and spritual symbolism, Yeats body of work is indispensable for any student of poetry. A cornerstone of Ireland's literary tradition.