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All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:
One time it was a woman's face, or worse-
The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;
Now nothing but comes readier to the hand
Than this accustomed toil.
--From All Things Can Tempt Me
One time it was a woman's face, or worse-
The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;
Now nothing but comes readier to the hand
Than this accustomed toil.
--From All Things Can Tempt Me
Nobel Prize winner W.B. Yeats laid the foundations for an Irish literary revival, drawing inspiration from his country's folklore, the occult, and Celtic philosophy. A writer of both poems and plays, he helped found Dublin's famed Abbey Theatre. The poems here provide an example of his life's work and artistry, beginning with verses such as "The Stolen Child" from his debut collection Crossways (written when he was 24) through "Why Should Not Old Men Be Mad?" from On the Boiler, published a year prior to his death.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2002
6 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
W.B. Yeats
2,042 books2,570 followersWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).
Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slow paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.
--from Wikipedia
Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slow paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.
--from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 3, 2020
One of the best of the series. This is one that includes notes at the head of each selection to get the reader oriented. The paintings by Harrington are gorgeous. The biography is helpful to understanding the context of the poems, too. Many of these are famous, but now my appreciation of them has grown, and many are new to me. I will continue to read all in this series that I can find.
Consider the last lines of:
*The Cat and the Moon"
...
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
Consider the last lines of:
*The Cat and the Moon"
...
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
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October 19, 2024Dovanotai knygai į puslapius nežiūrima.
Ne pirmajai pažinčiai su autoriaus kūryba skirta knyga, deja. Bet yra piešinukų, o tai jau šis tas.
Ne pirmajai pažinčiai su autoriaus kūryba skirta knyga, deja. Bet yra piešinukų, o tai jau šis tas.
September 30, 2016
Absolutely gorgeous book with the richest, most evocative illustrations. It is means for children, but I appreciated the glossary of terms and the brief biography of Yeats. Just glorious.
February 28, 2023
There's some weird conflation between the "Pocket Poets" series and "For Young People" series. This volume, the one I read, the one I added to my "Shelves" by searching its ISBN, is the Pocket Poets Yeats. It has no illustrations or explanatory notes.
Anyway, I cannot remember if I'd read a third Pocket Poets, or if I merely made a comment during my "activity" reading this book on Goodreads, but I feel I've been spoiled by the Pocket Poets Baudelaire, which pretty much just covers all of Fleurs du Mal with a few prose-poems added at the end. This Yeats volume instead pulls a handful of poems from most of Yeats's major books, with certain collections seeing greater representation than others, and overall it feels like too much of the man's life is crammed into so slim a volume. That is, I don't like how skimpy this anthology ends up being, but it means I've been encouraged to seek the full-length versions of Yeats's original books, so... I don't know if I can really say it's too "bad" a thing.
As happens a lot, indeed too frequently, it took me ages to read this whole thing, as I'd brought the volume to my office to have something to read occasionally, in contrast to novels I'd make myself spend more time on (that is, the Yeats book was so I could read a poem or two for a quick break, whereas with prose I almost-necessarily seek to read full chapters in a sitting). I cannot remember Yeats's earliest poems so well, having been read so long ago. I feel I probably liked them more than his later, political stuff, as I generally always prefer Romantic-adjacent praise of Nature over the struggles of Man, especially not as History comes closer to my own time (Yeats died only about fifty-five years before I was born...!).
Something interesting to me alone and no one else: I was intrigued by Yeats largely because musician Ben Frost used a quote for an album title. For no reason in particular, I've not listened to Frost's music in years, well before I purchased this collection. It may have been a neat idea to listen to that album while reading this, so maybe I'll plan for that in future. Perhaps specifically when reading Michael Robartes and the Dancer?
Anyway, I cannot remember if I'd read a third Pocket Poets, or if I merely made a comment during my "activity" reading this book on Goodreads, but I feel I've been spoiled by the Pocket Poets Baudelaire, which pretty much just covers all of Fleurs du Mal with a few prose-poems added at the end. This Yeats volume instead pulls a handful of poems from most of Yeats's major books, with certain collections seeing greater representation than others, and overall it feels like too much of the man's life is crammed into so slim a volume. That is, I don't like how skimpy this anthology ends up being, but it means I've been encouraged to seek the full-length versions of Yeats's original books, so... I don't know if I can really say it's too "bad" a thing.
As happens a lot, indeed too frequently, it took me ages to read this whole thing, as I'd brought the volume to my office to have something to read occasionally, in contrast to novels I'd make myself spend more time on (that is, the Yeats book was so I could read a poem or two for a quick break, whereas with prose I almost-necessarily seek to read full chapters in a sitting). I cannot remember Yeats's earliest poems so well, having been read so long ago. I feel I probably liked them more than his later, political stuff, as I generally always prefer Romantic-adjacent praise of Nature over the struggles of Man, especially not as History comes closer to my own time (Yeats died only about fifty-five years before I was born...!).
Something interesting to me alone and no one else: I was intrigued by Yeats largely because musician Ben Frost used a quote for an album title. For no reason in particular, I've not listened to Frost's music in years, well before I purchased this collection. It may have been a neat idea to listen to that album while reading this, so maybe I'll plan for that in future. Perhaps specifically when reading Michael Robartes and the Dancer?
March 11, 2020
This is one of the more than 20 books in the "Poetry for Young People" series. The editor is a scholar of Irish literature. Glenn Harrington contributes the paintings, which look like oil paintings. The introduction is a four-page biography of Yeats. The rest of the book is comprised of 26 of his poems, with commentary and brief glossary for each one. One problem I had is that a few of the poems are printed over one of the paintings, making it difficult to make out the words. But most of the poems are printed against a white background.
Now having read these poems, I find that I am not a great fan of them. I liked them well enough, but not enough to read them over and over. They are very much of Yeats' time and place, and perhaps I just don't relate to them all that well. They do use a lot of imagery and symbolism, and I can understand why Yeats is one of Ireland's greatest poets.
Now having read these poems, I find that I am not a great fan of them. I liked them well enough, but not enough to read them over and over. They are very much of Yeats' time and place, and perhaps I just don't relate to them all that well. They do use a lot of imagery and symbolism, and I can understand why Yeats is one of Ireland's greatest poets.
April 9, 2021
This was a really great collection of WBY’s poems, with gorgeously done paintings and helpful analysis included. I cannot recommend William Butler Yeats enough! He’s by far my favorite poet, and I love how each word he writes is steeped in Irish culture and mythology.
February 19, 2022
I really liked a lot of the illustrations in this selection. Nice compilation of Yeat’s poetry.
July 1, 2016
Some really beautiful illustrations. I wish they'd chosen a different one for the cover because although this one looks lovely accompanying "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," on the cover it just looks... brown. The illustration that accompanies "The Sad Shepherd" is brighter and more colorful and would have made the cover more appealing, I think. And poetry is something that needs to be sold, especially to kids.
January 21, 2011
This book is filled with the beautiful words of Yeats and gorgeous illustrations that are worthy of those brilliant words.
October 20, 2018
Some of these poems are great, most were incomprehensible to me.
July 8, 2018
A lovely collection.
October 24, 2022
Poignant yet splendid still. Philosophy of life interwoven into each stanza is deftly done. "Sailing to Byzantium" is a bit complex for my comprehension though.
December 27, 2023
I’m not entirely sure that I liked the way this book was structured, but the poetry was thoughtful and moving.
February 7, 2024
We enjoyed reading this in our homeschool and my kids really liked the short biography of the poet. Good illustrations too.
July 13, 2025
A nice lean selection for “young people.”
August 25, 2015
I read this book for National Poetry Month. It is a collection of poems by William Butler Yeats designed for young adult readers. The librarian at my school recommended this series of collections when I told her that I wanted to read poetry but was usually not a big fan of it. I am sad to say the book did not change my opinion of that – I am still not a fan of reading poetry. However, I did find myself enjoying a couple of his poems. My favorites were The Lake Isle of Innisfree and To A Child Dancing In The Wind. I think The Lake Isle of Innisfree won hands down. It was the only one I really remember from the collection (there were 25 poems total).
There was a brief introduction in the front of the book that I found particularly helpful. It gave a wonderful explanation and biography of Yeats and why the majority of his poems revolve around Ireland and the mystic beings of Irish folklore. Furthermore, each poem has a brief introduction that gives an overview of the poem and the meaning the author was attempting to convey. Also, there are footnotes for difficult words in the poem, well words that are considered difficult for young adult readers. I found both of these aspects helpful and enlightening when reading the poems. I myself do not like searching for the deep underlining meaning of the poems. I like ones that I can easily relate to and are not metaphors for more abstract concepts. As for Yeats, he hit this idea about half the time, so it wasn’t too hard for me to finish the collection.
My favorite part of the book by far were the illustrations and artwork done by Glenn Harrington for the book. They are impressionist, which is my favorite are style and beautifully represent every poem. I would have continued in the book just for those.
I would recommend this book, or rather the entire Poetry for Young People series to anyone starting to get into poetry for the first time. They do a wonderful job of opening up the world of poetry to people unfamiliar with it. I am giving it a 3 star rating for attempts to help understand poems and the artwork.
https://bookmouseblog.wordpress.com/2...
There was a brief introduction in the front of the book that I found particularly helpful. It gave a wonderful explanation and biography of Yeats and why the majority of his poems revolve around Ireland and the mystic beings of Irish folklore. Furthermore, each poem has a brief introduction that gives an overview of the poem and the meaning the author was attempting to convey. Also, there are footnotes for difficult words in the poem, well words that are considered difficult for young adult readers. I found both of these aspects helpful and enlightening when reading the poems. I myself do not like searching for the deep underlining meaning of the poems. I like ones that I can easily relate to and are not metaphors for more abstract concepts. As for Yeats, he hit this idea about half the time, so it wasn’t too hard for me to finish the collection.
My favorite part of the book by far were the illustrations and artwork done by Glenn Harrington for the book. They are impressionist, which is my favorite are style and beautifully represent every poem. I would have continued in the book just for those.
I would recommend this book, or rather the entire Poetry for Young People series to anyone starting to get into poetry for the first time. They do a wonderful job of opening up the world of poetry to people unfamiliar with it. I am giving it a 3 star rating for attempts to help understand poems and the artwork.
https://bookmouseblog.wordpress.com/2...
January 12, 2019
‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ was my favourite poem when I was thirteen, and the first poem I read where I realised what poetry WAS. ‘The Ballad of Father Gilligan’ is one of my favourite poems now (sadly not included in this Everyman collection). So I’m rather surprised this left me cold.
Aside from the obvious stand-outs (Down by the Sally Gardens, Lake Isle, An Irish Airman Forsees His Death, When You Are Old, Easter 1916, The Second Coming, Wild Swans – was never that fond of that one), which I’d encountered before, I can’t say I actually liked anything in this collection. Of course, it’s not a Complete (poetry is SO ANNOYING like that – either buy editions as published, buy a Complete, or get stuck with random Selections that overlap each other in a way that offends my tidy mind), so there might be great stuff elsewhere, but … I don’t think I’m going to spend any time looking for it.
The earlier stuff from In the Seven Woods, when he’s still clearly hung up on Maud Gonne, has a few touching ones: The Folly of Being Comforted and Never Give All the Heart. I find it rather odd how he was instrumental in the Rising and yet the most passionate thing he wrote about it was Easter, 1916, which is technically brilliant but still quite cold. When I compare Akhmatova, writing about similar times and circumstances, well.
Latterly his stuff gets rife with Ancient Greek and Roman references which just read as heavy and distancing. It’s like he could never really let himself go. He had great inspiration in the struggle for Irish independence and in all his doomed love affairs but he never capitalises on them. And, dear god, some of the poems are so LONG and INVOLVED and ... boring. My attention wandered. It's modern poetry. It's not supposed to be as boring as Milton! Sorry, brother of the less famous Jack!
Aside from the obvious stand-outs (Down by the Sally Gardens, Lake Isle, An Irish Airman Forsees His Death, When You Are Old, Easter 1916, The Second Coming, Wild Swans – was never that fond of that one), which I’d encountered before, I can’t say I actually liked anything in this collection. Of course, it’s not a Complete (poetry is SO ANNOYING like that – either buy editions as published, buy a Complete, or get stuck with random Selections that overlap each other in a way that offends my tidy mind), so there might be great stuff elsewhere, but … I don’t think I’m going to spend any time looking for it.
The earlier stuff from In the Seven Woods, when he’s still clearly hung up on Maud Gonne, has a few touching ones: The Folly of Being Comforted and Never Give All the Heart. I find it rather odd how he was instrumental in the Rising and yet the most passionate thing he wrote about it was Easter, 1916, which is technically brilliant but still quite cold. When I compare Akhmatova, writing about similar times and circumstances, well.
Latterly his stuff gets rife with Ancient Greek and Roman references which just read as heavy and distancing. It’s like he could never really let himself go. He had great inspiration in the struggle for Irish independence and in all his doomed love affairs but he never capitalises on them. And, dear god, some of the poems are so LONG and INVOLVED and ... boring. My attention wandered. It's modern poetry. It's not supposed to be as boring as Milton! Sorry, brother of the less famous Jack!
June 5, 2017
An another classic which didn't fully held up to my expectations. This book is a collection of translations of his works (poetry, dramas, essays) on Croatian. I couldn't really like his poetry, because it is so exclusive in dealing with all things Irish that you have to know Irish history and folklore to be able to grasp it's meaning without reading a fucking encyclopedia. A poet should write universally and not exclusively in order to be great, I thing. That double counts when you are so famous and respected as he is.
Now, his dramas are something else. Them I really liked. They are full of folklore in a context so you can understand it right away, plots are really engaging your imagination, and folcloristic immagery is superb.
2 of his essays which are presented in here are really forgettable.
So, big thumbs up for dramatic works, but without other Yeats's works I can really live just fine.
Now, his dramas are something else. Them I really liked. They are full of folklore in a context so you can understand it right away, plots are really engaging your imagination, and folcloristic immagery is superb.
2 of his essays which are presented in here are really forgettable.
So, big thumbs up for dramatic works, but without other Yeats's works I can really live just fine.
January 21, 2009
This is a useful introduction. Given that it is part of a series intended for the non-specialist, it might have been better to intersperse the analysis with a bit more historical and biographical narrative. It explores Yeats's "sensibility" examining it via the notion of power. Yeats indulged in a kind of disillusionment that (as with many in the 1930s) eventually arrived at a species of rather unhealthy authoritarianism. Ultimately, I am out of sympathy with the man.
September 27, 2010
Yeats poems are always beautiful, sometimes haunting and romantic. I am not very good with poetry, but Yeats is one I can appreciate. "The Lake Isle of Inisfree" makes me want to find his dream island and live there forever. And the infamous "Second Coming" gives a harrowing concept of an apocalyptic second birth of Christ, with Yeats occultic views about inverted time and other weirdnesses.
January 9, 2011
yeats and his wonderful magical dreamy poems never fail to pull me out of my surroundings.
September 6, 2016
Another wonderful selection of poems and marvelous illustrations in this fabulous series. A must have for all teachers and a must read for all poetry lovers.
December 1, 2013
great collection of art and poetry for young children to get them interested and tell them about the culture and meaning behind the poetry
December 16, 2016
My introduction to the poetry of W.B. Yeats.
My favourite was "The Stolen Child."
I will definitely be reading more of his poetry.
My favourite was "The Stolen Child."
I will definitely be reading more of his poetry.
January 1, 2017
8/10
Detailed and thought-full
Detailed and thought-full
October 13, 2015
Perfect in every way. The illustrations are stunning.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews