The Trembling of the Veil

by W.B. Yeats

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Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Biography, Poetry, Memoir

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

William 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

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This autobiographical volumes by Yeats is quite interesting, mainly from a historical point of view, but some of the opinions expressed and expounded on (over and over again) do become rather tiresome after a while.

Some it is explicable due to the time in which Yeats lived but some of it is just a dribble of the most inane flights of fancy it become interminable before very long.

Don’t get me wrong; anybody who’s seen my bookshelves and movie collection will know that I’m a huge fan of the fantasy genre in fiction but when people start going on about how they actually believe in fairies and black magic in real life I’m afraid my interest shuts down pretty quickly.

The most interesting part of this book is seeing how Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment was seen by his contemporary writers. Horrible, but interesting.

My next book: The King’s Threshold, And On Baile’s Strand

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel so bad. His dad beat him for being too verbose while at dinner with a construction worker.

[Alejandro Gómez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro que requiere del lector un conocimiento histórico, político y cultural de la Gran Bretaña de finales del siglo XIX, sin ello se sentirá extraviado en toda la narración, aunado a la nula linealidad temporal.

Sin duda no es una biografía convencional, sino un diario que guarda un testimonio muy sincero de la época, pero de anécdotas personales dosificadas. Heche de menos una narración más extensa de su difícil niñez academica o su tormentosa relación con Maud.

Pero es un libro muy valioso, enigmático y finamente divertido.