Under the Moon: The Unpublished Early Poetry

by W.B. Yeats

While working on a facsimile edition and transcription of W. B. Yeats's surviving early manuscripts, renowned Yeats scholar George Bornstein made a thrilling literary thirty-eight unpublished poems written between the poet's late teens and late twenties. These works span the crucial years during which the poet "remade himself from the unknown and insecure young student Willie Yeats to the more public literary, cultural, and even political figure W. B. Yeats whom we know today." "Here is a poetry marked by a rich, exuberant, awk-ward, soaring sense of potential, bracingly youthful in its promise and its clumsiness, in its moments of startling beauty and irrepressible excess," says Brendan Kennelly. And the Yeats in these pages is already experimenting with those themes with which his readers will become his stake in Irish nationalism; his profound love for Maud Gonne; his intense fascination with the esoteric and the spiritual.
With Bornstein's help, one can trace Yeats's process of self-discovery through constant revision and personal reassessment, as he develops from the innocent and derivative lyricist of the early 1880s to the passionate and original poet/philosopher of the 1890s.
Reading-texts of over two dozen of these poems appear here for the first time, together with those previously available only in specialized literary journals or monographs. Bornstein has assembled all thirty-eight under the title Yeats had once planned to give his first volume of collected poems. Under the Moon is essential reading for anyone interested in modern poetry.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1995

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

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty-eight early poems of William Butler Yeats from the 1880s and 1890s are included in this slim volume. They foreshadow the great poetry that would shower forth from his pen and are worth reading in that light. More than the poetry of the average young man, these poems suggest a depth of thought and feeling that is already present in the man. Moments of beauty and a sense of potential lie amidst the sometimes awkward prose, but who am I to contend that this is less than could be done by any genius of such an age? The innocence and naive charm of these poems makes them worthy of consideration.

[SarahJaneSmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

It`s definitely not Yeats`s fault that his words did not touch my heart at all. I just realized that I`m not really into poetry any more.

[ouliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

this feels so spring

[Eden_Under_The_Tree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently read a collection of Yeats’ later, published works, I assumed that this brief collection of poems written when Yeats was but a young man would underwhelm me in comparison to his later greatness….

How wrong was I. From the first poem (“A Flower Has Blossomed”), I was blown away by Yeats ability to use nature and beauty to depict sorrow and loss.

I would recommend this collection (of only 38 poems) first to anyone interested in Yeats, as I found young-Yeats’ writing simpler and less dependent on allusions to Greek and Irish mythology, which makes Yeats much more accessible for beginners to classic poetry.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad collection of poetry, though its obvious it came from early on in Yeats' career, most of them are unpolished, a bit hit or miss, and in some cases not even fully finished. Though I'm not usually a huge fan of poetry, I do like to read it here or there, but it mostly goes over my head, and for much of this volume that statement holds true. Still enjoyable.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reader will not find any great poetry here, but you will find glimmerings of Yeats's future greatness as he contends with his poetic influences (Spenser, Shelley, ...) to find his own voice. There actually are several good poems in this collection, but most of them are what one would expect from a young (teenage) would-be poet.

[Zach Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a minute, but by the time I finished this collection I was impressed by the energy and discipline of the poems. Worthwhile reading for sure, but I think the poems in the second half are better than the ones in the first.

[Meltha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite poet. Period.

[Елизавета · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book full of wonderful poems from the early writings of W. B. Yeats. The poems have a sort of mysterious side to them, and they're best read in a dimly lit room. Yeats is certainly my favourite poet, as every poem brings new images to my mind and new feelings.