Early Poems

by W.B. Yeats

One of the greatest poets of any century, the Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) drew upon Irish folklore and myth as inspiration for much of his early poetry. Mythic themes as well as many other topics are masterfully explored in this rich selection of 134 lyrics chiefly selected from six volumes of verse published between 1889 and 1914. Among the poems included are "The Stolen Child" and "Down by the Salley Gardens" ( Crossways , 1889); "To the Rose upon the Rood of Time," "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," "When You Are Old," and "To Ireland in the Coming Times" ( The Rose , 1893); "The Song of Wandering Aengus" and "A Poet to His Beloved" ( The Wind Among the Reeds , 1899); "The Song of Red Hanrahan" ( In the Seven Woods , 1903); "No Second Troy" and "The Fascination of What's Difficult" ( The Green Helmet and Other Poems , 1910); "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing" and "To a Shade" ( Responsibilities , 1914); and many more. This representative selection offers readers a splendid sampling of the distinctive Yeatsian voice — romantic, yearning, full of the magic and mysticism Yeats imbibed as a boy in the West of Ireland, later counterbalanced by an anguished realism grounded in the poet's nationalistic and political sympathies.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Ireland, Fiction, Classic Literature

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 1993

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

[Teri-K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm no expert on poetry, I just enjoy it. There some good ones here - that made me think, had metaphores I liked, or just sounded pleasing to my ear. There were also a lot about how miserable the woman he loved made him, and quite a few refernces to Irish history/mythology, both of which occasionally made them hard going. But I'll reread them for a while, as good poetry bears revisiting, I think.

[Shin Gaku · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good introduction to Yeats poems. His early works are romantic and full of mythic images. If you love fantasy novels, then this book is for you. You will know by reading this many writers have borrowed images from Yeats poems. One famous example is Ray Bradbury. The title of his famous short story is taken from a Yeats poem. It is "The Golden Apples of the Sun". This poets' works gradually matured through years and you can sense the change in this book. Words get terse and expressions are deepened. And these kinds of poems are not only beautiful but also have impact and brilliant insight to human nature. "A Coat” is a good example. This is a very short poem. But in this work Yeats shows courage and his determination of living as a true poet.

[J. Alfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sooooo good. Yeats has the power to make you take part in this murky, sad watercolored sort of magic world and mythology.
What does this Fergus character have to do with "all disheveled wandering stars"? The heck if I know! But I'm pretty sure I love it.

Also: (Check check it)

Fergus:
A wild and foolish laborer is a king,
To do and do and do, and never dream.

Druid:
Take, if you must, this little bag of dreams,
Unloose the cord, and they will wrap you round.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Yeats's poetry. There is just something charming and magical about it.

I was first introduced to the work of Yeats by the music of Loreena McKennitt where she would put music to his words like "Stolen Child" and "Down by the Salley Gardens." But so many of his other poems have themes and lines that are just as beautiful.

I especially loved "Fergus and the Druid," "The Rose of Peace," and "When You Are Old."

There's an otherworldliness to his poetry. It's from a completely other time where imagination and magic run rampant and that is captured beautifully in his poems.

[Michael Palkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Infinitely quotable and enjoyable, incorporating the juxtaposition of Irish slang and everyday life with formulaic poetic form. The book is brilliantly sectioned and shows a precocious development in structure among other things too exhaustive to discuss.

"His eyelids droop, his head falls low
His old eyes cloud with dreams;
The sun upon all things that grow
Pours round in sleepy streams"

[Katra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really loved two of the roughly 150 poems in this collection. Overall, I just don't think Yeats is my flavor.

[Tara Stutsman · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I should caveat my low rating by noting that I don't have much experience reading poetry, and it's a bit hard to interpet some of the secondary meaning in the poetry with both significant time and cultural distance from when Yeats wrote these early poems. Yeats makes reference to Irish gods, historical figures, and sayings that (though footnoted the first time each is mentioned) were hard to keep track of and some of the romanticism was lost on me.

I also found some of the poems so dense and disjointed that I read and re-read lines to try to get my bearings and often found myself at a loss as to the meaning. Again, this could be partly my lack of familiarity with poetry and its cadences that contributed to this frustration, but I found this to be excessively true with Yeats in ways that I haven't struggled with other poets.

There were some turns of phrase throughout that made for pleasant vignettes within a poem, and these I did enjoy so it was not all lost on me, and it is a short read at just 99 pages of actual poetry - though don't expect that you'll be able to finish quickly because it takes a bit of time to let the lines sink in and their meaning to be discerned.

[Melisa Blankenship · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is not so much a critique of Yeats, as it's a statement of my enjoyment of Yeats (for GoodReads recommendation purposes). I found that the language used and the topics covered were hard for me to understand because the era and context were unfamiliar to me. Some of these took a lot of work for me to even understand what he was describing, whereas there were other poems I found easy to understand--and those I enjoyed.

[Alex]

hours of subsequent research of obscure irish mythology were necessary and worth it!
okay, so in yeat's early stuff, he emulates romantic poetry, and it's pretty good, but a little later, when he starts talking about sorrow, grey pebbles, politics, extreme yearning, and legends-- you can tell he's in his irish bag. i'm excited to read more of his later stuff when he supposedly starts toying with form and irish oral history.

[Matthew Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those who enjoy Irish folklore and mythology may enjoy Yeats's early poems. The language and scenery is quite lovely. The only poem in this collection that truly moved me was The Ballad of Father Gilligan. The poems didn't flow as well as I would have liked because the meter he used felt clunky and distracting in some places, but perhaps he was using it in a way I didn't understand.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read a few poems for a Celtic literature class I'm taking, but wow! Yeates' use of language, mythology, and the imagery of several of the landscapes he describes is amazing. It's no wonder that he is one of the greatest Irish poets of all time.

[Ryan Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The uncontrolled mystery on the bestial floor” -The Magi, W.B. Years-

[Daniel Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Yeats' poetry, but some of his subject matter is quite emphatically wack. The man himself was a dash peculiar as well.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

my favorite poems from this lil collection:

No Second Troy (would give 5 stars alone, v nice)
The Cold Heaven
When You Are Old

[Barb Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brown penny is my all time fave of WBY poems have this book on my shelf in place of honour

[Brannigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Yeats he blends in wonderful imagery and emotions.

[Conor · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Yeats I've read, fuckin good words.

[Caitlin Vaille · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked a few of these, but almost every one of these poems reads like a fable or a myth. I didn't know that going in, so it was a lot to take in

[Patricia Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorites:

"To Some I Have Talked with by Fire":

but the loud beat/
Of their long wings, the flash of their white feet.

"The Song of Wandering Aengus":

And walk among the dappled grass
And pluck till time and times are one
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

"Mongan Laments that Change That Has Come upon Him and His Beloved":

Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns?
I have been changed to a hound with one red ear.

"The Arrow"

There's no man may look upon her, no man,
As when newly grown to be a woman,
Blossom pale, she pulled down the pale blossom
At the moth hour and hid it in her bosom.

"The Young Man's Song"

Ah penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.


"To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing"

Bred to a harder thing
Than Triumph, turn away
And like a laughing string
Wheron mad fingers play
Amid a place of stone,
Be secret and exult,
Because of all things known
That is most difficult.

All of: "Adam's Curse" and "A Memory of Youth" and "A Coat" and "The Dolls"

[Caleb Lail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, well, well, he got me with romantic poetry. Admittedly, I can be a sucker for romantic poetry sometimes, but I try to puff up my chest and act all modern when I can. But this stuff really was good. A lot of the poems stuck with me, and specific lines were so great I just had to jot them down. For an anthology, this makes a great collection.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's a fav. The earlier, the better imo. Later stuff was okay.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Must prefer his later works.