A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

593 Pages·1968·44.82 MB·English

by  A. Norman Jeffares (auth.)

A COMMENTARY ON
THE COLLECTED POEMS
OF W. B. YEATS
By A. Norman ]effares
TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN: DRAWINGS AND
DESCRIPTIONS
W. B. YEATS: MAN AND POET
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
THE POETRY OF W. B. YEATS
GEORGE MOORE
THE CIRCUS ANIMALS: ESSAYS (forthcoming)
Edited works
MARIA EDGEWORTH, CASTLE RACKRENT AND
OTHER STORIES
BENJAMIN DISRAELI, SYBIL
BENJAMIN DISRAELI, LOTHAIR
SEVEN CENTURIES OF POETRY
THE SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND (with M. Bryn Davies)
POEMS OF W. B. YEATS
SELECTED POEMS OF W. B. YEATS
A GOLDSMITH SELECTION
COWPER
SELECTED PROSE OF W. B. YEATS
SELECTED PLAYS OF W. B. YEATS
SELECTED CRITICISM OF W. B. YEATS
IN EXCITED REVERIE (with K. G. W. Cross)
GOLDSMITH, SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER
WHITMAN, SELECTED POEMS AND PROSE
CONGREVE, INCOGNITA AND THE WAY OF THE WORLD
SHERIDAN, THE RIVALS
SHERIDAN, THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
FAIR LIBERTY WAS ALL HIS CRY
CONGREVE, LOVE FOR LOVE
FARQUHAR, THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM
SWIFT
CONGREVE, THE DOUBLE-DEALER
FARQUHAR, THE RECRUITING OFFICER
SCOTT'S MIND AND ART (forthcoming)
A COMMENTARY ON
THE COLLECTED POEMS
OF W. B. YEATS
J
A. Norman effares
Palgrave Macmillan
1968
ISBN 978-1-349-00165-1 ISBN 978-1-349-00163-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00163-7
© A. Norman Jeffares 1968
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1968 978-0-333-02266-5
Published f:y
MACMILLAN AND CO LTD
Little Essex Street London wc2
and also at Bombcry Calcutta and Madras
Macmillan South Africa (Publishers) Pry Ltd Johannesburg
The Macmillan Compaf!Y of Australia Pry Ltd Melbourne
The Macmillan Compaf!Y of Canada Ltd Toronto
TO ADELE CROWDER
Contents
PREFACE vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix
CHRONOLOGY OF YEATS'S LIFE xiii
THE CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTED POEMS xxi
COMMENTARY 1
APPENDIX I: GAELIC NAMES 539
APPENDIX II: DIAGRAM FROM A VISION 540
INDEX TO TITLES 54I
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 553
Maps
YEATS'S IRELAND xxxiii
YEATS'S SLIGO xxxiv
v
Preface
T H r s commentary is intended to assist the reader of Yeats's Collected
Poems (page references to the second edition (1950) are given in
the margin in bold face type). It attempts to date the composition
of poems where this is possible and to give the place of first publi
cation. Yeats's prose has been quoted where it throws light on the
meaning of particular poems : thus his notes to early editions are
included as well as passages from his critical and autobiographical
prose. Abbreviations of the titles of works cited are given in a
list on pp. ix-xii. His inconsistencies in spelling have been retained ;
an appendix gives his views on the pronunciation and spelling of
Gaelic names. For help in annotating them I am deeply indebted to
Dr Brendan Kennelly.
The commentary owes much to the helpful kindness of Mrs
Yeats, who allowed the editor access to Yeats's library and manu
scripts. Readers will be able to supplement the bibliographical
information by referring to The Variorum Edition of the Poems of
W. B. Yeats (ed. Allt and Alspach). A Concordance to the Poems of
W. B. Yeats (ed. Parrish and Painter) affords a quick means of com
paring the images and symbols used by the poet. The commentary
has, for reasons of space, avoided critical comment or judgement,
and has been confined to providing information which will help
readers to assess the effects of Yeats's sources, his wide and unusual
reading, and his life - and to understand some factual meanings of
poems and the circumstances in which some poems were written.
Much-despite the continuing, specialised work on Yeats by critics
and scholars-remains uncertain and obscure. And the poet himself
would probably not have objected to this situation: 'I don't want
them', he once remarked to his wife, 'to know all about every
thing.' It is largely thanks to her work, her care in preserving
his manuscripts and library, her unselfish readiness to help scholars
in their enquiries, that we can piece our thoughts about his work
into our own individual views of his great poetic achievement.
Ledenon, France. A. NoRMAN ]EFFARES
1967
vi
Acknowledgement
THE quotations from the work of W. B. Yeats are reprinted by
kind permission of Mr Michael Butler Yeats.
vii
Abbreviations
BOOKS BY YEATS
A Autobiographies (I 9 55 )
AV(A) A Vision (I925)
AV(B) A Vision (I937)
BS The Bounty of Sweden (I925)
CK The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics
(I892). (In Poems (I895) and subsequent printings the
spelling Countess Cathleen was used)
CP Collected Poems (I 9 3 3 ; 2nd ed., with later poems added,
I950). References are to the second edition unless
otherwise stated.
CPI Collected Plays (I934; 2nd ed., with additional plays,
I95 2)·
CT The Celtic Twilight (I893)
cw
Collected Works (I9o8).
DP Dramatis Personae (Dublin, I935; London, I936).
The latter edition includes Estrangement, The Death of
Synge and The Bounty of Sweden.
DWL Letters on Poetry from W. B. Yeats to Dorothy Wellesley
(I940; reissued I964). References are to the I964
reissue.
E Explorations (I962)
E&I Essays and Introductions (I96I)
FFT Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (I888)
FMM A Full Moon in March (I935)
GH The Green Helmet and Other Poems (I9Io)
ISW In the Seven Woods (I9o3)
KGCT The King of the Great Clock Tower (I934)
L Letters, ed. Allan Wade (I954)
LKT Letters to Katharine Tynan, ed. Roger McHugh (I95 3)
M Mythologies (I959)
Az. ix
A Commentary on the Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats
MRD Michael Robartes and the Dancer (192.1)
NP New Poems (1938)
OB October Blast (192.7)
OTB On the Boiler (1939)
P (189s) Poems (189s)
PASL Per Amica Silentia Lunae (1918)
PW Poetical Works, 2. vols (1906; 1907)
PWD Poems Written in Discouragement (1913)
RIT Representative Irish Tales
RPP Responsibilities: Poems and a Plqy (1914)
SPF Seven Poems and a Fragment (192.2.)
SSY The Senate Speeches of W. B. Yeats, ed. Donald T.
Torchiana (196o)
TSR The Secret Rose (1897). There was an enlarged and
revised edition in 1902.. References are to the 1897
edition.
VE The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, ed.
Peter Alit and Russell K. Alspach (19n)
VPI The Variorum Edition of the Plqys of W. B. Yeats, ed.
Russell K. Alspach (1966)
W&B Wheels and Butterflies (1934)
WPM Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems (1932.)
wo
The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889)
WR The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)
ws
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
wsc
The Wild Swans at Coole (1917)
WWP The Words upon the Window-pane (1934)
Y&TSM W. B. Yeats and T. Sturge Moore. Their Correspondence
1901-1937, ed. Ursula Bridge (1953)
OTHER BOOKS
B A Bibliography of the Writings of W. B. Yeats, ed. Allan
Wade, 2.nd ed. (19s8)
BL J. Stallworthy, Between the Lines (1963)
ED Richard Ellmann, Eminent Domain (1967)
HG An Honoured Guest, ed. Denis Donoghue and J. R.
Mulryne (196s)
HI Edmund Curtis, A History of Ireland (1936)
HS C. M. Bowra, The Heritage of Symbolism (1943)
X