Total Page : 180
Publisher : Wildside Press
Publication Date : 2004 09 01
>> Inspired Prose
I had heard of William Butler Yeats and I must say he is quite an excellent poet The dreams I had of the old worlds came to life in this
>> An Excellent Guide to Understanding Yeats Early Poetry
When Robert Frost A not very likable fellow when you read his biographies despite his excellent poetry visited Yeats in Ireland he made a comment to the effect that It s no wonder he believes in faeries He was responding to the beautiful mystical Irish landscape Yeats grew up in This book even though you re probably not in Ireland when you read it will have you responding much as Frost did The peasantry have so much of their pagan ancestry in their blood that despite their ostensible Catholicism their deep belief in the little people comes out as strong as ever when questioned about it Reading these anecdotes some of them grafted directly onto Yeats early poetry gives them a power they would not have had you not read this book and realized how here and now faeryland was to the common people at the time The Celtic belief that death into Faeryland is far more desirable than birth is made beautifully apparent in this book Hence by the way the celebratory Irish wake Hence also this lovely poem
Heardst thou not sweet words among That Heaven resounding minstrelsy Heardst thou not that those who die Awake in a world of ecstacy That love when limbs are interwoven And sleep when the night of life is cloven And thought to the world s dim boudaries clinging And music when one beloved is singing Is death
These sorts of things as well as Yeats poetry are worth deep consideration in this present world where medicine is deemed omnipotent and yet nevertheless we all die
