A Book of Irish Verse

by William Butler Yeats

Overview

In 1895, the thirty-year-old W. B. Yeats, already established as one of Ireland's leading poets and folklorists, published this outstanding collection of Irish verse as part of his campaign to establish a tradition of Irish poetry fit for the dawn of a new age in Ireland's history. Set amid the political turmoil of its time, the book succeeded not only in highlighting the fundamental role of literature in defining national identity, but also created the historical framework that presaged the remarkable literary achievements of Irish writers in the century that followed its publication. The poets featured reflect the richness and breadth of a unique literary tradition, from Oliver Goldsmith to Oscar Wilde. This Routledge Classics edition, complete with a specially commissioned introduction by acclaimed writer and critic John Banville, is essential reading for all who appreciate good literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780530254487
Publisher:	Wentworth Press
Publication date:	03/06/2019
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). One of the great poets of the modern age. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Poetry in 1923.

Table of Contents

	Introduction to the Routledge Classics Edition	xiii
	Preface	xvii
	Modern Irish Poetry	xix
	Old Age	1
	The Village Preacher	1
	The Deserter's Meditation	2
	Thou Canst Not Boast	3
	Kathleen O'More	3
	The Groves of Blarney	4
	The Light of Other Days	7
	At the Mid Hour of Night	8
	The Burial of Sir John Moore	8
	The Convict of Clonmel	9
	The Outlaw of Loch Lene	11
	Dirge of O'Sullivan Bear	11
	Love Song	14
	The Whistlin' Thief	14
	Soggarth Aroon	16
	Dark Rosaleen	18
	Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell	20
	A Lamentation for the Death of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald	27
	The Woman of Three Cows	29
	Prince Alfrid's Itinerary through Ireland	31
	O'Hussey's Ode to the Maguire	33
	The Nameless One	35
	Siberia	37
	Hy-Brasail	39
	Mo Craoibhin Cno	40
	Mairgread Ni Chealleadh	41
	From the Cold Sod That's O'er You	42
	The Fairy Nurse	44
	A Cuisle Geal Mo Chroidhe	45
	Lament of the Irish Emigrant	46
	The Welshmen of Tirawley	48
	Aideen's Grave	60
	Deirdre's Lament for the Sons of Usnach	66
	The Fair Hills of Ireland	68
	Lament Over the Ruins of the Abbey of Timoleague	69
	The Fairy Well of Lagnanay	71
	On the Death of Thomas Davis	74
	The County of Mayo	76
	The Wedding of the Clans	77
	The Little Black Rose	78
	Song	79
	The Bard Ethell	80
	Lament for the Death of Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill	89
	Maire Bhan Astor	90
	O! The Marriage	92
	A Plea for Love	93
	Remembrance	94
	A Fragment from 'The Prisoner: a Fragment'	95
	Last Lines	96
	The Memory of the Dead	97
	The Winding Banks of Erne	99
	The Fairies	102
	The Abbot of Inisfalen	104
	Twilight Voices	106
	Four Ducks on a Pond	107
	The Lover and Birds	107
	The Celts	109
	Salutation to the Celts	111
	The Gobban Saor	112
	Patrick Sheehan	113
	The Irish Peasant Girl	116
	To God and Ireland True	117
	The Banshee	118
	Aghadoe	120
	A Mad Song	121
	Lady Margaret's Song	122
	Song	122
	Father O'Flynn	123
	Song	124
	Requiescat	125
	The Lament of Queen Maev	126
	The Dead at Clonmacnois	128
	The Spell-Struck	128
	Were You on the Mountain?	129
	My Grief on the Sea	130
	My Love, O, She is My Love	131
	I Shall Not Die for Thee	132
	Riddles	133
	Lough Bray	134
	The Children of Lir	135
	St. Francis to the Birds	137
	Sheep and Lambs	140
	The Gardener Sage	141
	The Dark Man	142
	The Fairy Fiddler	143
	Our Thrones Decay	144
	Immortality	144
	The Great Breath	145
	Sung on a By-way	145
	Dream Love	146
	Illusion	146
	Janus	147
	Connla's Well	147
	Names	148
	That	149
	Think	149
	Te Martyrum Candidatus	150
	The Church of a Dream	150
	Ways of War	151
	The Red Wind	151
	Celtic Speech	153
	To Morfydd	153
	Can Doov Deelish	154
	Anonymous
	Shule Aroon	159
	The Shan Van Vocht	160
	The Wearing of the Green	162
	The Rakes of Mallow	162
	Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye	163
	Kitty of Coleraine	166
	Lament of Morian Shehone for Miss Mary Bourke	166
	The Geraldine's Daughter	168
	By Memory Inspired	168
	A Folk Verse	170
	Notes	171

Editorial Reviews

The poet Yeats compiled this collection and tried to point out a new direction for Irish poetry in the process: Book Of Irish Verse republishes the original 1900 work, presenting lesser-known but still significant poets in an excellent collection.

'Yeats was one of the few whose history is the history of their own time, who are a part of the consciousness of an age which cannot be understood without them.' - T.S. Eliot

'You were silly like us; your gift survived it all;The parish of rich women, physical decay, yourself;Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.' - W.H Auden, In Memory of W.B. Yeats

From the Publisher