Yeats's Poetry, Drama, and Prose: A Norton Critical Edition

A lovely collection of Yeats's work. I purchased this for a college class but ended up thoroughly enjoying it and keeping it for my personal library.

Great condition, no problems whatsoever. 100% satisfied!

Item is just as described!

William Butler Yeats was one of the few influential and popular Irish poets of his time, which was the late 1800s and early 1900s. Along with Synge, and few others, he spearheaded a movement from Romantic poetry to a more political stand, helped to co-found the Abbey Theatre, and was an outspoken activist towards the preservation of Irish culture, myth, folklore, legend, and individuality. Most of his early works are centered around the Irish folklore and was heavy handed with the Romantic touch that he later regretted. He found it a bit too hokey in his later years, but it was nonetheless beautiful poetry and writing. Into his 20s, he met Maud Gonne, and his lifelong obsession with her began. Beautiful, a political, outspoken woman, and apparently quite tall, he was infatuated with her, but Maud only ever kept poor "Willie" at arm's length. Seeking something he could not have, he even went so far as to propose to Maud's daughter. His psychosis with her was a bit disturbing, but it fathered a great number of works centered around Maud, her representation of a dying Ireland, and his infatuation. Later on, his works more poignantly brought to bear the nation's crises situations, the political activism associated with it, and his stance on how Ireland should be represented. He completely turns his back on the Romantic heavy-handedness of his earlier works, but continually manages to remain fresh, with bold verbiage and style. Highly celebrated in his time, and after, he has become an appropriate stone to stand upon and learn from for the sake of Ireland's history and also the culture surrounding its growth. From the tales of Cuchulainn to the political atmosphere of freedom and independence, Yeats stood out amongst the crowd well into his later years, continually forcing unpopular subjects to the forefront with creativity and semantic prowess.

Great Condition

classic

This is an excellent book, produced with excellent quality. While it isn't the most complete anthology in the world as far as his poems are concerned (for this reason The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume I by Finneran is a much better choice), the prose found within the book are excellent. Another thing worth noting is the lengthily essays by other well known authors which tend to either be criticisms or praise for Mr. Yeats, truly magnificent in that department! Again, the focus of this anthology is much different from other supremely divine works (such as the one previously mentioned).

Good quality, came when I needed it. I don't have any qualifications to rate Yeats' work, but everyone should read it. This collection seems quite complete.

Used in my course on the Irish Literary Revival at Concordia University.

Excellent material for research

See headline

Yeats is hard reading, but then again, Yeats is in a realm of his own, and fascinates more and more with each reading.