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A collection of 20 poems from 1928. Highlights - "sailing to byzantium" "the tower" "meditations in time of civil war" "nineteen hundred and nineteen" and "a man young and old"
A beautiful edition from Penguin. Worth every penny for Sailing to Byzantium alone.
In my review of Seamus Heaney's Death of a Naturalist, I casually referred to "Yeatsian idealism," to contrast the earlier poet's elite modernism with Heaney's later and more modest poetic of the turf and bog. Facility with such phrases as "Yeatsian idealism" is the fruit of a general education, but as poetry is in the particulars, it is good for us generally educated to re-consult (or sometimes, frankly, consult for the first time) the primary sources to ensure that we actually know what we're
So before we get too deep into defensible territory, I'd like to point out that my "star rating" has no bearing on the quality of the actual product, but instead on my enjoyment of the product itself. Yeats' "The Tower" is one of the most widely known and respected classics in poetry, so I know that I have no leg to stand on when it comes to "rating" a poem that's nearly a century on in age. That being said, it just wasn't for me.I love poetic style and flourish within prose. And I also absolute...
Still reading Yeats in published/chronological order and this feels like the apotheosis of his work, especially the masterpiece "1919". His mastery of symbolism and imagery is finally complete and he combines a contemporary modernism and older formal verse into something beautiful and unpredictable in its uneasy chemistry. A collection dominated by age and regret, but also the belief that even as an old man, he could still access hidden worlds through his art.
Calls for infinite re-readings.
IWhat shall I do with this absurdity—O heart, O troubled heart—this caricature,Decrepit age that has been tied to meAs to a dog’s tail? Never had I moreExcited, passionate, fanaticalImagination, nor an ear and eyeThat more expected the impossible—No, not in boyhood when with rod and fly,Or the humbler worm, I climbed Ben Bulben’s backAnd had the livelong summer day to spend.It seems that I must bid the Muse go pack,Choose Plato and Plotinus for a friendUntil imagination, ear and eye,Can be conte...
Snowed in, my girlfriend cut my hair in my kitchen and I read out loud from The Tower. Later that afternoon we trudged to a coffee shop through waist-high snow and I finished it over a cup of extremely strong coffee. The coffee-shop owner had The Kinks on.
I'm sorry I let Yeats' poetry go for so long. The Tower really is a wonderful collection.Usually there's a few specific poems in a collection that are great with quite a few ok ones but The Tower is full of really beautifully written pieces.
I find his lonely howling at the moon of age and love rather comforting.
Is he the greatest English language poet of the 20th century? Maybe. The rankings don't matter. The beautiful music of these poems matters.
I'm quite fond of Yeats' imagery. He readily invokes Rome and the great civilizations of the Middle East, with language that doesn't transform them into just a clever reference. Rather, he manages to translate a (probably mostly imaginary) sense of majesty, into poetry. What I mean is maybe easiest to spot in 'Sailing to Byzantium', which is probably my favourite poem in this collection.IIAn aged man is but a paltry thing,A tattered coat upon a stick, unlessSoul clap its hands and sing, and loud...
Beautiful, but honestly spent with Wikipedia and a study guide in the other hand.
This is peak Yeats.If you want to get started with Yeats and don't feel like jumping on with a "complete", "collected" or "selected" edition, this is a short little collection of some of his best work.
Twenty one is a lucky number if you grabbed this book. That's how many poems you will find from the master of prose. If you haven't read Yeats, this is a great way to start.
Great book reads like Shakespeare. Speaks about legends and hidden secrets. Not recommended for those who have not read Shakespeare since a lot of it has metaphoric symbolism. The writing is great and truly made me feel everything that was presented.
This is great poetry, great writing; even an imbecile like me can "feel" that. But I have to admit that it is beyond my ability to truly understand the meaning, the essence of what the poet was saying, and not just with this work but any poetry. So I just read, enjoy it (or not), and apply it to my life, my thoughts, my sensitivities (or not).This volume is considered by scholars and critics to be some of Yeats best work, and he wrote this 5 years AFTER he received the Nobel Prize in Literature....
I am not the biggest fan of Yeats. His interpretation of the Irish myths is something which I don't enjoy. I did enjoy reading these poems. Even though it felt a bit strange with all the name dropping of Homer.
A dying Yeats resonates with me, constantly oscillating between accepting death and hoping that he’ll leave something behind; and silently shunning the ill-equipped, ill-fated generations to come.
Some of Yeats' poems in this collection are meaningful, but I have little use for poetry that is overly esoteric and filled with useless allusions for the sake of sounding exalted.
