Celtic Twilight

by Yeats, William Butler (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780451501202
• ISBN10: 0451501209
• Format: Trade Book
• Publisher: Signet Classics

Summary

While best known for his poetry, William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was also a dedicated exponent of Irish folklore who took a particular interest in the tales' mythic and magical roots. He was, in fact, a ceremonial magician and leader in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, one of the most important esoteric orders in the Western magical tradition. Yeats' influence on other occultists imparted a decidedly Celtic flavor to their practices, just as The Celtic Twilight drew a wider audience to the eerie and puckish world of fairies, ghosts, and spirits. Its title refers to the pre-dawn hours, when the Druids performed their rituals; and the work serves as an affirmation of Yeats' belief in magic as a doorway to the Celtic past. "This handful of dreams," as the author referred to it, first appeared in 1893, and consists of stories recounted to the poet by his friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Yeats' faithful transcription of their narratives includes his own visionary experiences, appended to the storytellers' words as a form of commentary. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

This Book	p. 1
A Teller of Tales	p. 3
Belief and Unbelief	p. 5
Mortal Help	p. 7
A Visionary	p. 9
Village Ghosts	p. 13
"Dust Hath Closed Helen's Eye"	p. 19
A Knight of the Sheep	p. 26
An Enduring Heart	p. 29
The Sorcerers	p. 31
The Devil	p. 35
Happy and Unhappy Theologians	p. 36
The Last Gleeman	p. 40
Regina, Regina Pigmeorum, Veni	p. 46
"And Fair, Fierce Women"	p. 49
Enchanted Woods	p. 51
Miraculous Creatures	p. 55
Aristotle of the Books	p. 57
The Swine of the Gods	p. 58
A Voice	p. 59
Kidnappers	p. 60
The Untiring Ones	p. 66
Earth, Fire and Water	p. 69
The Old Town	p. 70
The Man and His Boots	p. 72
A Coward	p. 73
The Three O'Byrnes and the Evil Faeries	p. 74
Drumcliff and Rosses	p. 76
The Thick Skull of the Fortunate	p. 82
The Religion of a Sailor	p. 84
Concerning the Nearness Together of Heaven, Earth, and Purgatory	p. 85
The Eaters of Precious Stones	p. 86
Our Lady of the Hills	p. 87
The Golden Age	p. 89
A Remonstrance with Scotsmen for Having Soured the Disposition of Their Ghosts and Faeries	p. 91
War	p. 94
The Queen and the Fool	p. 96
The Friends of the People of Faery	p. 100
Dreams That Have No Moral	p. 106
By the Roadside	p. 116
Into the Twilight	p. 118
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