Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend, and Myth

by Yeats, William Butler

• ISBN13: 9780140180015
• ISBN10: 014018001X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-26
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Through his researches into Irish folklore, legend and myth, Yeats was attempting to discover a specifically Irish imagination and to create a movement in literature enriched by, and rooted in, a vital native tradition. This collection brings together all of Yeats's published prose writings on the subject, and for the first time these essays, introductions and sketches are presented chronologically, enabling the reader to perceive how Yeats's analysis develops, embracing ideas and visions of increasing psychological and philosophical complexity.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	xi
A Textual and Editorial Note	xiii
Abbreviations	xvii
Introduction	xix
Introduction to Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888)	1	(7)
`The Irish Fairies' from Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888)	8	(11)
`Irish Fairies, Ghosts, Witches' from Lucifer (1889)	19	(7)
`Scots and Irish Fairies' from the Scots Observer (1889)	26	(4)
`Irish Wonders' from the Scots Observer (1889)	30	(4)
`Village Ghosts' from the Scots Observer (1889)	34	(5)
`Kidnappers' from the Scots Observer (1889)	39	(5)
`Columkille and Rosses' from the Scots Observer (1889)	44	(6)
`Bardic Ireland' from the Scots Observer (1890)	50	(5)
`Tales from the Twilight' from the Scots Observer (1890)	55	(5)
`Irish Fairies' from the Leisure Hour (1890)	60	(5)
`Invoking the Irish Fairies' from the Irish Theosophist (1890)	65	(3)
`Irish Folk Tales' from the National Observer (1891)	68	(5)
`An Irish Visionary' from the National Observer (1891)	73	(4)
`An Irish Storyteller', the introduction to Irish Fairy Tales (1892)	77	(3)
`The Last Gleeman' from the National Observer (1893)	80	(6)
`A Literary Causerie' from the Speaker (1893)	86	(5)
`Old Gaelic Love Songs' from the Bookman (1893)	91	(4)
`An Impression' from the Speaker (1893)	95	(3)
`Our Lady of the Hills' from the Speaker (1893)	98	(2)
`Michael Clancy, the Great Dhoul, and Death' from the Old Country (1893)	100	(8)
Preface to the Celtic Twilight from United Ireland (1893)	108	(1)
`A Teller of Tales' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	109	(2)
`Belief and Unbelief' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	111	(2)
`The Sorcerers' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	113	(4)
`Regina, Regina Pigmeorum, Veni' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	117	(3)
`The Untiring Ones' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	120	(3)
`The Man and His Boots' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	123	(1)
`A Coward' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	124	(1)
`The Three O'Byrnes and the Evil Faeries' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	125	(2)
`The Thick Skull of the Fortunate' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	127	(2)
`The Religion of a Sailor' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	129	(2)
`Concerning the Nearness Together of Heaven, Earth, and Purgatory' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	131	(1)
`The Eaters of Precious Stones' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	132	(1)
`The Golden Age' from The Celtic Twilight (1893)	133	(2)
`The Evangel of Folk-Lore' from The Bookman (1894)	135	(3)
`The Tribes of Danu' from the New Review (1897)	138	(17)
`The Prisoners of the Gods' from the Nineteenth Century (1898)	155	(17)
`The Broken Gates of Death' from the Fortnightly Review (1898)	172	(17)
`The Celtic Element in Literature' from Cosmopolis (1898)	189	(12)
`Celtic Beliefs About the Soul' from the Bookman (1898)	201	(2)
`The Academic Class and the Agrarian Revolution' from the Daily Express (1899)	203	(5)
`A Note on ``The Hosting of the Sidhe''' from The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)	208	(4)
`A Note on ``The Host of the Air''' from The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)	212	(4)
`A Note on ``The Valley of the Black Pig''' from The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)	216	(3)
`Ireland Bewitched' from the Contemporary Review (1899)	219	(21)
`Dust Hath Closed Helen's Eye' from the Dome (1899)	240	(7)
`Maeve and Certain Irish Beliefs' from Beltaine (1900)	247	(3)
`Irish Fairy Beliefs' from the Speaker (1900)	250	(3)
`Irish Witch Doctors' from the Fortnightly Review (1900)	253	(22)
`To D. P. Moran's Leader' (1900)	275	(5)
`The Fool of Faery' from the Kensington (1901)	280	(5)
`By the Roadside' from An Claidheamh Soluis (1901)	285	(3)
`New Chapters of the Celtic Twilight', I, from the Speaker (1902)	288	(3)
`New Chapters of the Celtic Twilight', II, from the Speaker (1902)	291	(4)
`New Chapters of the Celtic Twilight', III, from the Speaker (1902)	295	(4)
`New Chapters of the Celtic Twilight', IV, from the Speaker (1902)	299	(6)
`More Chapters of the Celtic Twilight', v, from the Speaker (1902)	305	(3)
`Away' from the Fortnightly Review (1902)	308	(19)
Preface to Lady Gregory's Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902)	327	(8)
`Dreams That Have No Moral' from The Celtic Twilight (1902)	335	(9)
`Poets and Dreamers' from the New Liberal Review (1903)	344	(4)
`A Canonical Book' from the Bookman (1903)	348	(4)
Preface to Lady Gregory's Gods and Fighting Men (1904)	352	(12)
`Witches and Wizards and Irish Folk-Lore' from Lady Gregory's Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland (1920)	364	(10)
`Compulsory Gaelic: A Dialogue' from the Irish Statesman (1924)	374	(10)
Introduction to the Midnight Court (1926)	384	(5)
`The Great Blasket' from the Spectator (1933)	389	(3)
Notes	392	(56)
Glossary	448	(8)
Appendix: Contents of the 1893 and 1902 Editions of The Celtic Twilight	456