Oops, the day has almost become evening and I almost forgot it was the birthday of the Irish Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, William Butler Yeats.
He was born today in 1865 and died on January 28, 1939.
Yeats in 1911 Source |
Click here and here for two previous posts related to the man himself.
The Facebook Page of Mindfulness Ireland has put out some great WB Yeats quotes for today, including this one on education...
Another two of my favourite Yeats poems..
Image source |
The Wild Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty, | |
The woodland paths are dry, | |
Under the October twilight the water | |
Mirrors a still sky; | |
Upon the brimming water among the stones | 5 |
Are nine and fifty swans. | |
The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me | |
Since I first made my count; | |
I saw, before I had well finished, | |
All suddenly mount | 10 |
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings | |
Upon their clamorous wings. | |
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, | |
And now my heart is sore. | |
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight, | 15 |
The first time on this shore, | |
The bell-beat of their wings above my head, | |
Trod with a lighter tread. | |
Unwearied still, lover by lover, | |
They paddle in the cold, | 20 |
Companionable streams or climb the air; | |
Their hearts have not grown old; | |
Passion or conquest, wander where they will, | |
Attend upon them still. | |
But now they drift on the still water | 25 |
Mysterious, beautiful; | |
Among what rushes will they build, | |
By what lake’s edge or pool | |
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day | |
To find they have flown away? |
Related articles
Click here for news and videos on the Yeats festival held in Sligo and
Tread Softly, part of Yeats Festival Season, which starts on June 13th, the poet’s birthday and the
inaugural Yeats Day. The Season of Yeats continues right through July to reach its finale in August with the Yeats
International Summer School and the Tread Softly… festival.
Click here for The Poetry Foundation on W. B. Yeats life and more poetry.
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