W.B. Yeats: The Man and the MilieuKeith Alldritt gives us a lively telling of Yeats's story that puts the poet in the context of his times, from the high Victorian era to the modernism of the thirties. Alldritt reveals that Yeats was not just "the sensitive introvert who began as the mooning dreamer and after a lifetime seeking philosophical and hermetic wisdom, ended as the learned sage" that Yeats himself and his biographers would have us believe. He shows us a less familiar man: "a dedicated careerist, an ambitious man of determined self-interest, a seeker after social standing, and a combative man with a violent temper that sustained him in many nasty quarrels." Yeats's long, passionate, and physically unrequited love affair with the beautiful Irish nationalist Maud Gonne, which led to some of his most poignant poetry, is brought vividly to life. Also covered in some detail are Yeats's numerous love affairs in the years before his death. Though condoned by his wife, they have not been explored in previous biographies out of respect for her feelings. In his years of research, Alldritt visited libraries worldwide. He was given special access to Yeats's private papers in the National Library of Ireland and interviewed many people who knew or are knowledgeable about Yeats, most notably Yeats's daughter, Anne. |
Contents
THE YOUNG NATIONALIST | 19 |
THE CALCULATING DREAMER | 93 |
THE EDWARDIAN IMPRESARIO | 189 |
Copyright | |
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Abbey Theatre admired artist Autobiographies Ballylee beautiful became Bedford Park began British Butler Yeats career Club Coole Cuala Dorothy early Edward Martyn England English Ethel Mannin Ezra Pound father felt Florence Farr French George Moore Golden Dawn Henley Ibid Idem interest Ireland Irish Literary Iseult John Butler Yeats John O'Leary John Quinn John Yeats Katharine Tynan Lady Gregory later Letters Lily and Lolly Lionel Johnson literature lived London MacBride Maud Gonne Maud's Memoirs months Morris nationalist Oisin Olivia Shakespear Oxford painter Paris Parnell passion play poem poet poetry political Pollexfen published Rapallo relationship remembered returned Rhymers sister Sligo society spiritual stay story Street summer Symons Synge T.S. Eliot talked thought tion told took W.B. Yeats week wife William Willie Willie's Woburn Buildings woman writing Yeats found Yeats wrote Yeats's young