William Butler Yeats

A mediados de la decada de 1930, W. B. Yeats recogió en un solo tomo, con el nombre de Autobiografías, seis textos escritos en diferentes epocas. Constituyen unas memorias que abarcan sus primeros 58 años de vida, desde su infancia hasta el momento en el que obtuvo el Premio Nobel de Literatura. En ellas ofrece su opinion sobre personajes destacados de su epoca, como Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw o los pintores prerrafaelitas, y de otras anteriores como Percy B. Shelley. Aanaliza tambien su propia obra como poeta y dramaturgo, relata sus esfuerzos por fundar el famoso teatro Abbey de Dublin y se detiene en su relacion con el nacionalismo irlandes y la fascinacion que llego a sentir por el ocultismo y las visiones paranormales.

"El verdadero arte es expresivo y simbólico, hace que toda forma, sonido, color o gesto sea un signo de alguna esencia imaginativa imposible de analizar. El verdadero arte es la llama del último día, que comienza para cada hombre cuando por primera vez lo emociona la belleza. Debemos entonces ser artistas en todas las cosas y que nuestra imaginación desee siempre la belleza, única máscara a través de la cual pueden verse los ojos sin velo de la eternidad."

La obra de algunos poetas "torrenciales" como W. B. Yeats, en ocasiones por inabarcable, en otras por desigual, gana (o sus versos invitan mejor a la lectura) cuando se presenta una muestra representativa de la totalidad. Esta antologia ha querido tomar como medida la que en su dia tomara Seamus Heaney para su propia seleccion de la poesia de Yeats, aun cuando solo en el numero coincidan ambos libros: 89 poemas.

He extendido mis sueños a tus pies reúne cuarenta de los mejores poemas del premio Nobel irlandés en edición bilingüe.Además de ser una de las principales figuras literarias del siglo xx y ganador de

Visione e realta, saga e storia, vicende politiche e avventure letterarie e artistiche: le Autobiografie di Yeats ci offrono tutto questo. Nel susseguirsi dei capitoli che compongono ogni "autobiografia", un cronista-poeta ci fa conoscere terre sperdute, ci racconta l''apprendistato di un grande scrittore e compone, attraverso i frammenti di un''esperienza diretta, i ritratti dello scandaloso O. Wilde, del patetico Aubrey Beardsley, di G. B. Shaw, di Lady Gregory, di J. M. Synge, di Douglas Hyde, il filologo e storico del mondo gaelico. "Per mantenere naturali queste note e utili a me stesso, devo impedire che l''una si ricolleghi all''altra, per non arrendermi alla letteratura". Da questo il plurale del titolo.

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John Sherman & Dhoya, novella and story, are among the earliest of W.B. Yeatss published compositions, begun at his fathers prompting when the young poet was living in London in 1888. John Sherman is a poignant and delightful narrative that dramatizes the predicament of a young man in love, troubled by his senses. It is complexly autobiographical, projecting the poets Self and Anti-self through the contrasted personalites of Sherman and Howard, exalting a yearned-for Sligo in the west of Ireland at the expense of an alien English metropolis. Dhoya is a wonder tale of the heroic age, also set in Sligo, blending Irish mythology with local legend, and anticipating the Celtic Twighlight stories of 1893 and the late Byzantium poems. Published first in 1891 and again in 1908, John Shermand & Dhoya last appeared in America in 1969. This text followed that of the first edition and is accompanied by an Afterword by Eve Patten.

W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) began writing poetry as a devotee of Blake, Shelley, the pre-Raphaelites, and of nineteenth-century Irish poets including James Clarence Mangan and Samuel Ferguson. By the end of his life, he had, as T.S. Eliot said, created a poetic language for the twentieth century. The First Yeats deepens our understanding of the making of that poetic imagination, reprinting the original texts of Yeatss three early collections, The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1899), The Countess of Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics (1892), and The Wind Among the Reeds (1899). The poems were subsequently heavily revised or discarded. Among them are some of the best-loved poems in English - The LakeIsle of Innisfree, He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven - fresh and unfamiliar here in their original contexts, together with Yeatss lengthy notes which were drastically cut in the collected editions. This illuminating edition by Edward Larrissy, editor of W.B. Yeats, The Major Works (Oxford University Press, 2000), includes an introduction that clarifies the literary, historical and intellectual context of the poems, detailed notes, and a bibliography. It offers essential material for reading - and revaluing - one of the great modern poets.

William Butler Yeats (Dublín 1865 - Roquebrune 1939), dramaturgo, ensayista, poeta --el más grande de su tiempo, según T. S. Elliot--, partidario decidido de la independencia de Irlanda, conoció en su juventud a las gentes de Sligo y quedo fascinado por sus cuentos y leyendas, patrimonio de un pueblo que vivia inmerso en las posibilidades magicas del universo. Este primer contacto estimulo su deseo de explorar la historia y la mitologia de Irlanda, y el resultado de sus investigaciones, mezclado con el conocimiento de la teologia y filosofia orientales, se transmuto magicamente en las radiantes melodias de sus poemas y sus prosas, donde vibra siempre la dramatica belleza del mundo. Una buena muestra de su capacidad para asimilar los mitos y leyendas de la literatura popular de Irlanda quedo recogida en las dos obras que presentamos en este volumen: La Rosa Secreta y Leyendas de Hanrahan el Rojo, donde la razon y la fantasia se mezclan de forma inextricable.

The present selection traces the development of Yeats' fully annotated verse, encompassing the poet's interest in Irish folklore and national identity, his engagement with the political situation of his day and the rich symbolism that is the hallmark of his work and a reflection of his lifelong fascination with the occult. It contains some of his best-known pieces, including the elegiac 'Easter 1916', the apocalyptic "The Second Coming" and the reflective and spiritual "Sailing to Byzantium". Often radical in content but always traditional in form, these poems are by turns startling and affecting, and never less than inspired. Taken together, they form an ideal introduction to the poetic career of one of Ireland's greatest literary figures.