The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol. VI: Prefaces and Introductions (Collected Works of W B Yeats)

Prefaces and Introductions , Volume VI of The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats , brings together for the first time thirty-two introductions by Yeats to the works of such literary greats as William Blake, J.M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Oscar Wilde, Oliver St. John Gogarty, Lionel Johnson, and Rabindranath Tagore. The introductions, which span the Nobel laureate's entire career, reflect the broad reach of Yeats's literary and cultural interests. Writing of fairies, ghosts, and witches in his introduction to Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantr y, Yeats discovers that they were still extant in Ireland, at least in 1888, "giving gifts to the kindly, and plaguing the surly." In his preface to Stories from Carleton he tells of that sweetest ginger of Gaelic tunes, Mary Carleton, who was once asked to sing the air "The Red-haired Man's Wife" and replied: "I will sing for you, but the English words and the air are like a quarreling man and wife. The Irish melts into the tune: the English does not." And in distinguishing the Irish from the English poets of his day in A Treasury of Irish Poetry in the English Tongue , Yeats remarks: "Contemporary Irish poets believe in spiritual life, invisible and troubling, and express their belief in their poetry. Contemporary English poets are interested in the glory, the order, the passion or the pleasure of the world." Always insightful and often charming, Prefaces and Introductions reveals the breadth of Yeats's talent as essayist, critic, folklorist, and raconteur. Arranged together for the first time, thirty-two introductions by W. B. Yeats to the works of such literary greats as William Blake, J.M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Oscar Wilde and more. Content: v. 1. The poems / edited by Richard J. Finneran -- v. 2. The plays / edited by David R. Clark -- v. 3. Autobiographies / edited by Douglas Archibald, J. Fraser Cocks III, and Gretchen L. Schwenker -- v. 4. Early essays / edited by Warwick Gould -- v. 5. Later essays / edited by William H. O'Donnell and Elizabeth Bergmann Loizeaux -- v. 6. Prefaces and introductions / edited by William H. O'Donnell -- v. 7. Letters to the new island / edited by George Bornstein and Hugh Witemeyer -- v. 8. The Irish dramatic movement / edited by Mary FitzGerald -- v. 9. Early articles and reviews / edited by John P. Frayne -- v. 10. Later articles and reviews / edited by Colton Johnson -- v. 11. The Celtic twilight and The secret rose / edited by Warwick Gould, Phillip L. Marcus, and Michael Sidnell -- v. 12. John Sherman and Dhoya / edited by Richard J. Finneran -- v. 13. A vision (1925) / edited by Connie K. Hood and Walter Kelly Hood -- v. 14. A vision (1937) / edited by Connie K. Hood and Walter Kelly Hood. v. 3. Autobiographies: Reveries over childhood and youth -- The trembling of the veil. Book I. Four years: 1887-1891 Book II. Ireland after Parnell Book III. Hodos chameliontos Book IV. The tragic generation Book V. The stirring of the bones -- Dramatis personae : 1896-1902 -- Estrangement : extracts from a diary kept in 1909 -- The death of Synge -- The bounty of Sweden -- The Irish dramatic movement : a lecture delivered to the Royal Academy of Sweden. This volume in The Collected Edition of the Works of W.B.Yeats brings together for the first time thirty-two introductions written for anthologies that he edited or for books by other writers. Their topics range from Irish legends and folklore to the design of graceful new Irish coins. Arranged together for the first time, thirty-two introductions by W. B. Yeats to the works of such literary greats as William Blake, J.M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Oscar Wilde and more. -- Amazon.com Dr Corbett, Bishop of Oxford and Norwich, lamented long ago the departure of the English fairies. Collects all of the Nobel laureate's published work and includes additional notes and criticisms.