The Green Helmet & Other Poems: “There are no strangers, only friends you have not met yet.”

By W. Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939) is best described as Ireland’s national poet in addition to being one of the major twentieth-century literary figures of the English tongue. To many literary critics, Yeats represents the ‘Romantic poet of modernism,’ which is quite revealing about his extraordinary style that combines between the outward emphasis on the expression of emotions and the extensive use of symbolism, imagery and allusions. Yeats also wrote prose and drama and established himself as the spokesman of the Irish cause. His fame was greatly boosted mainly after he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. His life was marked by his many love stories, by his great interest in oriental mysticism and occultism as well as by political engagement since he served as an Irish senator for two terms. Today, although William Butler Yeats’s contribution to literary modernism and to Irish nationalism remains incontestable. Here we publish a collection of his poems that show just why his works are held in such esteem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Copyright Group
• Release date: Nov 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781783946914

Book preview

The Green Helmet and Other Poems by W. B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939) was born in Dublin, educated both there and in London.

He is best described as Ireland’s national poet in addition to being one of the major twentieth-century literary figures of the English tongue. To many literary critics, Yeats represents the ‘Romantic poet of modernism’ – an extraordinary style that combines the outward emphasis on the expression of emotions and the extensive use of symbolism, imagery and allusions.

Yeats also wrote extensively for prose and drama and established himself as the spokesman of the Irish cause.

His fame was greatly boosted after he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923.

Yeat’s life was marked by his many love stories, by his great interest in oriental mysticism and occultism as well as by political engagement; he served as an Irish senator for two terms.

Today William Butler Yeats’s contribution to literary modernism and to Irish nationalism remains incontestable. 

Here we publish a collection of his poems that show just why his works are held in such esteem.  

Index Of Contents

HIS DREAM

A WOMAN HOMER SUNG

THAT THE NIGHT COME

THE CONSOLATION

FRIENDS

NO SECOND TROY

RECONCILIATION

KING AND NO KING

THE COLD HEAVEN

PEACE

AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE

THE FASCINATION OF WHAT'S DIFFICULT

A DRINKING SONG

THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME

ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY HAVE JOINED THE ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS AND THE AGITATION AGAINST IMMORAL LITERATURE

TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS OF HIS AND MINE

THE ATTACK ON THE PLAY BOY

A LYRIC FROM AN UNPUBLISHED PLAY

UPON A HOUSE SHAKEN BY THE LAND AGITATION

AT THE ABBEY THEATRE

THESE ARE THE CLOUDS

AT GALWAY RACES

A FRIEND'S ILLNESS

ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME

THE YOUNG MAN'S SONG

THE GREEN HELMET

W.B. Yeats – A Short Biography

HIS DREAM

I swayed upon the gaudy stern

The butt end of a steering oar,

And everywhere that I could turn

Men ran upon the shore.

And though I would have hushed the crowd

There was no mother's son but said,

"What is the figure in a shroud

Upon a gaudy bed?"

And fishes bubbling to the brim

Cried out upon that thing beneath,

It had such dignity of limb,

By the sweet name of Death.

Though I'd my finger on my lip,

What could I but take up the song?

And fish and crowd and gaudy ship

Cried out the whole night long,

Crying amid the glittering sea,

Naming it with ecstatic breath,

Because it