William Butler Yeats in 1911. Photo by Alice Boughton
Yeats is possibly my favourite poet of all time. The passion and joy and rhythm within his lines are just sublime. Yeats was born in 1865 in Dublin of Anglo-Irish Protestant descent, the son of a lawyer. The family was much troubled by the upheavals in his native Ireland and moved to London when Yeats was around just two years old. His father also wanted to pursue a new career as an artist and felt that London would be preferable to Dublin for this endeavour.
Here are the words to his poem The Lake at Innisfree, they need no discussion, just thoughtful contemplation.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
Just lovely. With thanks here to Christopher Burn for reintroducing me to Yeats. Burn’s own book of poetry, Poetry Changes Lives is superb and I highly recommend that you get a paper copy.
