The Gonne-Yeats Letters 1893-1938 (Irish Studies) [Paperback]

Anna Macbride White (Author), A. Norman Jeffares (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Maud Gonne and William Butler Yeats met in early 1889, and he first proposed to her--unsuccessfully--two years later. Some of Yeats's greatest poems chronicle his long obsession with her, among them "A Woman Homer Sang," "Reconciliation," and "No Second Troy":

What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as a fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern?
Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
Was there another Troy for her to burn?

We tend to see Maud Gonne through his prism--a firebrand, a great beauty, above all a political fanatic who made him suffer like mad. These letters tell a more complex tale, since the majority are hers, most of Yeats's having been destroyed. What he portrayed as extremism instead becomes deep political involvement: her letters record an endless round of meetings, protests, and good works. In addition, the concern she again and again manifests for Yeats mitigates his cries of indifference; rather, Maud Gonne emerges as steady and heroic. Even as she was preparing to marry John MacBride, she took time out to console her longtime suitor in a characteristic run-on: "Friend of mine au revoir. I shall go over to Ireland in a couple of months, if you care to see me I shall be so glad & you will find I think that I am just the same woman you have always known, marriage won't change me I think at all...." The editors declare the original letter "very crumpled and creased as if carried in Yeats's pocket and taken out and read many times."

From Publishers Weekly

This collection documents the lengthy platonic love affair between William Butler Yeats and Irish nationalist Maud Gonne.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr (Sd) (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815603029
• ISBN-13: 978-0815603023
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,864,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Letters of love, passion and politics, October 17, 2001

By 

A Williams "honestpuck" (Neutral Bay, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gonne-Yeats Letters 1893-1938 (Irish Studies) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful volume. The love of Yeats for Maud Gonne is one of the defining characteristics of his life and the passion he felt for her powered some of his strongest poems. Reading these letters you get a marvellous feel for the strength of the woman and her respect and love for the poet, despite turning down many marriage proposals.

Maud Gonne was much more than the woman beloved of Yeats, she was also a political activist, a woman convinced of the need for Irish nationalism and prepared to work for the benefit of the Irish people. This comes through in her letters to Yeats through her mention of meetings and rallies.

I can almost forgive her destruction of almost all the letters she received from Yeats, which explains the one sided nature of this volume, almost all the letters are from Gonne to Yeats with only a few from him to her.

This volume is a superb addition to the library of anyone who enjoys Yeats. It is also gives a remarkable understanding of Maud Gonne, a major element in the Irish history of the early 20th century. It loses a star because of the shortage of Yeats letters.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feminist and a poet, September 24, 2002

By 

Patricia R. Andersen "redheaded booklover" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Gonne-Yeats Letters 1893-1938 (Irish Studies) (Paperback)

First off, let me tell you I love reading letters so this book has definite appeal to me. And of course, Yeats was Yeats and Gonne, as you may or may not know, was a famous feminist in Ireland. That the relationship continued for so many years despite her contunual refusals to marry him says olumes about the personalities of these two people.
If you're interested in what made Yeats tick or how a feminist conducted herself without major media support, read this book.