Yeats's Poetry, Drama, and Prose (Norton Critical Editions) [Paperback]

William Butler Yeats (Author), James Pethica (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393974979 | ISBN-13: 978-0393974973 | Publication Date: March 3, 2000 | Edition: 1

This brand new collection, impeccably edited by James Pethica, presents a comprehensive selection of Yeats's major contributions in poetry, drama, prose fiction, autobiography, and criticism.

"Criticism" includes twenty-four interpretive essays by T. S. Eliot, Daniel Albright, Douglas Archibald, Harold Bloom, George Bornstein, Elizabeth Cullingford, Paul de Man, Richard Ellman, R. F. Foster, Stephen Gwynn, Seamus Heaney, Marjorie Howes, John Kelly, Declan Kiberd, Lucy McDiarmid, Michael North, Thomas Parkinson, Marjorie Perloff, James Pethica, Jahan Ramazani, Ronald Schuchard, Michael J. Sidnell, Anita Sokolsky, and Helen Vendler.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Pethica has taught at Williams College and at the University of Richmond. Currently a Fellow at the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Williams College, he is at work on the authorized biography of Lady Gregory.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (March 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393974979
• ISBN-13: 978-0393974973
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine edition of the works of a great poet, January 9, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Yeats's Poetry, Drama, and Prose (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

There are by this time many collections of the works of Yeats, and this is one of the good ones. Aside from containing the major plays and poems it has critical essays by contemporaries of Yeats and important critical voices of our own time, such as Helen Vendler, Harold Bloom, and the poet Seamus Heaney.
As for the work itself, however historically important the plays, and however of curiosity value 'The Autobiography' and other prose writings the Yeats that lives is in the poetry.
It is that lyrical greatness the power of song manifested early on which later was deepened into even greater poetry. From 'Innisfee' and "Song of the Wandering Aengus ' to the poetry of 'Byzantium' and 'Among the Schoolchildren'.
The great lines, a small sample of which follows"

And we will wander hand in hand / through hollow lands and hily lands/
And pluck till time and times are done/ The silver apples of the moon/ The golden apples of the sun/


"We must lie down where all the ladders start/ in the foul rag and bone shop of the heart."

" The best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity"

"But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you/ and loved the sorrows of your changing face."

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice compilation, especially regarding prose!, November 14, 2005

By 

A. Schneider - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yeats's Poetry, Drama, and Prose (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book, produced with excellent quality. While it isn't the most complete anthology in the world as far as his poems are concerned (for this reason The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume I by Finneran is a much better choice), the prose found within the book are excellent. Another thing worth noting is the lengthily essays by other well known authors which tend to either be criticisms or praise for Mr. Yeats, truly magnificent in that department! Again, the focus of this anthology is much different from other supremely divine works (such as the one previously mentioned).