Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Big Al Whittle Date: 28 Feb 05 - 07:27 AM Johnny MacEvoy used to use the Rose Tree are as an introduction to the that song about James Connolly that starts " A big crowd was gathered outside of Kilmainham....... its the poem that starts Oh words are lightly spoken said Pearse to Connolly...... I used to find it very moving. I don't have the recording, but perhaps one of our Irish friends can supply a catalogue number. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Noreen Date: 28 Feb 05 - 06:58 AM Frank Hamilton's post quoted this (click) (I put aristocracies of thought into the Lyrics and Knowledge Search at top of the page, and voila!) |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: rumanci Date: 28 Feb 05 - 06:41 AM The source is from Yeats' "Celtic Twilight" which was his first collection of tales from Sligo and Galway first published in 1893. I'll if I can find the context of the quotation later. rum |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,Blowzabella at work Date: 28 Feb 05 - 06:23 AM Help - I remember reading on here some time ago, a thread about folk music (now there's a surprise!), which was discussing its place as an intellectual study (I think). Included in the thread was a quote, whic I made a note of by Yeats (?) - 'Folk art is indeed the oldest of the aristocracies of thought....etc' I really could do with finding this thread again and, hopefully, the source for this quote. Can anybody help me please, who has a better memory than I do. Thanks |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Peter T. Date: 22 Dec 00 - 05:12 PM Going back to the original question, a few important notes for reference. Yeats was born in Sandymount, Dublin, and was part of an Anglo-Irish family with deep roots on his mother's side in Sligo. His father, who was a bit of a ne'er-do-well, wandered back and forth between London and Dublin and Sligo, and Yeats eventually fetched up in London in the 1890s. His first poems were very influenced by Shelley, and he became caught up in the end of the 19th century esoteric movements (he wrote on Blake, for example), and belonged to various esoteric orders that show up in his early stories, like The Tables of The Law, Rosa Alchemica, and so on. In the mid-1890s he got involved in the Irish movement, which he helped push at the cultural level, along with Lady Gregory, later J.M. Synge, and others. The great moment of his life, of course, was meeting Maud Gonne, who was a beautiful revolutionary and somewhat erratic, to say the least. Yeats was passionately in love with her for years -- it has only recently been revealed that they did, at very long last, sleep together. He even went so far later in life as to proposition her daughter, Iseult. Somewhere around 1914, if I recall, thanks in part to the influence of Ezra Pound, Yeats started writing a sparser, harder poetry, which has always been my personal favourite. He eventually married an old friend, Dorothy Shakespeare, who turned out to be a whiz at ghost writing; and somehow Yeats connected this to his evolving esoteric writings which were a mixture of Nietszche and Oscar Wilde, having to do with the need for the poet to create a persona (a mask) which would be truer than the ordinary self; and each era of history is in part exemplified by the masks worn by its representative heros. The later symbolism links this to the phases of the moon, and a whole range of cyclical interpenetrations. I studied it all in detail at one time, and I think you don't really need much more than what I said above to get the feel for his later stuff. In the 1920's and later he became famous, Nobel prize winner, and so on. His Irish home, Thoor Ballylee (the Tower of many poems) is a national monument near Gort in the West of Ireland, and is worth a long detour to see, and walk around. Jeffaries edition of the poems is the standard, though now that Yeats is out of copyright, there are competing ones. Macmillan owned them all, and their editions of the plays and essays are mostly Yeats' own. I have met a few people who like his plays -- I have acted in a couple: they are sort of like Irish kabuki plays. Never did anything for me. His essays are almost all fabulous, though no one reads them much. His Autobiography and Memoirs are stunningly beautiful prose, some of the best ever written in English. His short stories are not very interesting. As mentioned, Richard Ellmann's work on Yeats is the best: anything is good -- The Man and the Masks especially. Ellmann had the good fortune to be befriended by Mrs. Yeats, and got a lot of good stuff early on. Many years ago I had the honour of working for a time as a helper on an edition of some of Yeats' stories, so I have a soft spot in my heart for him (though not for the stories). His brother Jack is probably the best known modern Irish artist. yours, Peter T. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Noreen Date: 22 Dec 00 - 04:00 PM Anyone who has 'the cloths of heaven' in their memory banks (however imperfectly) is OK with me... Noreen |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Snuffy Date: 22 Dec 00 - 10:31 AM Would that be Myles na gCopaleen's Keats? And his pal Chapman? |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 22 Dec 00 - 08:22 AM And of course Keats and Yeats are not to be confused, dan evergreen...(But I get mispellings myself almost every time I post, so I'm noone to point a finger) |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 22 Dec 00 - 06:03 AM "in a previous thread about The "Sally Gardens" it was revealed that Keats's "The Sally Gardens" was actually inspired by Housman's poem"
I don't think that is too likely, since Yeats's collection Crossways, in which "The Salley Gardens" is included, was published in 1889 and Hoyusman's The Shropshire Lad didn't come out till 1896. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Lyrical Lady Date: 22 Dec 00 - 01:45 AM Fionn, thank you for correcting me. I too posted from memory and yours is obviously much better than mine! LL |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Peter K (Fionn) Date: 21 Dec 00 - 09:32 PM There was a BBC or RTE (or joint production?) documentary about Yeats two or three years ago, featuring both the son and the daughter. All thorugh it I kept wondering what they themselves thought about their respective poems. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Caitrin Date: 21 Dec 00 - 06:53 PM I've always found it interesting how Yeat's Prayer for his daughter contrasts with his Prayer for his son. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Peter K (Fionn) Date: 21 Dec 00 - 02:21 PM The collected works in an edition edited by someone called Jeffares (Norman Jeffares?) has one of the most authoritative assessments of the poems, and the various forms in which they were published. Can't remember the title. The text of A Prayer for My Daughter provided (word-perfect I think) by Amos, reminds me of what always struck me as a strange quirk in Yeats: he always made "wind" rhyme with "blind," even where he was referring to the stuff that blows. I am afraid that LL's offering falls well short of Amos's faithfulness to the original. Apart from confusing cloths with clothes, it should be "I have" rather than "I will" and the third line is badly garbled. (From memory it should be something like: "The blue and the dim and the dark cloths of night and light and the half light" There is at least one album of people reciting Yeats that includes Yeats himself, reciting the LAke Isle of Inisfree and something else. He introduces himself by smaking no apology for honouring the rhythm in his reciting: "It took me a devil of a job to put the words together that way in the first place," he explained, or words to that effect. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,JTT Date: 21 Dec 00 - 12:58 PM You might like to read the Ellman biography of Yeats for more background. Yeats's early poems were particularly influenced by sean-nos and the art poetry of pre-18c Ireland; later he moved into a lyricism of his own. It's interesting to look at his poems in conjunction with his brother's (and his father's, indeed) paintings - his brother was much more a westerner, with his strong Sligo face, and much less a refined intellectual, though he was a fine, open-hearted man. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Noreen Date: 21 Dec 00 - 10:43 AM "The Golden Apples of the Sun" sung by Judy Collins to her own tune... Stunning! Noreen |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,dan evergreen Date: 21 Dec 00 - 10:06 AM Hey, Dave-O and Caitrin; interesting that you had that exchange because in a previous thread about The "Sally Gardens" it was revealed that Keats's "The Sally Gardens" was actually inspired by Housman's poem. Sorry I can't do the blue clickley thing but it was a couple months ago. |
Subject: Lyr Add: A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER (Yeats) From: Amos Date: 20 Dec 00 - 10:32 PM If you could music find to bring these lines From the high lands of poem into the rich low loam Then would you have added to the human crown A jewel of power, and a voice of home. A.
A Prayer for my Daughter
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Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Callie Date: 20 Dec 00 - 09:58 PM When I was 16 I was set the task of preparing a classroom presentation on his poem "The Man Who Dreamed of Faerieland". This was without an introduction to Yeats' work, which they decided would happen in "week 2" after my presentation. Well, I set to it and although I almost went barmy in the process it began a lifelong appreciation for his work. There are some recurring obsessions in his poems which might give you a way in. His early poems are mainly Irish folkloric. He also wrote political poems and poems based on his own weird mix of theosophical values and crazy visions. His book 'A Vision' explores some of the crazy visions, and certainly helped me get my head around the more obscure poems. The poems are also full of classical mythology, superimposed with his own world. Helen of troy is both Helen and Maud Gonne (see above). In 1993 I was determined to go to ireland and visit some of the Yeats 'landmarks', and thus visited Coole Park, Ben Bulben, Lissadell and lots more places. It was like a pilgrimage! Enjoy the poems Callie |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Lyrical Lady Date: 20 Dec 00 - 11:47 AM Yikes McGrath ... you are so right. It must of been that eggnog. I should know better than to drink and type! Shirts and socks under my feet... sounds like my kids' rooms! LL |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,dan evergreen Date: 20 Dec 00 - 10:28 AM |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,Kivatrader Date: 20 Dec 00 - 09:36 AM I remember once seeing a printed collection of his poems. In particular, the "Song of the Wandering Aengus" had a note at the top, that it was sung, to the tune of "The Wexford Carol", which is a very old, traditional Irish tune. I am not aware of any recordings of this combination, but I tried it out, and it really works well, if you have the vocal range for it! |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 20 Dec 00 - 09:24 AM Caitrin: I have on a couple of occasions sung it on HearMe sessions. If ever I can get established with PalTalk you might hear me sing it there. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 20 Dec 00 - 09:17 AM Yeats actually wrote "the cloths of Heaven", which means something a bit different, and sounds different too. Still, that's the folk process I suppose. But I'd advise reverting to Yeats' preferred word, "cloths". Otherwise the image of shirts and socks lying all over the place gets in the way.
Yes, "When I was one and twenty" is by A.E.Housman. It sometimes get tagged on the "The Salley Gardens" by singers, which is where the confusion might arise. It works pretty well - but the mood of the two poems is in fact subtly different. Housman's poem has a sardonic tone, and Yeatt's doesn't. And I'd see the singer in Yeats' poem as a lot older than just 22. So I think it's a good idea to have them as separate songs rather than running one into the other. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST Date: 20 Dec 00 - 09:03 AM It is not really ripe picking for songs, but, one of my favorite books is a collection of short Irish folk tales called "Celtic Twighlight". Yeats' allegedly just asked for the stories and compiled them, but, there is no mistaking his tongue at work. It is a charming collection full of humor and sorrow. I have never read it cover to cover for fear of finishing it, I just randomly open it and I hope I will still find another that I have never read each time I open it.Alas, It has been a long time since I acctually found one I havent read four or five times over. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Lyrical Lady Date: 20 Dec 00 - 02:08 AM The Clothes of Heaven
Had I the heavens embroidered clothes Wavestar, I only have a very old copy of sheet music and I've never heard it recorded. If you'd like I could snail mail you a copy. Pm me your address and I'll see what I can do after christmas. LL |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: CamiSu Date: 20 Dec 00 - 01:00 AM Lyrical Lady - I have the words to that, one of his most famous and best poems, but I'd love to know what melody you sang for it. Any chances you could direct me to a midi or recording? What a lovely poem - Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams... -Wavestar, using her mother's computer now that she's HOME for Christmas! |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Caitrin Date: 19 Dec 00 - 11:19 PM At last, a question for a literature student! "When I was One and Twenty" is Housman, Dave. One of my personal favorites...I'd love to hear your arrangement of it! W.B. Yeats wrote one of my all-time favorite poems: "Sailing to Byzantium". Absolutely gorgeous language...as my poetry professor put it, it makes you want to go in a corner and scream. His "Crazy Jane" poems are very cool stuff, though a little less musical. Another one of my favorite Yeats poems which would probably make a good song is "Easter 1916". Sad, but beautiful. Now, what do I know about Yeats himself? Hold on while I get out my notes from Lit 214. An Irishman born and bred, but a bit of an art school snob type. He had a long-standing fascination with one Maude Gonne, a fiery red-haired 6 foot tall beautiful Irish woman. She wouldn't have anything to do with him as anything more than a bit of fun, though, because he was "just a poet", not "a man of action". He writes some great poetry about her, though--some angry, some passionate, some wistful...so maybe it's best that he never got what he wanted, at least for those of us who like reading his poetry. :) |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 19 Dec 00 - 07:30 PM Or is that A. E. Housman? Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 19 Dec 00 - 07:29 PM Just relatively recently I set "When I was one and twenty" to my own tune, and being entirely objective on the subject I find it a wonderful song! Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: JedMarum Date: 19 Dec 00 - 12:49 PM yes, lyrical lady, please do port them. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Lyrical Lady Date: 19 Dec 00 - 01:34 AM I have sung 'Clothes of Heaven' written by W.B. Yeats. If anyone is interested I will post the lyrics. LL |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 18 Dec 00 - 07:59 PM There are other poems of Yeats that were specifically written with tunes in mind, and not just in the early poems.
A Full Moon in March", published 1935, is full of them: "Three songs to the same tune", "Two songs rewritten for the tunes sake"; "Supernatural songs"; and of course Last Poems, published after Yeats died, is full of songs.
As for "The Salley Gardens", of course it uses an existing song. It distills it into something stronger and simpler, and more spare and subtle. It's the same thing that the folk process can achieve, sifting out whatever is not needed.
(It's the same thing that Francis McPeake did with "The Wild Mountain Thyme", and that is why people miss the point when they point to the earlier Scottish version and imply that this somehow reduces the value of the distilled version.)
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Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Pinetop Slim Date: 18 Dec 00 - 07:46 PM Heard Sean Tirrell do a couple of Yeats pieces that he had set to music. Sorry, but the titles didn't stick with me. |
Subject: Lyr Add: YOU RAMBLING BOYS OF PLEASURE (Yeats) From: John Moulden Date: 18 Dec 00 - 06:07 PM A few weeks ago a friend asked me about some aspects of Yeats and songs. I've pasted in my reply with slight changes so that it doesn't read like a reply. It is not entirely appropriate to the questions asked here - I disclaim responsibility for any red herrings or started hares. A brief orientation on Yeats and song. 1. It is my recollection that Yeats made a statement to the effect that he made some of his poems to the rhythm of songs. (Despite the fact - and this was the case with his father also - that Yeats appears to have lacked an ear for music.) 3. However, few of his songs were made in actual imitation of Irish traditional song forms - The Sally Gardens is the obvious one - in AP Graves: The Irish Song Book, the tune is given as "The maids of Mourne shore." However, the air given there looks very like the air given under precisely the same name at number 302 of "The Complete Collection of Irish Music as noted by George Petrie" (ed by Charles Villiers Stanford) and there is thus a likelihood that Yeats had no particular air in mind. However, an inspection of a ballad sheet song called "You Rambling Boys of Pleasure" makes it clear that this is the song Yeats was imitating. This is a Canadian traditional version. YOU RAMBLING BOYS OF PLEASURE Others of the early poems have the form of traditional poems - at the time he wanted to be a "popular" poet - The Ballad of Moll Magee, The Ballad of Father O'Harte, The Ballad of Father Gilligan for example and many, like A Cradle Song have simple form. There are others worth looking out for, in ballad form - like I am of Ireland, 3 songs to the same tune (O'Donnell Abu), Paistin Finn and others - look at Yeats' collected works. Also within this popular aspiration is his involvement with the series of 84 "Broadsides" published by his sister at her Cuala Press - others contributed to these but Yeats' has some items. Finally in this area of place where Yeats might have been influenced by popular forms is the series "Words for Music Perhaps" which includes the Crazy Jane series (though there are other later written ones.) It is not, I think, widely known that these are inspired by a song published in late 18th- or early 19th-century eight-page song books called "Crazy Jane" based on "The Tragical History of Miss Jane Arnold, commonly called Crazy Jane, and Mr Harry Perceval" There is an article by a friend of mine, Jack Weaver, with which I helped him in a recent issue (1998 or 1999) of "The Yeats Annual." With all of this involvement with or aspiration toward popular song form, it is not much wonder that Yeats' poems have attracted settings by other people. "A Catalogue of Contemporary Irish Composers (ed E M Deale, Music Association of Ireland, 2nd ed. Dublin, 1973) lists settings by Seoirse Bodley, Brian Boydell, Ina Boyle, David Byers (to trawl only the Bs). "Folk" settings are more difficult to pin down because they are not widely documented; however, a search using the two words - Yeats songs - on the search engine Google [www.google.com] produces more than enough refs. The best I have looked at is the Yeats Society of New York Discography: http://www.yeatssociety.org/ydiscog.html but it doesn't list Padraigín Ní Uallacháin settings of two in her latest CD "Suaintraí" (Shanachie Records.) Some bibliographic references to some of the series of 84 "Broadsides" (see above); and a later series, and Yeats' involvement in them. A Broadside. Dundrum [and other locations]: Dun Emer [later Cuala] Press, 1908-1915. First series. Eighty-four numbers in three portfolios. With hand-colored illustrations by Jack B. Yeats. Yeats, William B.: "THE WICKED HAWTHORN TREE," issued as A BROADSIDE NO. 2 (NEW SERIES). Dublin: The Cuala Press, February 1935. [4]pp. Folio. Colored woodcuts. First printing in this format. One of 300 copies. Yeats, William B.: "THE ROSE TREE" issued as A BROADSIDE NO.5 (NEW SERIES). Dublin: The Cuala Press, May 1935. [4]pp. Folio. Colored woodcuts. First printing in this format. One of 300 copies. Yeats, William B.: "THE SOLDIER TAKES PRIDE," issued as A BROADSIDE NO.12 (NEW SERIES). Dublin: The Cuala Press, December 1935. [4]pp. Folio. Colored woodcuts. Yeats, William B.:"THE THREE BUSHES," issued as A BROADSIDE NO. 3 (NEW SERIES). Dublin: The Cuala Press, March 1937. [4]pp. Folio. Colored woodcuts. First printing in this format. One of 300 copies. Yeats, William B.: "COME GATHER ROUND ME PARNELLITES," issued as A BROADSIDE NO. 1 (NEW SERIES). Dublin: The Cuala Press, January 1937. [4]pp. Folio. Colored woodcuts. First printing in this format. One of 300 copies. Miller, Liam: THE DUN EMER PRESS, LATER THE CUALA PRESS WITH A LIST OF THE BOOKS, BROADSIDES AND OTHER PIECES PRINTED AT THE PRESS...WITH A PREFACE BY MICHAEL B. YEATS. Dublin: The Cuala Press, 1973. Cloth, paper labels. Illustrations and plates. Line Breaks <br> added. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: mousethief Date: 18 Dec 00 - 05:20 PM Jean Redpath's take on the Song of the Wandering Aengus is lovely. Then again, come to think of it, most of what she sings is lovely. Alex |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: BigDaddy Date: 18 Dec 00 - 05:13 PM The compilation album mentioned previously is called "Now And In Time To Be." I picked up a copy in Sligo just before driving out to visit Yeat's grave. As I arrived at Drumcliffe, "Come Away O Human Child" was playing on my tape deck and I lost it momentarily. I recommend the album. It's available on CD and cassette. If you need more info let me know. Cheers. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Peg Date: 18 Dec 00 - 04:43 PM MMario; you have to type in a search after you get to the site. Bedlam Boys, who have one version of this song on MP3, is the current incarnation of what that songwriter is doing now (a duo with another guy). Before I "left" the band I was working on that song so we could record it... |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: MMario Date: 18 Dec 00 - 04:39 PM Hope this link works. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Peg Date: 18 Dec 00 - 04:27 PM I forgot to mention (silly me) my own contribution to the canon of Yeats songs...and that I recorded my pal Barbara Blatner's version of "Song of Wandering Aengus" with my band Urban Myth several year ago... Just my vocals and her piano and we collaborated on the arangement...beautiful song. You can buy the CD at www.urbanmyth.com if interested. I hope to record it again some day; we did not have much time to work on the arrangement and would probably spiff if up some if we recorded it again... |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: MMario Date: 18 Dec 00 - 04:12 PM Peg - I think I've heard both those songs. You are right, they are beautiful. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,Big Mick Date: 18 Dec 00 - 04:02 PM Jed, Mudcat's own Philipa turned me on to a book titled "A Thousand Years of Irish Poetry". And in it I found any number of poems that I recognised as having later been set to music. In fact I am currently working my way through it looking for something that speaks loudly to me that I can set to music. Yeats is featured prominently, as you might suspect. But there is much to be gleaned from any number of ancient and modern poets. It is out of print, but a search will find copies easily. All the best, Mick |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Rick Fielding Date: 18 Dec 00 - 03:36 PM Dave Van Ronk's recording of "Song of the Wandering Aengus" is still one of my favourites. Believe lots have done "The Fiddler of Dooney". Gordon Bok has, anyway. Rick |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Jed at Work Date: 18 Dec 00 - 03:21 PM I love this place. Thank y'all! |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 18 Dec 00 - 02:03 PM Stick "Yeats" in a search engine (I'd advise Webferret, and it's free), and a treasure chest of site about him are there to be explored. Enjoy. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Peg Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:58 PM Loreena McKennitt also recorded versions of "The Two Trees" and "The Stolen Child." They are both gorgeous. The Waterboys recorded a song called "The Stolen Child" as well... I was in a band briefly in which the guitarist set two Yeats poems to music: "Three Things" and "The Hosting of the Sidhe"; both very beautiful. I currently have a book by my bedside table to be read: Yeats and the Golden Dawn. I am very interested in his magical history and am in fact researching/writing a play on this subject...if and when I ever finish I imagine songs set to his poetry would make very fitting incidental music...hint hint... peg
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Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Mrrzy Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:52 PM Creep alert: The only encounter I had with Yeats at all was when I was honeymooning in Ireland, and we'd traveled over to the Gaeltech (sp?) where they speak and post signs --and have radio shows-- only in Gaelic. So we're listening, and here is what we hear: Male voice: (gaelic for rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb)... W. B Yeats? |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Hollowfox Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:51 PM For a fast thumbnail sketch, to start to get a frame of reference, look him up in an encyclopedia and read the article. It may not give all the context you need, but it's a start. Ah, the memories..I took a course on Yeats my first year in college as I needed an English class, and I'd heard that he was somehow linked in with Irish folklore. Things went well, generally, but I'd naively assumed that the teacher knew as much about Irish folklore and its symbols as I did. Oops. Came the day I was blythely saying "but of course everyone knows...and I saw on their faces that it was news to the class that the white dogs with red ears were supernatural creatures.... |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:26 PM I think Mr. Yeats. like Mr. Dylan was often quite inclined to use the traditional as a source of inspiration..thus was the Sally Garden a song long before it was poem by Yeats. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: MarkS Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:14 PM Success to the study of Yeats will be simpler if you put yourself into a time reference of the early part of this century. Makes "A terrible beauty is born", "in the empty house of the stare" etc, a lot more understandable. |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Fiolar Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:03 PM I would have thought the most famous one was "The Salley Gardens" which has been recorded many times. M |
Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: GUEST,Aldus Date: 18 Dec 00 - 12:46 PM Several years ago an cd was released on which a number of artists recorded the poetry oy Yeats..unfortunately I cannot Recall the name of The CD. I know that Van Morrison was involved with it. Loreena McKennit has done Tennysons Lady of Shallot and some has done Yeats the Fiddler of Dooney..in fact it seems to be a fairly common thing, the value of doing so is another question entirely.
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Subject: RE: Help: Yeats From: Barbara Shaw Date: 18 Dec 00 - 12:40 PM I've heard "Crossing the Bar" by Tennyson put to music by Rani Arbo, and "Silence or Tears" by Lord Byron put to music by (maybe) Norman Blake. I'd be interested to hear tunes for some of Yeats' poetry. One of his poems that impressed me greatly, the last lines of which still stick in my mind, is "The Second Coming," which ends with "What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" I've known people who spent years studying Yeats. Good luck! |
Subject: William Butler Yeats - poetry and biography From: JedMarum Date: 18 Dec 00 - 10:15 AM I thought I'd pick up a book of Yeats works and learn more about this famous poet - maybe even find a verse or two to put to music (since several of the quotes I'd come across really seemed appropriate for song). So I got of collection of Yeats poetry and began ... silly boy! I found I have no frame of reference. Yes in deed, many of the lyrical verses would make wonderful songs, and as I began to read, I began to recognize several as songs I'd heard years ago. Obviously, many have thought of this before me!
It seems I'd have done well to begin reading about Yeats, biography, critical references, etc. I'd like to know if any of our Mudcatters can help me develop a little background. Have you read/studied Yeats? Any pointers/comments? Yeats Poetry and Biography: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-butler-yeats |
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