Yeats

by Frank Tuohy

T.S. Eliot said of Yeats that he was "one of those whose history is the history of our time." Frank Tuohy gives us a revealing portrait of Yeats, his family, his friends, his many-sided activities as a poet, playwright, politician, and even statesman. We learn of his development as a writer from his early days in Dublin and London, and the influence upon him of the Pre-Raphaelite movement; of William Morris, Ruskin, Pater; of Wilde, Beardsley, and Dowden; the Irish dramatists Shaw, Synge, and O'Casey; the groups that gathered around Wyndham Lewis, James Joyce, and Pound; Oxford in the 1920's, and the Auden generation thereafter. And influence would be feeble a word for his relations with some of the most remarkable women of his time, starting with Maude Gonne.

Genres: Poetry

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 1990

Reviews

[Side Real Press]

Although I was very much aware of Yeats in relationship to his occult activities it occurred to me that I actually knew virtually nothing about his life so when I saw this book for a mere £2 it seemed a ‘no brainer’ (as they say) to pick it up, especially as one of the illustrations was a portrait of the poet by Althea Gyles, an ongoing interest of mine.

I must confess that I found this a fairly dull read as most of the biography is concerned with Yeats and politics which were nationalistic. It appears (I am not familiar with Yeats’ poetry) that much of his work sought to find some sort of unified national expression that moved away from the reductive stereotypes of nationhood such as shamrocks and harps which is surely a laudable thing. I would have preferred more analysis of his poetics in the book, so if you wish that yourself you may want to look elsewhere. Ditto for his magical/mystical work.

The Yeats that remains in the book seems rather dislikeable as it would seem that he viewed a ‘free’ Ireland as one being ruled by an authoritarian/intellectual elite which, by happy coincidence, Yeats himself appeared to be, hobnobbing in high circles with Lady so-and-so as well as elements of London ‘society’ and various high-ranking political reformers. These tended to be whatever the inverse of “champagne socialists” might be as Yeats’ pals were the opposite end of the spectrum and a number of them outright fascists. Nationalism, of any political bent, is always disappointing to me so this is a black mark against him and whilst one cannot help the circumstances in which one is born to be within a certain social stratum (with the insulating properties of money and power) might well mean your ‘identification’ with ‘the masses’ to be rather in the nature of theory rather than practice; although of course, I write this as a white English person so who am I to talk about Irish nationhood?

Yeats also seems a bit of a fool with regard to his love life, pining after women that he could not have such as the actress and revolutionary Maud Gonne who told him she had more important things to do than marry him. Touhy seems a little reluctant to delve too much into his personal relationships; for example one of the few things I did know re Yeats was that he had a relationship with Althea Gyles. I cannot understand why this was not mentioned especially as it would give context to the reproduction of her drawing of him.

This brings us to the images, of which there are a lot, some of them in colour. Many, of course, relate directly to Yeats. I particularly liked his fathers’ portraits of Yeats’ friends Katharine Tynan and George Russell (AE)), and the contemporary cartoon depictions of Yeats and pals but other choices seemed surplus to requirements such as a Noh mask (Yeats wrote a play based on Noh theatre but this particular mask is not linked to him lovely though the object is). We also have images of Oscar Wilde (we all know what he looks like) and a few photos/engravings of various imaginings of revolutionary activities which add context but I would much have preferred more of Yeats and his circle.

This biography was published in 1976 when Britain was at the height of ‘the troubles’ (The UK government's euphemism for ‘civil war’) with the I.R.A at so perhaps there was an authorial agenda in portraying Yeats as such a political animal. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but I feel that Yeats' studies (must?) have certainly moved on from this time and therefore better studies of him are now available. Thus this volume is probably only worth picking up if you chance across it rather than a book that needs to be sought out.

[Patricia]

Brilliant.
The writing about Yeats and his world: so engaging.
Presaged insights about the Yeats family as a whole, including William Yeats' brother Jack, the remarkable visual artist. Author Frank Tuohy shares illustrations that change the way that you look at the world. He expanded what we learn to look for.
I was able to see and share the images of the National Gallery of Ireland celebrated in 2022.
See the images of Years in images of the poor who find leaves and pebbles to honor those who have died we celebrate.
Still look forward to what we can learn from the child of the Yeats family - Ann - who created images of books and book jackets for children, bringing them to the world of Matisse, Picasso and Braque.
My thanks to Heaney for setting such an aspiring image of what books that synthesize history, culture, and the arts can do. If only Tuohy had written an art history textbook!