Reveries over Childhood and Youth

by W.B. Yeats

Reveries over Childhood and Youth
William Butler Yeats, irish poet (1865-1939)

This ebook presents «Reveries over Childhood and Youth», from William Butler Yeats. A dynamic table of contents enables to jump directly to the chapter selected.

Table of Contents
-01- About this book
-02- DEDICATION
-03- PREFACE
-04- REVERIES OVER CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

Genres: Nonfiction

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).

Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slow paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.
--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first volume of Yeats’ autobiography suffers from a lack of structure. It is rambling and jumps from topic to topic in a rather haphazard fashion.

This being said, it’s not without interest. I particularly liked the sections towards the end of the book where he ponders whether art brings us happiness or rather has a negative effect on our lives by provoking emotional states that hinder our progress through life that would be better served by adhering to the purely practical.

My next book: X of Swords

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 5 out of 5]

The arch-modernists (Eliot, Pound, the Sitwells, say) and most of the Bloomsbury admired this book very much, and indeed, it's become the template for a different kind of memoires, a different approach to narrating the self.
Memoires like these are not intended to linearly, chronologically, tell all there is to tell, recount all possible facts, words, actions, events. On the contrary: they are intended to provide an atmosphere.
Yeats warns us in the beginning that what he remembers might not be what happened, but of course, he knows that one becomes who one is as much through the events as through the remembering of them - and that remembering might not be factual.
SO that's what we get, in beautiful prose (prose: not an imitation of poetry): memories of people, of events, memories of memories, touches of coulour, quick sketching of characters (in the sense of people who stood out for him). Impressions, emotions, recollections, and how they shaped Yeats the poet.
Do not expect to come to know about Yeats himself, the process of poetic creation, life in Ireland and all that, and do not expect him to name names: it's someone casting an eye - and an ear - on the past. His net is narrow, and what it catches is incidental: the beauty is in the process, and in coming to understand how you became yourself.
Beautiful.

[janet Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was referred to in the introduction to "Maud Gonne: A Servant of the Queen" and since I know very little about W.B. Yeat's life I thought an autobiography would be an interesting way to learn a bit about him through his own words (this is the first of several he wrote to cover the full span of his life). And when I found out that I could purchase the Kindle version of this book for a mere $0.99, well, it was an offer I just couldn't refuse!

Yeats' first autobiography covers his life from its beginning into his early twenties and was written in a poetic style that was lovely but rather difficult for me to follow. Where his contemporary, Maud Gonne, wrote her autobiography in an accessible manner that surprised me with its modern, familiar speech patterns and language, Yeats' writing style, language patterns and descriptions of events were definitely of another place and time. I did enjoy the book though and enjoyed getting this glimpse into the life and thoughts of W.B. Yeats. Any literature/poetry buff would love Yeats' discussion in this book about how his philosophy regarding poetry evolved and what he wanted to bring to the world. I just don't have the foundation for it and a lot went right over my head!

[Omri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I simply love Yeats' style, this book was so intense as a biography although I can't point to a certain moment as out of the ordinary, in a sense, but it is all amazing to read because it is simply rich in poetic descriptions and sentimentalities. Beautiful, interesting and fascinating read of one of the most interesting poets I've had the pleasure of researching. This book gave me a lot of insight into his thoughts of himself and his past, simply beautiful.

[Anna Bosman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fascinating to see how a human being gradually falls into place to become a unique piece of the mozaic universe that we inhabit. I love the undiluted subjectivity of autobiographies. Also, now I feel like the trees are staring back at me.

[Avis Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author has a very annoying, random, non-linear, ADD mind. He mentions many memories but never develops any of them beyond a brief glimpse, and many of those glimpses are a bore. There are better memoirists out there.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeats' memoirs of his early years. Especially interesting for his comments on Irish ghosts and spiritualism.