In the Seven Woods

by W.B. Yeats

"In the Seven Woods", masterpiece written in 1903, is Yeats's first twentieth-century poetry collection. Its fourteen poems show him moving steadily away from the decisively Romantic diction of his earlier work. Here we hear a poetic voice that is at once more individual, colloquial and dramatic than previously. In addition, several poems sound a note of bitter lamentation over the marriage in 1903 of Maud Gonne, Yeats's great love and muse, to John MacBride. 

Genres: Poetry, 20th Century, Irish Literature, Ireland, Classics, Literature

53 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1903

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 Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

'When you find your Queen of Sheba you must not marry her because she wold destroy you.' - C.G. Jung to Miguel Serrano

Maud Gonne must have been Yeats' Queen of Sheba; as only after she rejected his proposal of marriage did he write this, his first really profound collection.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely collection of poetry from Yeats, which once again returns to his love of folklore for inspiration, as well as the natural world. This volume also contains the play 'On Baile's Strand', which I didn't read as I've already read it this year in another book.

In the Seven Woods

I have heard the pigeons in the Seven Woods
Make their faint thunder, and the garden bees,
Hum in the lime tree flowers; and put away
The unavailing outcries and the bitterness
That empty the heart. I have forgot awhile
Tara uprooted, and new commonness
Upon the throne and crying about the streets
And handing its paper flowers from post to post,
Because it is alone of all things happy.
I am contented for I know that Quiet
Wanders laughing and eating her wild heart
Among pigeons and bees, while the Great Archer,
Who but awaits His hour to shoot, still hangs
A cloudy quiver over Parna-Lee.

My next book: Funny Girl

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading the entirety of Yeats' work in conjunction with Whitman's "Leaves of Grass".
I understand exactly what Yeats is saying when he writes:
"Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight."
I find the above very beautiful, but most of Whitman defies explanations for me. Perhaps this is the reason Whitman is considered great: he is so open to interpretation. But I'll take Merrill and Ginsberg, as well as Yeats, over Whitman any day.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dream tredding aside, this very short collection is also very forgettable.

[Jaimie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been far too long since I’ve read any of Yeats’ poetry, so it’s about time that I got back into it. Some of his collections are hit and miss for me, but In the Seven Woods was a very interesting read since it taps into the height of his interest in Celtic mysticism and nature-based themes. According to some reviewers this was the beginning of the end of his more romantic ideals, but I would argue that while Yeats displays a certain amount of cynicism (read: realism in some cases) in about half of the poems the remainder are still filled with images of the wild forest, the green goddess and her animal companions, and the quiet pagan spirituality of Ireland. The tone of the collection really seems to be split between Yeats’ Celtic interests and his commentary about relationships, which is a slightly odd pairing in my eyes, but did make the collection interesting to contemplate as a whole. I should really brush up on his biography (something I almost never do), since I have a sneaking suspicion that this dichotomy must have been a result of changes in his relationship with his wife or family. Though she published the collection, so maybe it’s all just melo-drama (haha).

[Descending Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 14 poems from 1904. Highlights - "never give all the heart" "Adam's curse" "o do not love too long" "in the seven woods"

[Fredore Praltsa]

"The fire that stirs about her, when she stirs"
!

[Ahn Hundt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another quite solid entry in W.B. Yeats illustrious catalog of poetry. 'In the Seven Woods' is still fairly early in his career, but it definitely feels like a refinement of his older stylistic technique before he'd go on to become much more inventive and modernist in the coming decade. This rather short volume of poetry is a lot more focused and less all-over-the-place than some of his previous output, with the themes mostly revolving around love (primarily relation to his conflicted infatuation with the famous Maud Gonne), aging, passing time and obviously lots and lots of Irish mythology.

Some of the poems in here are atypically simple for Yeats, at times abstracting themselves down to very plain sentiments expressed through common language and images. Some of the poems here are a little underwhelming, and there's no top-tier poem in here either, but it is pretty consistently fantastic, my favorite being 'The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water'. Definitely still waiting for that set of poems that utterly blows me away, but I'm sure it'll arrive eventually later down the line in his artistic development.

[M. Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good collection of poems.
The 4th collection in the completed poems work by Yeats.
I liked:
- Never give all the heart

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that’s lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.

- Adam's Curse

I said, ‘It’s certain there is no fine thing
Since Adam’s fall but needs much labouring.
There have been lovers who thought love should be
So much compounded of high courtesy
That they would sigh and quote with learned looks
Precedents out of beautiful old books;

- The Happy Townland

Good collection!!
Next: The Green Helmet and Other Poems

[Duffy Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as The Wind Among the Reeds, but still excellent, and even better for the inclusion of Adam's Curse, which is one of my all time favorite poems:

"I had a thought for no one's but you ears:
That you were beautiful, and that I strove
To love you in the old high way of love;
That it had all seemed happy, and yet we'd grown
As weary-hearted as that hollow moon."

So poignant, and so beautiful.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful short collection that turns more to the love of myth and nature as opposed to his former more romantic collection. Not too much more to say than what I’ve said about his previous collections though. This is supposedly considered one of the books in his transitional period so I guess that makes sense why.

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd read it again. I'm not a big poetry person but I enjoy works of this era. This was my first time reading Yeats.

[Nell Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting early poems - magical in places, but perhaps I should have read this before The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore, transcribed from actual conversations, which makes it haunting and very special. At least one of the poems in In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age is very long indeed, and although I'm not a fan of long poems I'm glad I read them - and the shortish play at the end too. I feel I know Yeats better now.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I said 'a line will take us hours maybe,
Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Better go down upon your marrow bones
And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones
Like an old pauper in all kinds of weather;
For to articulate sweet sounds together
Is to work harder than all these and yet
Be thought an idler by the noisy set
Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen
The martyrs call the world.'

[c · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Old Men admiring Themselves in the Water" is especially interesting. Pessimism more apparent in this work. Concerns about getting older.

[nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

“No boughs have withered because of the wintry wind;
The boughs have withered because I have told them my dreams.”

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable poetry.

[DW]

A fine work. 3 or 4 poems of really great merit and the rest just set you in a mindset of older times. The play at the end is a bit predictable but some good banter between kings.