Where There Is Nothing/The Unicorn from the Stars

by W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory

"The Unicorn from the Stars" (1907) is a thorough reworking of "Where There Is Nothing" (1902), in which Yeats sought to create a "religious Don Quixote," whose spiritual unorthodoxy and rebellion against social conventions climax in a rejection of material existence: "where there is nothing, there is god." Driven by the conflict between the hero's spiritualism and the dogmas of the church and society at large, "The Unicorn from the Stars" has a mystical force that does not completely relinquish the dramatic realism of "Where There Is Nothing." Through his preoccupation with "passionate" living, the main character rejects the material world, providing Yeats with the opportunity to balance realism and supernatural revelation in a dynamic that became central to his art.

In the Cornell Yeats edition of the two plays, Wim Van Mierlo recounts their complicated composition history and makes clear the ways in which the latter diverges from its predecessor. Van Mierlo clarifies the role of George Moore in the origin of the earlier play's story line and the dispute between him and Yeats that ensued. Beyond this basic plot, Lady Gregory played an important part in the writing of both plays, especially in characterizations and dialogue of the first play. Insofar as is possible, Van Mierlo unscrambles the process by which she and Yeats worked together and apart to rework the earlier play into the very different "The Unicorn from the Stars." Lady Gregory later expressed her disappointment about the level of credit Yeats was willing to give her for her role. This was the last play they wrote together.

cloth

First published June 12, 2012

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

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[Max Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

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