A Curated Guide to the Occult and Celtic Poetry of W. B. Yeats

 A Curated Guide to the Poetry of W. B. Yeats

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I. The Dreamy Mystic (1890s–early 1900s)
Romantic, folkloric, and visionary. Young Yeats blends Irish myth, longing, and the occult.

1. The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1890)
   A vision of escape and peace; often read as Yeats’ personal utopia.

2. The Stolen Child (1889)
   A haunting fairy poem—Irish folklore meets aching nostalgia.

3. The Song of Wandering Aengus (1899)
   A mystical quest for beauty and meaning; archetypal Yeats.

4. The Hosting of the Sidhe (1899)
   Fairies and warriors ride again; mythic grandeur.

5. Who Goes with Fergus? (1893)
   A blend of legend and symbol—later loved by James Joyce.

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II. The Political Prophet (1910s–1920s)
Yeats becomes a chronicler of Ireland’s revolution and a witness to the collapse of old certainties.

6. Easter 1916 (1916)
   A meditation on heroism, transformation, and ambivalence: "A terrible beauty is born."

7. No Second Troy (1912)
   About Maud Gonne: love, anger, and the politics of idealism.

8. The Second Coming (1919)
   Yeats' most quoted poem. Apocalyptic, symbolic—chaos as prophecy.

9. A Prayer for My Daughter (1919)
   Beauty, innocence, and the threat of a dark world.

10. The Wild Swans at Coole (1917)
    Autumn, aging, and loss—quiet but emotionally rich.

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III. The Esoteric Magus (Late 1920s–1939)
Yeats becomes bolder, darker, and more philosophical. These poems reflect his mystical system from "A Vision."

11. Sailing to Byzantium (1927)
    The spirit's journey into eternity and art: "That is no country for old men."

12. Leda and the Swan (1928)
    Myth retold as brutal and world-shaping—a Modernist lightning bolt.

13. Among School Children (1927)
    A masterpiece of intellectual and emotional reflection. Ends with: "How can we know the dancer from the dance?"

14. The Tower (1928)
    Yeats grappling with mortality and legacy; rich with symbols from A Vision.

15. The Circus Animals’ Desertion (1938)
    His final reckoning—looking back at the myths and poems he once conjured.

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Bonus: For the Deep Diver

A Vision (1925, revised 1937)
Yeats' metaphysical system: gyres, historical cycles, and the phases of the soul.

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Suggested Reading Order:

1. The Lake Isle of Innisfree

2. The Song of Wandering Aengus

3. The Hosting of the Sidhe

4. No Second Troy

5. Easter 1916

6. The Second Coming

7. The Wild Swans at Coole

8. Sailing to Byzantium

9. Leda and the Swan

10. Among School Children

11. The Circus Animals’ Desertion

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Tips for Reading Yeats:

• Read aloud: his meter and musicality are vital.

• Follow his evolving symbols: gyres, swans, towers, Byzantium.

• Consider history and myth as living structures in his work.

• Embrace contradiction: Yeats is mystical and modern, romantic and political.

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