Yeats’s Poetry II: the Political Years (1910-20)

During the second decade of the twentieth century the poetry of W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) took on a more political turm in light of the First World War and also of the revolution (or ‘rising’) that occurred in Ireland in 1916. Yeats was also involved in the politics that came with his work as a promoter of literature and culture such as the controversy surrounding the building of a gallery to house the proposed gift of French Impressionists paintings to Dublin by Hugh Lane (1875-1915). At this meeting we will be looking at the following (often short) poems from this period and that can be found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-butler-yeats#tab-poems : The Cold Heaven, 1914; Easter 1916, 1919; Ego Dominus Tuus, 1919; The Fascination of What’s Difficult, 1910; The Fisherman, 1919; An Irish Airman foresees his Death, 1919; The Magi, 1914; No Second Troy, 1910; Paudeen, 1914; September, 1913; To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing, 1913; To a Shade, 1914; The Wild Swans at Coole, 1919.
All are welcome. Feel free to take part by joining in discussion or simply by listening to the proceedings.