An explanation of life founded upon the writings of giraldus and upon certain doctrines attributed to kusta ben luka, privately published in 1925, is a book length study of various philosophical, historical, astrological, and poetic topics by the irish poet william butler yeats. Conflicts and oppositions in yeats life and chart were healed and regarded in a new light through his experience with the channeled material he received and recorded in a vision. This article is an attempt to show how the astrology of yeats natal chart and the transits during the reception of the book illustrate the importance of what he found in a vision, and how it provided integration of his life as poet, as magician and as political activist. The first group covers the themes of the system in the two versions of a visionand the preparatory drafts, and they are arranged in progressive order of complexity, as far as is possible.
A prose poem, the final major work of edgar allan poe. The sui generis nature of this book makes it delightfuland i am a believer of charles forts intermediatenessbut what yeats posits through the not entirely sure what i just read, but i will say i feel better about my own cognition relative to yeats desire to demarcate the human experience, pinning specimens to a 28 cell corkboard while pinning its genesis on his wife and various. When you are old and grey and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book, and slowly read, and dream of the soft look. Yeats published a second edition with alterations in 1937. Volume of the collected edition of the works of w.
If, as we assume, aherne was speaking for yeats, a vision both versions may well be the most. Yeats wrote this work while experimenting with automatic writing with his wife georgie hydelees. A vision is part of a fourteenvolume series under the general editorship of eminent yeats scholar george bornstein and formerly the late richard j. Liked this book less for the content itself and more for the insight it gives you into yeats poetry, especially his later, more easterninspired stuff. The system presented here views everything as subject to a cycle of changes, gyres, and the stages of the cycle are. This colliers edition contains all of yeats final revisions, including t.
Explications and contexts, edited by neil mann, matthew gibson, and claire nally clemson, sc. It serves as a meditation on the relationships between imagination, history, and the occult. Publication date 1937 topics iiit collection digitallibraryindia. The following headings give the major areas covered on this site. First published in 1925, and then substantially revised by the author in 1937, a vision is a unique work of literary modernism, and revelatory guide to yeatss own. Ahernes account is one of an editorial dispute, in which robartes, having originally entrusted his papers to aherne, transfers the material to mr yeats, because he finds that ahernes. When you are old by william butler yeats poetry foundation. Yeatss a vision gives an esoteric and occult view of the nature of reality and is the product of years of collaboration between the poet, w. It is intended primarily for students of this work, and also for those who are interested in the intellectual and symbolic background to his later poetry and prose. One of the strangest works of literary modernism, a vision is yeatss greatest occult work.
An explanation of life founded upon the writings of giraldus and upon certain doctrines attributed to kusta ben luka. Yeats 18651939, specifically to the strange, esoteric system which he and his wife, george, created, and which he expounded in a vision. This web site is dedicated to the work of the irish poet w. Yeats was very much a genius, but also a bit of a whackjob. The revised 1937 edition book by william butler yeats. Yeats, and his wife, george, in automatic writing, followed by years of synthesis and research to work it into book form. One of the most remarkable channeled documents of the past century is nobel prizewinning poet william butler yeats a vision. Yeats theory of reincarnation as described in a vision represents a novel view of the subject. The preface to a vision a is narrated by owen aherne, who tells of robartes discovery of the system and a rival editor, mr yeats the poet, who both is and is not the yeats who creates the book of a vision. Benedict kiely and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available. How many loved your moments of glad grace, and loved your beauty with love false or true, but one man loved the pilgrim soul in you. Paul and margaret mills harper, collected works of w. The images and metaphors from this book can be found throughout his later poetry, some of his strongest work. Yeats a vision a 1925, also edited by margaret mills harper and catherine e.