List of works by William Butler Yeats
Encyclopedia
This is a list of all works by Irish poet and dramatist W. B. (William Butler) Yeats (1865–1939), winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature
and a foremost figure in 20th-century literature
. Works sometimes appear twice if parts of new editions or significantly revised. Posthumous editions are also included if they are the first publication of a new or significantly revised work. Years are linked to corresponding "[year] in poetry" articles for works of poetry, and "[year] in literature" articles for other works.
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
and a foremost figure in 20th-century literature
20th century in literature
See also: 20th century in poetry, 19th century in literature, other events of the 20th century, 21st century in literature, list of years in literature.Literature of the 20th century refers to world literature produced during the 20th century...
. Works sometimes appear twice if parts of new editions or significantly revised. Posthumous editions are also included if they are the first publication of a new or significantly revised work. Years are linked to corresponding "[year] in poetry" articles for works of poetry, and "[year] in literature" articles for other works.
1880s
- 18861886 in literatureThe year 1886 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* MLN: Modern Language Notes, an academic journal founded with the intention of introducing European literary criticism into American scholarship, is founded at the Johns Hopkins University.-Books:*Louisa May Alcott - Jo's...
– MosadaMosadaMosada is a short verse play in three scenes written by William Butler Yeats and published in 1886.The only characters are Mosada, a "moorish girl," her friend the hunchback child Cola, a Christian monk and a few nameless inquisitors. The play is set in a fictional kingdom.In the first scene,...
, verse play - 18881888 in literatureThe year 1888 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Grant Allen - The Devil's Die**The White Man's Foot*Edward Bellamy - Looking Backward*Rolf Boldrewood - Robbery Under Arms...
– Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry - 18891889 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Canada:* William Wilfred Campbell, Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).-Canada:* William Wilfred Campbell, Nationality...
– The Wanderings of Oisin and Other PoemsThe Wanderings of Oisin and Other PoemsThe Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems was the first collection of poems by William Butler Yeats. It was published in 1889.In addition to the title poem, the last epic-scale poem that Yeats ever wrote, the book includes a number of short poems that Yeats would later collect under the title...
, includes "The Wanderings of OisinThe Wanderings of OisinThe Wanderings of Oisin is an epic poem published by William Butler Yeats in 1889 in the book The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems. It was his first publication outside of magazines, and immediately won him a reputation as a significant poet....
", "The Song of the Happy ShepherdThe Song of the Happy ShepherdThe Song of the Happy Shepherd is a poem by William Butler Yeats.It was first published under this title in his first book, The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, but in fact the same poem had appeared twice before: as an epilogue to Yeats' poem The Isle of Statues, and again as an epilogue to...
", "The Stolen ChildThe Stolen Child"The Stolen Child" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, published in 1889 in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems.-Overview:The poem was written in 1886 and is considered to be one of Yeats's more notable early poems. The poem is based on Irish legend and concerns faeries beguiling a child to come...
" and "Down By The Salley GardensDown By The Salley GardensDown by the Salley Gardens is a poem by William Butler Yeats published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889...
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1890s
- 18901890 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .- Events :* Rhymer's Club founded in London by William Butler Yeats and Ernest Rhys as a group of like-minded poets who met regularly and published anthologies in 1892 and 1894; attendees included Ernest...
– "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", poem first published in the National Observer, 13 December; poem included in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, 1892 - 18911891 in literatureThe year 1891 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Guy de Maupassant is officially diagnosed as insane.*Tristan Bernard has his first work published in La Revue Blanche....
– Representative Irish Tales - 18911891 in literatureThe year 1891 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Guy de Maupassant is officially diagnosed as insane.*Tristan Bernard has his first work published in La Revue Blanche....
– John Sherman and Dhoya, two stories - 18921892 in literatureThe year 1892 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Shadows Uplifted by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper becomes the second novel by an African-American woman published in the United States-New books:...
– Irish Faerie Tales - 18921892 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* William Butler Yeats founds the Irish Literary Society in Dublin....
– The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and LyricsThe Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and LyricsThe Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics is the second poetry collection of William Butler Yeats.It includes the play The Countess Kathleen and group of shorter lyrics that Yeats would later collect under the title of The Rose in his Collected Poems.This volume includes several of...
, includes "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (see 1890, above) (Lyrics from this book appear in Yeats' collected editions in a section titled "The Rose" [1893] but Yeats never published a book titled "The Rose") - 18931893 in literatureThe year 1893 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*André Gide begins his travels in North Africa.*Jerome K. Jerome founds the magazine To-Day.-New books:*Byron A...
– The Celtic Twilight, poetry and nonfiction - 18931893 in literatureThe year 1893 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*André Gide begins his travels in North Africa.*Jerome K. Jerome founds the magazine To-Day.-New books:*Byron A...
– The Rose, poems - 18941894 in literatureThe year 1894 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Robert Frost sells his first poem, "My Butterfly", to The New York Independent for fifteen dollars.*Hermann Hesse begins his apprenticeship at a factory in Calw....
– The Land of Heart's DesireThe Land of Heart's DesireThe Land of Heart's Desire is a play by Irish poet, dramatist, and 1923 Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats. First performed in the spring of 1894, at the Avenue Theatre in London, where it ran for a little over six weeks, it was the first professional performance of one of Yeats' plays.In this...
, published in April, his first acted play, performed 29 March - 18951895 in poetry* February 18 — John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, father of Oscar Wilde's lover, leaves a calling card at one of Wilde's London clubs, the Albermarle. On the back of it he writes "For Oscar Wilde posing as a Somdomite"...
– Poems, verse and drama; the first edition of his collected poems - 1895 – Editor, A Book of Irish Verse, an anthology
- 18971897 in literatureThe year 1897 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* January 2 - Newspapers in London, England erroneously report the death of Mark Twain. It is believed that the rumors began when Twain's cousin had become ill...
– The Tables of the Law. The Adoration of the Magi, privately printed; The Tables of the Law first published in The Savoy, November 1896; a regular edition of this book appeared in 1904 - 1897 – The Secret Rose, fiction
- 1899 – Crossways
- 18991899 in poetry— Opening lines of Rudyard Kipling's White Man's Burden, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
– The Wind Among the Reeds, including "Song of the Old MotherSong of the Old Mother"Song of the Old Mother" is a poem by William Butler Yeats which first appeared in The Wind Among the Reeds anthology, published in 1899. The poem echoes Yeats' fascination with the Irish peasantry....
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1900s
- 19001900 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* In February, Myōjō , a monthly literary magazine, begins publication in Japan. between February 1900 and November 1908...
– The Shadowy Waters, poems - 19021902 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Hilda Doolittle meets and befriends Ezra Pound* Times Literary Supplement begins publication-Canada:* James B...
– Cathleen Ní HoulihanCathleen Ní HoulihanCathleen Ní Houlihan is a one-act play written by Irish playwright William Butler Yeats in collaboration with Lady Gregory in 1902 and first performed on 2 April of that year. The play is startlingly nationalistic, encouraging in its last pages that young men sacrifice their lives for the heroine...
, play - 1903 – Ideas of Good and Evil, nonfiction
- 19031903 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Canada:* Bliss Carman, From the Green Book of Bards* E. Pauline Johnson, also known as "Tekahionwake", Canadian Born...
– In the Seven WoodsIn the Seven WoodsIn the Seven Woods is a volume of poems by William Butler Yeats, published in 1903 by Elizabeth Yeats's Dun Emer Press.This is the first book of Yeats' "middle period," in which he eschewed his previous Romantic ideals and preference for pre-Raphaelite imagery, in favor of a more spare style and an...
, poems, includes "Adam's CurseAdam's Curse (poem)Adam's Curse is a poem written by William Butler Yeats. In the poem, Yeats describes the difficulty of creating something beautiful. The title alludes to the Genesis, evoking the fall of man and the separation of work and pleasure...
" (Dun Emer PressDun Emer PressThe Dun Emer Press was an Irish private press founded in 1902 by Elizabeth Yeats and her brother William Butler Yeats, part of the Celtic Revival. It was named after the legendary Emer and evolved into the Cuala Press.-History:...
) - 19031903 in literatureThe year 1903 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* October 24 - Mark Twain moves to Florence.* The first Goncourt Prize for French literature is awarded to John Antoine Nau....
– Where There is Nothing, play - 1903 – The Hour Glass, play, copyright edition (see also 1904 edition)
- 19041904 in literatureThe year 1904 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* January - Mark Twain begins dictating his autobiography.* 16 June - "Bloomsday": the day on which the action of James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place in Dublin....
– The Hour-Glass; Cathleen ni Houlihan; The Pot of Broth, plays - 19041904 in literatureThe year 1904 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* January - Mark Twain begins dictating his autobiography.* 16 June - "Bloomsday": the day on which the action of James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place in Dublin....
– The King's Threshold; and On Baile's Strand - 19041904 in literatureThe year 1904 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* January - Mark Twain begins dictating his autobiography.* 16 June - "Bloomsday": the day on which the action of James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place in Dublin....
– The Tables of the Law; The Adoration of the Magi, a privately printed edition appeared in 1897 - 19051905 in literatureThe year 1905 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*L. Frank Baum's Animal Fairy Tales are published in The Delineator magazine from January to September....
– Stories of Red Hanrahan, published in 1905 by the Dun Emer Press, although the book states the year of publication was 1904; contains stories from The Secret Rose (1897) rewritten with Lady Gregory; another edition was published in 1927 - 19061906 in literatureThe year 1906 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* December 24 - Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio program, a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech, broadcasts....
– Poems, 1899 –1905, verse and plays - 19071907 in literatureThe year 1907 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* June 26 - Mark Twain receives an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Oxford University.*James Joyce meets Ettore Schmitz for the first time....
– Deirdre - 19071907 in literatureThe year 1907 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* June 26 - Mark Twain receives an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Oxford University.*James Joyce meets Ettore Schmitz for the first time....
– Discoveries, nonfiction
1910s
- 19101910 in poetry— closing lines of Rudyard Kipling's If—, first published this year in Rewards and FairiesNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Canada:...
– The Green Helmet and Other Poems, verse and plays - 1910 – Poems: Second Series
- 19111911 in literatureThe year 1911 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*George Moore publishes the first of his three-volume Hail and Farewell .*Gallimard publishing house founded in Paris by Gaston Gallimard...
– Synge and the Ireland of his Time, nonfiction - 1912 – The Cutting of an Agate
- 1912 – Selections from the Writings of Lord Dunsany
- 1912 – A Coat
- 19131913 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* January 8—Harold Monro founds the Poetry Bookshop in London...
– Poems Written in Discouragement - 19161916 in poetry-- Closing lines of "Easter 1916" by William Butler Yeats, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
– Responsibilities, and Other Poems - 1916 – Reveries Over Childhood and Youth, nonfiction
- 19161916 in poetry-- Closing lines of "Easter 1916" by William Butler Yeats, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
– Easter 1916 - 19191919 in poetry—From A Prayer for My Daughter by W. B. Yeats, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Two paintings by E. E...
– The Wild Swans at CooleThe Wild Swans at CooleThe Wild Swans at Coole is a collection of poems by William Butler Yeats, first published in 1917. It is also the name of a poem in that collection...
, Other Verses and a Play in Verse, a significantly revised edition appeared in 1919 - 1918 – Per Amica Silentia Lunae
- 1918 – In Memory of Major Robert Gregory
- 1918 – The Leaders of the Crowd
- 19191919 in literatureThe year 1919 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain return to Somerville College, Oxford, to complete their education following war service.*Two paintings by E. E...
– Two Plays for Dancers, plays; became part of Four Plays for Dancers, published in 1921 - 19191919 in poetry—From A Prayer for My Daughter by W. B. Yeats, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Two paintings by E. E...
– The Wild Swans at CooleThe Wild Swans at CooleThe Wild Swans at Coole is a collection of poems by William Butler Yeats, first published in 1917. It is also the name of a poem in that collection...
, significant revision of the 1917 edition: has the poems from the 1917 edition and others, including "An Irish Airman Foresees His DeathAn Irish Airman Foresees His DeathAn Irish Airman Foresees His Death is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats written in 1918 and first published in the Macmillan edition of The Wild Swans at Coole in 1919. The poem is a soliloquy given by an aviator in the First World War in which the poet describes the circumstances...
" and "The Phases of the Moon"; contains: "The Wild Swans at CooleThe Wild Swans at CooleThe Wild Swans at Coole is a collection of poems by William Butler Yeats, first published in 1917. It is also the name of a poem in that collection...
", "Ego Dominus TuusEgo Dominus TuusEgo Dominus Tuus, Latin for "I am your lord," sometimes translated as "I am your master" is a poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It was published in the 1918 book Per Amica Silentia Lunae, where it introduced some of Yeats's essays, and collected with other poems in The Wild Swans at...
", "The ScholarsThe Scholars (poem)"The Scholars" is a poem written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It is included in the 1919 collection The Wild Swans at Coole.BALD heads forgetful of their sins, Old, learned, respectable bald heads Edit and annotate the lines...
" and "On being asked for a War PoemOn being asked for a War Poemthumb|right|Photograph of William Butler Yeats taken by Charles Beresford in 1911"On being asked for a War Poem" is a poem by William Butler Yeats written on February 6, 1915 in response to a request by Henry James that Yeats compose a political poem about World War I...
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1920s
- 1920 – The Second ComingThe Second Coming (poem)"The Second Coming" is a poem composed by Irish poet William Butler Yeats in 1919 and first printed in The Dial and afterwards included in his 1921 collection of verses titled Michael Robartes and the Dancer. The poem uses Christian imagery regarding the Apocalypse and second coming as allegory to...
- 19211921 in poetry— Wilfred Owen, concluding lines of Dulce et Decorum Est, published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
– Michael Robartes and the DancerMichael Robartes and the DancerMichael Robartes and the Dancer is a 1921 book of poems by William Butler Yeats.It includes the poems:# Michael Robartes and the Dancer# Solomon And The Witch# An Image From A Past Life# Under Saturn# Easter, 1916# Sixteen Dead Men# The Rose Tree...
, poems; published in February, although book itself states "1920" - 19211921 in literatureThe year 1921 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan the Terrible*James Branch Cabell – Figures of Earth*Hall Caine – The Master of Man*Willa Cather – Alexander's Bridge...
– Four Plays for Dancers, plays; includes contents of Two Plays for Dancers, published in 1919, together with At the Hawk's Well and Calvary - 1921 – Four Years
- 19221922 in poetry— Opening lines from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry established...
– Later Poems - 19221922 in literatureThe year 1922 in literature involved some significant events and new books.Under the current U.S. copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1923 with a proper copyright notice entered the public domain no later than 75 years from the date of the copyright...
– The Player Queen, play - 1922 – Plays in Prose and Verse, plays
- 1922 – The Trembling of the Veil
- 1922 – Seven Poems and a Fragment
- 19231923 in literatureThe year 1923 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first appearance in print....
– Plays and Controversies - 19241924 in literatureThe year 1924 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Ford Madox Ford publishes the first book of a four-volume work titled Parade's End published between 1924 and 1928.-New books:*Michael Arlen - The Green Hat...
– The Cat and the Moon, and Certain Poems, poems and drama - 1924 – Essays
- 1925 – A VisionA VisionA Vision: An Explanation of Life Founded upon the Writings of Giraldus and upon Certain Doctrines Attributed to Kusta Ben Luka, privately published in 1925, was a book-length study of various philosophical, historical, astrological, and poetic topics by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats...
A, nonfiction, a much revised edition appeared in 1937, and a final revised edition was published in 1956 - 1926 – Estrangement
- 1926 – Autobiographies of William Butler Yeats, nonfiction; see also, Autobiography 1938
- 19271927 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* T. S. Eliot enters the Church of England and assumes British citizenship-Canada:...
– October Blast - 19271927 in literatureThe year 1927 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Random House, book publishers, is founded in New York City by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer.-New books:*James Boyd - Marching On...
– Stories of Red Hanrahan and the Secret Rose, poetry and fiction - 1927 – The Resurrection, a short play first performed in 1934
- 19281928 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Russian poets Daniil Kharms and Alexander Vvedensky found OBERIU , an avant-garde grouping of Russian post-Futurist poets in the 1920s-1930s* American poets Charles Reznikoff, George Oppen and Louis...
– The TowerThe Tower (book)The Tower was a book of poems by William Butler Yeats, published in 1928.The title, which the book shares with the second poem, refers to the Thoor Ballylee castle which Yeats purchased and lived in for some time with his family....
, includes Sailing to ByzantiumSailing to Byzantium"Sailing to Byzantium" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, first published in the 1928 collection The Tower. It comprises four stanzas in ottava rima, each made up of eight ten-syllable lines. It uses a journey to Constantinople as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. Yeats explores his thoughts and... - 1928 – The Death of Synge, and Other Passages from an Old Diary, poems
- 19291929 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The Little Review, edited by Margaret Caroline Anderson and Jane Heap, ceases publication* The Dial ceases publication...
– A Packet for Ezra Pound, poems - 1929 – The Winding Stair published by Fountain Press in a signed limited edition, now exceedingly rare
1930s
- 19321932 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*W. B. Yeats rents a house in Dublin....
– Words for Music Perhaps, and Other Poems - 19331933 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* A. E. Housman delivers his influential Leslie Stephen lecture, "The Name and Nature of Poetry", in which he asserted that poetry's function is "to transfuse emotion—not to transmit thought but...
– Collected Poems - 1933 – The Winding Stair and Other PoemsThe Winding Stair and Other PoemsThe Winding Stair is a volume of poems by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, published in 1933. It was the next new volume after 1928's The Tower...
- 19341934 in literatureThe year 1934 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Flash Gordon comic strip is published.*Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky are among those present at the first Congress of the Soviet Union of Writers....
– Collected Plays - 19341934 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The Barretts of Wimpole Street, a film directed by Sidney Franklin, with Norma Shearer as Elizabeth Barrett and Fredric March as Robert Browning; redone in 1957, less successfully*The University...
– The King of the Great Clock Tower, poems - 1934 – Wheels and Butterflies, drama
- 1934 – The Words Upon the Window Pane, drama
- 19351935 in literatureThe year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
– Dramatis Personae - 19351935 in poetryLinks to nations or nationalities point to articles with information on that nation's poetry or literature. For example, United Kingdom links to English poetry and Indian links to Indian poetry.-Events:* Canada -- Charles G.D...
– A Full Moon in March, poems - 19371937 in literatureThe year 1937 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 9 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.*Thomas Quinn Curtiss meets Klaus Mann.-New books:*Eric Ambler - Uncommon Danger...
– A VisionA VisionA Vision: An Explanation of Life Founded upon the Writings of Giraldus and upon Certain Doctrines Attributed to Kusta Ben Luka, privately published in 1925, was a book-length study of various philosophical, historical, astrological, and poetic topics by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats...
B, nonfiction, a much revised edition of the original, which appeared in 1925; reissued with minor changes in 1956, and with further changes in 1962 - 19371937 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Iowa Writers' Workshop founded by Paul Engle at the University of Iowa...
– Essays 1931 to 1936 - 19381938 in literatureThe year 1938 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The trilogy, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, is published containing his three novels The 42nd Parallel , 1919 , and The Big Money ....
– Autobiography, includes Reveries over Childhood and Youth (published in 1914), The Trembling of the Veil (1922), Dramatis Personae (1935), The Death of Synge (1928), and other pieces; see also Autobiographies (1926) - 1938 – The Herne's Egg, drama
- 19381938 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* In Nazi Germany, the Reichsschrifttumskammer banned German expressionist poet Gottfried Benn from further writing.-Australia:* Rex Ingamells and Ian Tilbrook, Conditional Culture, published in...
– New Poems - 19391939 in literatureThe year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*December 25 - A Christmas Carol is read before a radio audience for the first time....
– Last Poems and Two Plays poems and drama (posthumous) - 1939 – On the Boiler, essays, poems and a play (posthumous)
External links
- Complete works at Archive.org
- Poetry Foundation web page with an extensive Yeats bibliography
- A Collection of Writing