The Wind Among the Reeds

William Butler Yeats

• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781513270838
• eBook ISBN: 9781513275833
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Poetry
• Index: Literature

The Wind Among the Reeds (1899) is a collection of poems and plays by W.B. Yeats. Containing many of the poet's early important works, The Wind Among the Reeds provides a rich sampling of Yeats' poems, illuminating his influence on the Celtic Twilight, a late-nineteenth century movement to revive the myths and traditions of Ancient Ireland, while charting his developing sense of the poet's place in history and a changing world.

"The Song of Wandering Aengus" dramatizes aesthetic and romantic longing. The poem follows a man with "a fire…in [his] head" who peels "a hazel wand, " hooks it with a berry, and catches himself "a little silver trout." Satisfied, he returns home to light a fire and cook himself a meal of fresh fish when, suddenly, the trout transforms into "a glimmering girl / With apple blossom in her hair." Haunted by her beauty, Aengus wanders the "hollow lands and hilly lands" in search of the girl, leaving his home and forsaking the promise of hard-earned comfort for the hope and hunger of vision. "The Song of the Old Mother, " a deceptively simple lyric reminiscent of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, is a brief meditation on the life of an elderly domestic worker. Rising at dawn, she ensures that "the seed of the fire flicker and glow, " preparing the home for the day ahead while "the young lie long and dream in their bed" with no sense of the nature of work. The Wind Among the Reeds, Yeats' third collection of poems, introduces some of the poet's most enduring characters and personas, including Michael Robartes and Red Hanrahan, who dramatize for poet and reader the moods and minds which move a creative spirit.

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of W.B. Yeats's The Wind Among the Reeds is a classic of Irish literature reimagined for modern readers.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• The Hosting of the Sidhe
• The Everlasting Voices
• The Moods
• Aedh Tells of the Rose in his Heart
• The Host of the Air
• Breasal The Fisherman
• A Cradle Song
• Into the Twilight
• The Song of Wandering Aengus
• The Song of the Old Mother
• The Fiddler of Dooney
• The Heart of the Woman
• Aedh Laments the Loss of Love
• Mongan Laments the Change that has Come Upon him and his Beloved
• Michael Robartes Bids his Beloved be at Peace
• Hanrahan Reproves the Curlew
• Michael Robartes Remembers Forgotten Beauty
• A Poet to his Beloved
• Aedh Gives his Beloved Certain Rhymes
• To My Heart, Bidding it Have No Fear
• The Cap and Bells
• The Valley of the Black Pig
• Michael Robartes Asks Forgiveness Because of his Many Moods
• Aedh Tells of a Valley Full of Lovers
• Aedh Tells of the Perfect Beauty
• Aedh Hears the Cry of the Sedge
• Aedh Thinks of Those Who Have Spoken Evil of His Beloved
• The Blessed
• The Secret Rose
• Hanrahan Laments Because of his Wanderings
• The Travail of Passion
• The Poet Pleads with his Friend for Old Friends
• Hanrahan Speaks to the Lovers of his Songs in Coming Days
• Aedh Pleads with the Elemental Powers
• Aedh Wishes his Beloved Were Dead
• Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
• Mongan Thinks of his Past Greatness
• Notes
• A Note About the Author
• A Note from the Publisher