  My Dear “Maurice”—I was often in France before you were born or when you were but a little child. When I went for the first or second time MallarmÉ had just written: “All our age is full of the trembling of the veil of the temple.” One met everywhere young men of letters who talked of magic. A distinguished English man of letters asked me to call with him on Stanislas de Gaeta because he did not dare go alone to that mysterious house. I met from time to time with the German poet Doukenday, a grave Swede whom I only discovered after years to have been Strindberg, then looking for the philosopher’s stone in a lodging near the Luxembourg; and one day in the chambers of The movement of letters had been haughty even before Magic had touched it. Rimbaud had sung: “Am I an old maid that I should fear the embrace of death?” And everywhere in Paris and in London young men boasted of the garret, and claimed to have no need of what the crowd values. Last summer you, who were at the age I was when first I heard of MallarmÉ and of Verlaine, spoke much of the French poets young men and women read to-day. Claudel I already somewhat knew, but you read to me for the first time from Jammes a dialogue between a poet and a bird, that made us cry, and a whole volume of Peguy’s MystÈre de Have not my thoughts run through a like round, though I have not found my tradition in the Catholic Church, which was not the church of my childhood, but where the tradition is, as I believe, more universal and more ancient? W. B. Y. May 11, 1917. Printed in the United States of America. The following pages contain advertisements of books by the same author or on kindred subjects. Responsibilities By WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS Cloth, $1.25 “William Butler Yeats is by far the biggest poetic personality living among us at present. He is great both as a lyric and dramatist poet.” —John Masefield. “This poetry has the rhythm that is incantation and sorcery, that is not of the senses nor of the spirit, but of a mingling which is exaltation.” —Chicago Evening Post. Under the title of “Responsibilities” William Butler Yeats brings together some of his recent poems. Notable still for his freshness of thought, his keen originality, and his purely poetic conception of thoughts and facts, Mr. Yeats sometimes makes us wonder how he has so long been able to hold his style above the ever rising level of modern poetry. No man stands so apart in his own perfection as does this Irish poet and playwright, in his art of discovering truths remote and beautiful. Serious, vital thoughts he veils, as the genuine poet, in a cloak of fine rhythmical expression. It is, after all, as a poet that the majority of people like to think of Mr. Yeats, and this splendid collection, the first in a number of years, is assured of a warm welcome. BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS The Cutting of an Agate 12mo, $1.50 “Mr. Yeats is probably the most important as well as the most widely known of the men concerned directly in the so-called Celtic renaissance. More than this, he stands among the few men to be reckoned with in modern poetry.”—New York Herald. The Green Helmet and Other Poems Decorated cloth, 12mo, $1.25 The initial piece in this volume is a deliciously conceived heroic farce, quaint in humor and sprightly in action. It tells of the difficulty in which two simple Irish folk find themselves when they enter into an agreement with an apparition of the sea, who demands that they knock off his head and who maintains that after they have done that he will knock off theirs. There is a real meaning in the play which it will not take the thoughtful reader long to discover. Besides this there are a number of shorter poems, notably one in which Mr. Yeats answers the critics of “The Playboy of the Western World.” Lyrical and Dramatic Poems In Two Volumes Vol. I. Lyrical Poems, $2.00 Leather, $2.25 The two-volume edition of the Irish poet’s works included everything he has done in verse up to the present time. The first volume contains his lyrics; the second includes all of his five dramas in verse: “The Countess Cathleen,” “The Land of Heart’s Desire,” “The King’s Threshold,” “On Baile’s Strand,” and “The Shadowy Waters.” Reveries Over Childhood and Youth $2.00 In this book the celebrated Irish author gives us his reminiscences of his childhood and youth. The memories are written, as is to be expected, in charming prose. They have the appeal invariably attached to the account of a sensitive childhood. The Hour Glass and Other Plays $1.25 “The Hour Glass” is one of Mr. Yeats’ noble and effective plays, and with the other plays in the volume, make a small, but none the less representative collection. Stories of Red Hanrahan $1.25 These tales belong to the realm of pure lyrical expression. They are mysterious and shadowy, full of infinite subtleties and old wisdom of folklore, and sad with the gray wistful Celtic sadness. “Lovers of Mr. Yeats’s suggestive and delicate writing will find him at his best in this volume.”—Springfield Republican. Ideas of Good and Evil $1.50 Essays on art and life, wherein are set forth much of Yeats’ philosophy, his love of beauty, his hope for Ireland and for Irish artistic achievement. The Celtic Twilight $1.50 A collection of tales from Irish life and of Irish fancy, retold from peasants’ stories with no additions except an occasional comment. THE WORKS OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE BOLPUR EDITION HUNGRY STONES AND OTHER STORIES.
This new edition of the works of Rabindranath Tagore will recommend itself to those who desire to possess the various poems and plays of the great Hindu writer in the best possible printings and bindings. Great care has been taken with the physical appearance of the books. In addition to the special design that has been made for the cover, there are special end papers and decorated title pages in each book. Altogether this edition promises to become the standard one of this distinguished poet and seer. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Footnotes: [1] Translated by Arthur Symons from San Juan de la Cruz. [2] I have no better authority for Caesarea than Landor’s play. |
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