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Alongside the title poem, an autumn meditation on change and aging at Lady Gregory's estate, it includes "In Memory of Major Robert Gregory," "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," "The Fisherman," "Ego Dominus Tuus" and "The Phases of the Moon."
Inside the book
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- 1The Wild Swans at Coole1 min
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- 2In Memory of Major Robert Gregory3 min
- 3An Irish Airman Foresees His Death1 min
- 4Men Improve with the Years1 min
- 5The Collar-Bone of A Hare1 min
- 6Under the Round Tower1 min
- 7Solomon to Sheba1 min
- 8The Living Beauty1 min
- 9A Song1 min
- 10To A Young Beauty1 min
- 11To A Young Girl1 min
- 12The Scholars1 min
- 13Tom O'Roughley1 min
- 14The Sad Shepherd5 min
- 15Lines Written in Dejection1 min
- 16The Dawn1 min
- 17On Woman1 min
- 18The Fisherman1 min
- 19The Hawk1 min
- 20Memory1 min
- 21The People1 min
- 22His Phoenix2 min
- 23A Thought from Propertius2 min
- 24A Deep-Sworn Vow1 min
- 25The Balloon of the Mind1 min
- 26On Being Asked for A War Poem1 min
- 27Upon A Dying Lady3 min
- 28Ego Dominus Tuus3 min
- 29A Prayer on Going into My House1 min
- 30The Phases of the Moon6 min
- 31The Cat and the Moon1 min
- 32The Saint and the Hunchback1 min
- 33Two Songs of A Fool1 min
- 34Another Song of A Fool1 min
- 35The Double Vision of Michael Robartes2 min
- 36Note1 min
The opening
The Wild Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine and fifty swans.
The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold, Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes, when I awake some day To find they have flown away?
About the author
W. B. Yeats
1865 Sandymount – 1939 Menton · Irish poet and playwright
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with John Millington Synge and Lady Gregory, founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years.
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