William Butler Yeats, muitas vezes apenas designado por W.B. Yeats , foi um poeta, dramaturgo e místico irlandês. Atuou ativamente no Renascimento Literário Irlandês e foi co-fundador do Abbey Theatre.
Suas obras iniciais eram caracterizadas por tendência romântica exuberante e fantasiosa, que transparece no título da sua colectânea de 1893, The Celtic Twilight . Posteriormente, por volta dos seus 40 anos, e em resultado da sua relação com poetas modernistas, como Ezra Pound, e também do seu envolvimento activo no nacionalismo irlandês, seu estilo torna-se mais austero e moderno.
Foi também senador irlandês, cargo que exerceu com dedicação e seriedade. Foi galardoado com o Nobel de Literatura de 1923. O Comité de entrega do prémio justificou a sua decisão pela "sua poesia sempre inspirada, que através de uma forma de elevado nível artístico dá expressão ao espírito de toda uma nação." Em 1934 compartilhou o Prémio Gothenburg para poesia com Rudyard Kipling.
Wikipedia
“Espalhei meus sonhos aos seus pés. Caminhe devagar, pois você estará pisando neles.”
I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Later poems - Página 41 http://books.google.com.br/books?id=zxdFeN43VhoC&pg=PA41, William Butler Yeats - Forgotten Books, 1924, ISBN 1605061484, 9781605061481 - 363 páginas
Fonte: Revista Caras http://www.caras.com.br, Edição de Terça-feira, 17 de outubro de 2006.
“Nos sonhos começa a responsabilidade.”
In dreams begins responsibility.
Later poems - Página 146 http://books.google.com.br/books?id=zxdFeN43VhoC&pg=PA146, William Butler Yeats - Forgotten Books, 1924, ISBN 1605061484, 9781605061481 - 363 páginas
“Nenhum homem viveu que tivesse suficiente: gratidão de crianças e amor de mulher.”
No man has ever lived that had enough. Of children's gratitude or woman's love.
Vacillation http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1751/, III, st. 1
“Pense como sábio, mas se expresse na língua do povo.”
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
citado em "Modern quotations for ready reference", Arthur Richmond - Dover Publications, 1947 - 502 páginas
Think where man's glory most begins and ends, And say my glory was I had such friends.
The poems of William Butler Yeats - Página 244, William Butler Yeats - Hayes Barton Press, 1956, ISBN 1593772270, 9781593772277
“O poema é o ato social de uma pessoa solitária.”
a poem is a social act done by a solitary man
William Butler Yeats citado in: Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats (1839-1922) - Página 516 http://books.google.com.br/books?id=orrgEXRRREAC&pg=PA516, William Michael Murphy - Syracuse University Press, 2001, ISBN 0815607253, 9780815607250, 680 páginas
Atribuídas
“In dreams begins responsibility.”
Variante: In Dreams begins Responsibility.
Fonte: Epigraph to the book Responsibilities (1914); this was later adapted as the title of the story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" (1937) by Delmore Schwartz.
When You Are Old http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1756/, st. 1–3
The Rose (1893)
Fonte: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
Contexto: p>When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;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,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.</p
“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
Variante: Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
An Irish Airman Forsees His Death http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1441/
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Contexto: I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My county is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
St. 5
Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), A Prayer For My Daughter http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1421/
Fonte: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
Contexto: In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those that are not entirely beautiful;
Yet many, that have played the fool
For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise.
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
Fonte: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
"Earth, Fire and Water" from The Celtic Twilight (1893)
Fonte: The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore
Fonte: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats