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. <br class="br">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. <br class="br">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. <br class="br"> 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 <br class="br">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 <br class="br">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 <br class="br">The Rose (1893) <br class="br">Fonte: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats <br class="br">Contexto: p>When you are old and gray and full of sleep,<br>And nodding by the fire, take down this book,<br>And slowly read, and dream of the soft look<br>Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;How many loved your moments of glad grace,<br>And loved your beauty with love false or true,<br>But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,<br>And loved the sorrows of your changing face.And bending down beside the glowing bars,<br>Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled<br>And paced upon the mountains overhead<br>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.
“I bring you with reverent hands
The books of my numberless dreams.”
Fonte: The Wind Among the Reeds
An Irish Airman Forsees His Death http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1441/ <br class="br">The Wild Swans at Coole (1919) <br class="br">Contexto: I know that I shall meet my fate<br>Somewhere among the clouds above;<br>Those that I fight I do not hate,<br>Those that I guard I do not love;<br>My county is Kiltartan Cross,<br>My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,<br>No likely end could bring them loss<br>Or leave them happier than before.<br>Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,<br>Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,<br>A lonely impulse of delight<br>Drove to this tumult in the clouds;<br>I balanced all, brought all to mind,<br>The years to come seemed waste of breath,<br>A waste of breath the years behind<br>In balance with this life, this death.
St. 5 <br class="br">Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), A Prayer For My Daughter http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1421/ <br class="br">Fonte: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats <br class="br">Contexto: In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;<br>Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned<br>By those that are not entirely beautiful;<br>Yet many, that have played the fool<br>For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise.<br>And many a poor man that has roved,<br>Loved and thought himself beloved,<br>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