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
III, st. 3
The Tower (1928), Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1547/
“Dream, dream, for this is also sooth.”
Fonte: Crossways (1889), The Song Of The Happy Shepherd, l. 57.
To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time
The Rose (1893)
Brown Penny http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1454/
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)
In Memory Of Major Robert Gregory http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1516/, st. 11
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
V, st. 1
The Tower (1928), Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1547/
Quarrel In Old Age http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1567/, st. 2
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
Two Songs from a Play, as quoted from The Cycles of History http://www.yeatsvision.com/history.html
“Whatever flames upon the night
Man’s own resinous heart has fed.”
II, st. 2
The Tower (1928), Two Songs From a Play http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1741/
“It’s certain that fine women eat
A crazy salad with their meat
Whereby the Horn of plenty is undone.”
St. 4
Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), A Prayer For My Daughter http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1421/
Under Ben Bulben http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1745/, V
Last Poems (1936-1939)
The Balloon Of The Mind http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1595/
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Byzantium, st. 4
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
News for the Delphic Oracle http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1546/, st. 3
Last Poems (1936-1939)
The Spur http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1693/
Last Poems (1936-1939)
Speech, (28 March 1923), Seanad Éireann (Irish Free Senate), on the Damage to Property (Compensation) Bill http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0001/S.0001.192303280011.html
The Apparitions http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1589/, st. 1
Last Poems (1936-1939)
“Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.”
Long-Legged Fly http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1525/, refrain
Last Poems (1936-1939)
The Cat And The Moon http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1599/
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
V, st. 2
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), Vacillation http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1751/
“I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.”
Speech (7 June 1923), Seanad Éireann (Irish Free Senate), on the Censorship of Films Bill. http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0001/S.0001.192306070006.html
The Song Of Wandering Aengus http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1690/
The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)
An Acre of Grass, st. 3
Last Poems (1936-1939)
Crazy Jane Talks With The Bishop http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1471/, st. 2
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
“Locke sank into a swoon;
The Garden died;
God took the spinning-jenny
Out of his side.”
Fragments http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1484/, I
The Tower (1928)
Fonte: Crossways (1889), The Song Of The Happy Shepherd, l. 1–5.