Limited First Edition, In the Seven Woods by W. B. Yeats
In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age is a volume of poems by W. B. Yeats, published in 1903 by Elizabeth Yeats's Dun Emer Press, the first edited by this publishing house.[1]
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of the Irish literary establishment, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, and in his later years served as a Senator of the Irish Free State for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and others.
Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, known as Lolly, was an Anglo-Irish educator and publisher. She worked as an art teacher and published several books on art, and was a founder of Dun Emer Press which published several works by her brother W. B. Yeats. She was first commercial printer in Ireland to work exclusively with hand presses.
The Dun Emer Press was an Irish private press founded in 1902 by Elizabeth Yeats and her brother William Butler Yeats, part of the Celtic Revival. It was named after the legendary Emer and evolved into the Cuala Press.
Dun Emer published two editions of the book in 1903. The more expensive collection was published on Dutch and Irish paper and is bound with a vellum cover with Irish linen ties (see image).
This is the first book of Yeats's "middle period," in which he eschewed his previous Romantic ideals and preference for pre-Raphaelite imagery, in favor of a more spare style and an anti-romantic poetic stance similar to that of Walter Savage Landor.
Walter Savage Landor was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity. As remarkable as his work was, it was equalled by his rumbustious character and lively temperament. Both his writing and political activism, such as his support for Lajos Kossuth and Giuseppe Garibaldi, were imbued with his passion for liberal and republican causes. He befriended and influenced the next generation of literary reformers such as Charles Dickens and Robert Browning.
The poem "Adam's Curse", however, continues to reflect the old ideals. This is also the most popular and frequently anthologized of the poems from this volume.
Adam's Curse is a poem written by William Butler Yeats. In the poem, Yeats describes the difficulty of creating something beautiful. The title alludes to the book of Genesis, evoking the fall of man and the separation of work and pleasure. Yeats originally included the poem in the volume, In the Seven Woods, published in 1904.
The volume includes the playwright "On Baile's Strand: A Play".
The collection was reprinted in 1906 in "Poems, 1899-1905" with two additions. "Old Memory" and "Never Give all the Heart" appear directly after "The Folly of being Comforted".
Comment by W. B. Yeats
I made some of these poems walking about among the Seven Woods, before the big wind of nineteen hundred and three blew down so many trees, & troubled the wild creatures, & changed the look of things; and I thought out there a good part of the play which follows. The first shape of it came to me in a dream, but it changed much in the making, foreshadowing, it may be, a change that may bring a less dream-burdened will into my verses. I never re-wrote anything so many times; for at first I could not make these wills that stream into mere life poetical. But now I hope to do easily much more of the kind, and that our new Irish players will find the buskin and the sock.[2]
Colophon
Colophon, In The Seven Woods (limited first edition)
Here ends In the Seven Woods, written by William Butler Yeats, printed, upon paper made in Ireland, and published by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats at the Dun Emer Press, in the house of Evelyn Gleeson at Dundrum in the county of Dublin, Ireland, finished the sixteenth day of July in the year of the big wind 1903.
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The Cuala Press was an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats that played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century. Originally Dun Emer Press, from 1908 until the late 1940s it functioned as Cuala Press, publicising the works of such writers as Yeats, Lady Gregory, Colum, Synge, Gogarty, etc.
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At the Hawk's Well is a one-act play by William Butler Yeats, first performed in 1916 and published in 1917. It is one of five plays by Yeats which are loosely based on the stories of Cuchulain the mythological hero of ancient Ulster. It was the first play written in English that utilised many of the features of the Japanese Noh Theatre.
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This is a list of all works by Irish poet and dramatist W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature and a foremost figure in 20th-century literature. Works sometimes appear twice if parts of new editions or significantly revised. Posthumous editions are also included if they are the first publication of a new or significantly revised work. Years are linked to corresponding "[year] in poetry" articles for works of poetry, and "[year] in literature" articles for other works.
The Dolmen Press was founded by Liam and Josephine Miller in 1951. The Dolmen Press was a beacon in a dark time for Irish publishing and occupies a central position in the story of Irish poetry after W. B. Yeats. Liam had returned to Dublin after working as an architect for two years in London. He acquired an Adana Hand Press and with no previous experience to guide him printed 500 copies of 'Travelling Tinkers' a collection of four ballads by Sigerson Clifford and it was from this that the Dolmen Press was born. The Press operated in Dublin from 1951 until Liam Miller's death in 1987. The division took printing jobs from publishers as well as theatres, art galleries, businesses and individuals.
On Baile's Strand is a play written by W. B. Yeats and first printed in In the Seven Woods published by Dun Emer Press in 1903. The play was first performed at the grand opening of the Abbey Theatre on 27 December 1904. The play is based on the Irish folk hero Cuchulain.
Evelyn Gleeson was an English embroidery, carpet, and tapestry designer, who along with Elizabeth and Lily Yeats established the Dun Emer Press.
William Kirkpatrick Magee, was an Irish author, editor, and librarian, who as an essayist and poet adopted the pen-name of John Eglinton. He became head librarian of the National Library of Ireland, after opposing the "cultural nationalism" of his time. From 1904 to 1905 he edited the literary journal Dana and was the biographer of George William Russell ("Æ").
