| Under Ben Bulben | |
|---|---|
| by W. B. Yeats | |
| Written | 1938 |
| First published in | Last Poems and Two Plays |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Elegy |
| Publisher | Cuala Press |
| Publication date | 1939 |
| Media type | Hardback |
| Lines | 94 |
| Full text | |
 Under Ben Bulben at Wikisource | |
"Under Ben Bulben" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats.
It is believed to be one of the last poems he wrote, being drafted when he was 73, in August 1938 when his health was already poor (he died in January 1939). [1]
"Under Ben Bulben" was first published in July 1939, six months after Yeats' death, as the first poem in the collection Last Poems and Two Plays in a limited edition released by his sister. The trade edition Last Poems & Plays, published in 1940, added the content of New Poems and three poems printed in On the Boiler. It also made "Under Ben Bulben" the final poem, a convention followed until the 1980s when it became clear that the original arrangement better reflected the poet's intentions. [2]
Ben Bulben is a large flat-topped rock formation in County Sligo, Ireland. [3] It is famous in Irish legend, appearing in The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne , [4] and was the site of a military confrontation during the Irish Civil War. [5]
The phrase "Mareotic Lake", which appears in the second line of the poem, is used in the classical religious work De Vita Contemplativa to refer to Lake Mariout in Egypt which was the location of the Therapeutae, a community of religious hermits. [6]
Phidias, mentioned in part IV of the poem, was one of the most influential sculptors in classical Athens. The Parthenon Frieze was probably sculpted under his direction. [7]
Yeats is buried in the churchyard of Drumcliffe Church in Sligo, which stands at the foot of Ben Bulben. [8] The last three lines of the poem are used as the epitaph on Yeats' gravestone, and they were composed with that intention: [9]
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death
Horseman, pass by!
The title of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry's first novel, Horseman, Pass By, as well as the title of French writer Michel Déon's book Horseman, Pass By! , [10] are derived from the last line of this poem.
The poem, read by actor Richard Harris, opens and closes an album of Yeats's poems set to music, entitled Now and in a Time to Be. [11]
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves before their death, while others are chosen by those responsible for the burial. An epitaph may be written in prose or in poem verse.
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist and writer, and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. He was awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature, and later served two terms as a Senator of the Irish Free State.
County Sligo is a county in Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 70,198 at the 2022 census. It is noted for Benbulben Mountain, one of Ireland's most distinctive natural landmarks.
Lake Mariout, is a brackish lake in northern Egypt near the city of Alexandria. The lake area covered 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) and had a navigable canal at the beginning of the 20th century, but at the beginning of the 21st century, it covers only about 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi).
"The Second Coming" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats in 1919, first printed in The Dial in November 1920 and included in his 1921 collection of verses Michael Robartes and the Dancer. The poem uses Christian imagery regarding the Apocalypse and Second Coming to describe allegorically the atmosphere of post-war Europe. It is considered a major work of modernist poetry and has been reprinted in several collections, including The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry.
Cenobiticmonasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. The older style of monasticism, to live as a hermit, is called eremitic. A third form of monasticism, found primarily in Eastern Christianity, is the skete.
The Therapeutae were a religious sect which existed in Alexandria and other parts of the ancient Greek world. The primary source concerning the Therapeutae is the De vita contemplativa, traditionally ascribed to the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. The author appears to have been personally acquainted with them. The author describes the Therapeutae as "philosophers" and mentions a group that lived on a low hill by the Lake Mareotis close to Alexandria in circumstances resembling lavrite life. They were "the best" of a kind given to "perfect goodness" that "exists in many places in the inhabited world". The author was unsure of the origin of the name and derives the name Therapeutae/Therapeutides from Greek θεραπεύω in the sense of "cure" or "worship".
The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics (1892) is the second poetry collection of W. B. Yeats.
Lough Gill is a freshwater lough (lake) mainly situated in County Sligo, but partly in County Leitrim, in Ireland. Lough Gill provides the setting for William Butler Yeats' poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree".
Drumcliff or Drumcliffe is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. It is 8 km (5 mi) north of Sligo town on the N15 road on a low gravel ridge between the mountain of Ben Bulben and Drumcliff Bay. It is on the Drumcliff River, originally called the "Codnach", which drains Glencar Lake. Drumcliff is the resting place of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Drumcliff is in a civil parish of the same name.
Thomas Rice Henn, known professionally as T. R. Henn, was an Irish literary critic.
Horseman, Pass By is a 1961 Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. McMurtry's debut novel, it portrays life on a cattle ranch from the perspective of young narrator Lonnie Bannon. Set in Texas in 1954, the Bannon ranch is owned by Lonnie's grandfather, Homer Bannon. Homer's ruthless stepson, Hud, stands as the primary antagonist of the novel. The novel was adapted into the screenplay for the 1963 film Hud, starring Paul Newman as the title character.
"A Prayer for My Daughter" is a poem by William Butler Yeats written in 1919 and published in 1921 as part of Yeats' collection Michael Robartes and the Dancer. It is written to Anne, his daughter with Georgie Hyde-Lees, whom Yeats married after his last marriage proposal to Maud Gonne was rejected in 1916. Yeats composed the poem while staying in a tower at Thoor Ballylee during the Anglo-Irish War, two days after Anne's birth on 26 February 1919. The poem reflects Yeats's complicated views on Irish Nationalism, sexuality, and is considered an important work of Modernist poetry.
"Down by the Salley Gardens" is a poem by William Butler Yeats published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Benbulbin, sometimes Benbulben or Ben Bulben, is a large flat-topped nunatak rock formation in County Sligo, Ireland. It is part of the Dartry Mountains, in an area sometimes called "Yeats Country".
"The Tower" is a poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It is the second poem in The Tower, a 1928 collection of Yeats' poems.
"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is a twelve-line poem comprising three quatrains, written by William Butler Yeats in 1888 and first published in the National Observer in 1890. It was reprinted in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics in 1892 and as an illustrated Cuala Press Broadside in 1932.
"In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz" is a poem in two stanzas by William Butler Yeats, written in 1927 and published in his 1933 collection The Winding Stair and Other Poems.
Horseman, Pass By! is a 2005 book by the French writer Michel Déon. It recounts Déon's memories and impressions from Ireland and Irish culture.
Now this class of persons may be met with in many places, for it was fitting that both Greece and the country of the barbarians should partake of whatever is perfectly good; and there is the greatest number of such men in Egypt, in every one of the districts, or nomes, as they are called, and especially around Alexandria; and from all quarters those who are the best of these therapeutae proceed on their pilgrimage to some most suitable place as if it were their country, which is beyond the Maereotic lake.— De Vita Contemplativa . http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/philo-ascetics.html On Ascetics] (another name for the De Vita Contemplativa), Section III.