For William Butler Yeats,
poetic license
sometimes meant misquoting writers or misspelling Irish words. This reference guide illuminates the poetry of the Irish writer.
A Yeats Dictionary: Names of the Persons and Places in the Poetry of W.B. Yeats
uses Yeats’ non-poetic writing, the principle Yeats criticism and the writings of his friends and critics to reveal the depth of his meanings. It identifies geographical, historical and literary references from classical antiquity to Irish culture. The pronunciation and etymological guides enhance the strong cadences of Gaelic words. This dictionary goes beyond mere identification to include biographical information and helpful cross-references to the poet’s other works. Readers will learn, for example, that Yeats visited the cottages of Irish peasants to record their stories and superstitions first-hand - material that eventually found its way into his poems.