"Nicely written and thoroughly researched. . . . An excellent and much needed book."—Library Journal
"This invaluable work traces Yeast's determined efforts . . . to establish for a prophetically free Ireland of the twentieth century a high literary culture and modern Irish tradition. . . . It is fitting that Yeats himself has since emerged as the shining star in that galaxy, as poet, dramatist, and prose writer; but also, as Phillip Marcus brilliantly shows, as chief propagandist, politician, and producer of that Irish Renaissance of the title."—Books Abroad
"Marcus helps us to recover the excitement and enthusiasm of W. B. Yeats and AE when they discovered ancient Irish sagas in the translations made by O'Grady and other scholars."—Times Literary Supplement
Description
W. B. Yeats was the outstanding figure in the early years of the Irish Literary Renaissance. This study offers the fullest, most detailed picture available of Yeats’s impact on that movement between 1885 and 1899 and sheds new light upon the development of the movement itself.
For this new edition, Professor Marcus has added an introductory essay surveying work in the field since the original publication of the study and offering important new interpretive material of his own.
About the Author
Phillip L. Marcus, Professor of English at Cornell University, is also the author of many other books and articles on modern literature.
December 1986