''The Winding Stair'' is a volume of

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, published in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

. It was the next new volume after 1928's ''The Tower''. (The title poem was originally published in 1929 by Fountain Press in a signed limited edition, which is exceedingly rare.) The title is linked to the staircase in an old Norman tower in County Galway which Yeats bought and gave it the Gaelicized name Thoor Ballylee castle; Yeats would spend the summers there for about a decade, beginning in 1919. He saw the castle as a vital connection to the

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

Irish past which he admired. This volume capitalizes on the symbolic potential of the tower while examining the tower from the convoluted spaces within in. '' The Tower'' and ''The Winding Stair'' are two collections which are carefully parallel with opposing points of view. The two volumes and their poems share the complementary symbols of

Thoor Ballylee Thoor Ballylee Castle (Irish ''Túr Bhaile Uí Laí'') is a fortified, 15th-century Anglo-Norman tower house built by the septs de Burgo, or Burke, near the town of Gort in County Galway, Ireland. It is also known as ''Yeats' Tower'' because it ...

and the winding stair within. Six of the poems in the latter volume were written before the publication of the former, therefore they are often discussed as a single unit. In a complete turnaround from his bleak outlook of eternity expressed in his previous volume (which the poet admitted that he was 'astonished at its bitterness'), Yeats now ponders over the possibility and desire of reincarnation after death. Yeats was in poor health during this period; In a letter to

Olivia Shakespear Olivia Shakespear (; 17 March 1863 – 3 October 1938) was a British novelist, playwright, and patron of the arts. She wrote six books that are described as "marriage problem" novels. Her works sold poorly, sometimes only a few hundred cop ...

e, Yeats admitted that 'Perhaps if ewas in better health eshould be content to be bitter'. Though this volume includes more poems than ''The Tower'', its contents are generally less well-known and thus less frequently anthologized. Among the best-known and anthologized are "A Dialogue of Self and Soul" and "Byzantium." "

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

" is a sequel to "Sailing to

" (from ''The Tower''), meant to better explain the ideas of the earlier poem. An important insight on Yeats's concern of death lay in the poem "Byzantium" which further exploits the contrast of the physical and spiritual form and the final stanza concludes by differentiating the two. Yeats displays his desire for spiritual wisdom in this poem as he creates a path on earth to the spiritual world; he does this through the image of the dolphin's constant trip between the physical and spiritual worlds. This poem not only shows the poet's change of belief but also provides him with the comfort he desired while aging as he concludes with the vivid image of the spiritual world being connected with the sea of life. The indecisive questions posed in "Sailing to Byzantium" are answered in "A Dialogue" where Yeats chose reincarnation rather than resting in eternity. Yeats reflects upon the paradoxical reality of life whereby he uses two figures, 'Self' and 'Soul' to represent his opposed attitudes towards life and death. "A Dialogue" opens with 'Soul' climbing up the 'winding ancient stair' which portrays the progression through life and the descent to non-existence. Yeats's view of heaven and religion is quite different at this point as he became more intrigued by Buddhist thought which can be seen throughout this poem in particular. Very different to his previous interpretation in ''The Tower'', he now portrays the kind of afterlife he sought in "Sailing to Byzantium" as a dark and 'breathless' eternity. Self is given the final word, which includes an affirmation of temporal life, a preparedness to 'live it all again'.

In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz "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''. Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markiewicz (''née'' Gor ...

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

* A Dialogue of Self and Soul *

Blood and the Moon ''Blood and the Moon'' is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats written in 1927. It was first published in the Spring 1928 issue of ''The Exile'' and then in the collection ''The Winding Stair'' in 1929, before being reprinted in The Winding ...

*Oil and Blood *Veronica's Napkin *Symbols *Spilt Milk *The Nineteenth Century and After *Statistics *Three Movements *The Seven Sages *The Crazed Moon *Coole Park, 1929 * Coole and Ballylee, 1931 *For Anne Gregory *

Swift's Epitaph ''Swift's Epitaph'' is a translation by Irish poet William Butler Yeats of Jonathan Swift's epitaph, which Swift wrote for himself in Latin. Yeats' somewhat free translation appeared in his 1933 collection ''The Winding Stair and Other Poems ...

* At Algeciras—a Meditation upon Death *The Choice *Mohini Chatterjee *

*The Mother of God * Vacillation *Quarrel in Old Age *The Results of Thought *Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors * Remorse for Intemperate Speech *

Stream and Sun at Glendalough A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams are ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winding Stair And Other Poems, The 1933 poetry books Irish poetry collections Poetry by W. B. Yeats 1929 poems

Contents

See also

References