Electronic edition compiled and proof-read by Beatrix Färber, Eileen O'Donovan
Funded by School of History, University College, Cork
1. First draft.
Extent of text: 7110 words
Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
Text ID Number: E910001-054
Availability [RESTRICTED]
The works by W. B. Yeats are in the public domain. This electronic text is available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of private or academic research and teaching.
A friend suggested to me the subject of this play, an Irish folk-tale from Lady Wildes' Ancient Legends. I have for years struggled with something which is charming in the naive legend but a platitude on the stage. I did not discover till a year ago that if the wise man humbled himself to the fool and received salvation as his reward, so much more powerful are pictures than words, no explanatory dialogue could set the matter right. I was faintly pleased when I converted a music-hall singer and kept him going to Mass for six weeks, so little responsibility does one feel for those to whom one has never been introduced; but I was always ashamed when I saw any friend of my own in the theatre. Now I have made my philosopher accept God's will, whatever it is, and find his courage again, and helped by the elaboration of verse, have so changed the fable that it is not false to my own thoughts of the world. (Yeats, p. 188)
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
The whole selection.
Text has been proof-read twice.
The electronic text represents the edited text. Lines (or parts of them) reproduced in italics in the printed edition are tagged hi rend="ital".
The editorial practice of the hard-copy editor has been retained.
div0= the individual poem, stanzas are marked lg.
Names of persons (given names), and places are not tagged. Terms for cultural and social roles are not tagged.
Created: By William Butler Yeats (18651939). (1912)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Eileen O'Donovan (ed.)
Eileen O'Donovan (data capture)