William Butler Yeats Zitate
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William Butler Yeats [jeɪts] war ein irischer Dichter. Er gilt als einer der bedeutendsten englischsprachigen Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts. 1923 erhielt er als erster Ire den Literaturnobelpreis. Er war der Bruder des Künstlers und Autors Jack Butler Yeats und der Vater des Politikers Michael Yeats.

William Butler Yeats war Förderer der irischen Renaissance und schloss sich zeitweise einer revolutionären Bewegung an. 1899 gründete er gemeinsam mit Lady Gregory und Edward Martyn das Irish Literary Theatre. Aus diesem Projekt ging 1904 das Abbey Theatre, das irische Nationaltheater, hervor. Yeats war einige Zeit später für zwei Amtsperioden Senator.

Als Schriftsteller ließ sich Yeats von alten irischen Vorbildern, keltischer Mythologie und traditionellen englischen Dichtern wie etwa Blake, Shakespeare oder Shelley beeinflussen. Er schuf eine „national-irische, mythisch-mystische, oft symbolische Dichtung“. Seine frühen Gedichte können der englischen bzw. irischen Romantik zugeordnet werden. Im Zeitalter der Moderne verfasste Yeats zunehmend auch mehrere moderne Gedichte, die sein herausragendes Spätwerk markieren. Teilweise heißt es, dass er seine größten literarischen Arbeiten erst nach dem Erhalt des Nobelpreises verfasste.

Yeats’ Einfluss als ein Künstler, der zeitlebens um den angemessenen ästhetischen Ausdruck für eine „gründlich aus den Fugen geratene Welt“ rang, reicht dabei weit über die irische Literatur hinaus. In seinen Werken zeigt er eine „erstaunliche Wandlungs- und Steigerungsfähigkeit“, die ihn zum „schlechthin repräsentativen Dichter zwischen 1890 und 1940“ macht. Neben dem Romancier James Joyce gilt Yeats häufig als größter irischer Literat dieser Epoche. Wikipedia  

✵ 13. Juni 1865 – 28. Januar 1939
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William Butler Yeats Berühmte Zitate

„Keiner, der mit äußerster Geschwindigkeit läuft, hat Kopf oder Herz.“

Entfremdung
"Nobody running at full speed has either a head or a heart." - Journal 1909, in: Estrangement (1926) books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=nQ6A_QpI4YwC&pg=PA365

„Hinter der Maske ist immer ein lebendiges Gesicht.“

Synges Tod
"There is always a living face behind the mask." - The death of Synge. books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=nQ6A_QpI4YwC&pg=PA373

„Denke wie ein Weiser aber sprich die Sprache Deiner Mitmenschen!“

Leider steht das Zitat mit einem tragischen RS-fehler in der Sammung.. statt "weiser Mensch" ist dort von einem "Weißen" die Rede... leider hab ich die Kommentarfunktion nicht gefunden.. vielen Dank für die Korrektur, mit freundlichen Grüßen von CK

„Der Akt der Würdigung von etwas, das Größe hat, ist ein Akt der Selbstüberwindung.“

Synges Tod
"The act of appreciation of any great thing is an act of self-conquest." - The death of Synge. books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=nQ6A_QpI4YwC&pg=PA381

William Butler Yeats Zitate und Sprüche

„Ein Dichter schöpft die Tragik aus seiner eigenen Seele, der Seele, die allen Menschen gleicht.“

Entfremdung
"A poet creates tragedy from his own soul, that soul which is alike in all men." - Journal 1909, in: Estrangement (1926) books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=nQ6A_QpI4YwC&pg=PA348

„Jede Kultur wird durch die Suggestion eines unsichtbaren Hypnotiseurs zusammengehalten - durch künstlich erzeugte Illusion.“

Entfremdung
"All civilisation is held together by the suggestions of an invisible hypnotist — by artificially created illusions." - Journal 1909, in: Estrangement (1926) books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=nQ6A_QpI4YwC&pg=PA356

„der Spruch, den Yeats sich hatte auf seinen Grabstein schreiben lassen […]: Reiter, wirf einen kalten Blick auf das Leben, auf den Tod — und reite weiter.“

Heinrich Böll: Irisches Tagebuch. Werke Bd. 10, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2005, S. 269 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=eckbAQAAMAAJ&q=reiter
"Cast a cold eye | On life, on death. | Horseman, pass by!" - Under Ben Bulben [1938], bei en.wikisource

William Butler Yeats: Zitate auf Englisch

“She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.”

Down By The Salley Gardens http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1476/
Crossways (1889)
Kontext: p>Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.</p

“Till the wilderness cried aloud,
A secret between you two,
Between the proud and the proud.”

Against Unworthy Praise http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1433/
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)
Kontext: p>O heart, be at peace, because
Nor knave nor dolt can break
What's not for their applause
Being for a woman's sake.
Enough if the work has seemed,
So did she your strength renew,
A dream that a lion had dreamed
Till the wilderness cried aloud,
A secret between you two,
Between the proud and the proud.What, still you would have their praise!
But here's a haughtier text,
The labyrinth of her days
That her own strangeness perplexed;
And how what her dreaming gave
Earned slander, ingratitude,
From self-same dolt and knave;
Aye, and worse wrong than these.
Yet she, singing upon her road,
Half lion, half child, is at peace.</p

“While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness,
That I was blessed and could bless.”

W.B. Yeats buch The Winding Stair and Other Poems

Quelle: The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), Vacillation http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1751/, IV
Kontext: My fiftieth year had come and gone,
I sat, a solitary man,
In a crowded London shop,
An open book and empty cup
On the marble table-top.
While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness,
That I was blessed and could bless.

“Time can but make it easier to be wise
Though now it seems impossible, and so
All that you need is patience.”

The Folly Of Being Comforted http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1623/
In The Seven Woods (1904)
Kontext: One that is ever kind said yesterday:
'Your well-belovéd's hair has threads of grey,
And little shadows come about her eyes;
Time can but make it easier to be wise
Though now it seems impossible, and so
All that you need is patience.'
Heart cries, 'No,
I have not a crumb of comfort, not a grain.
Time can but make her beauty over again:
Because of that great nobleness of hers
The fire that stirs about her, when she stirs,
Burns but more clearly. O she had not these ways
When all the wild summer was in her gaze.'
O heart! O heart! if she'd but turn her head,
You'd know the folly of being comforted.

“She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.”

Down By The Salley Gardens http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1476/
Crossways (1889)
Kontext: p>Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.</p

“Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveller; he
Served human liberty.”

W.B. Yeats buch The Winding Stair and Other Poems

Swift's Epitaph http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1586/.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
Kontext: Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveller; he
Served human liberty.

“Come near, come near, come near — Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!”

To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time
The Rose (1893)
Kontext: Come near, come near, come near — Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
Lest I no more hear common things that crave;
The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,
The field-mouse running by me in the grass,
And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;
But seek alone to hear the strange things said
By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,
And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know.
Come near; I would, before my time to go,
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.

“And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.”

Never Give All The Heart http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1545/
In The Seven Woods (1904)
Kontext: Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
but a brief, dreamy, kind of delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.

“The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech,
The habitual content of each with each
When neither soul nor body has been crossed.”

King and No King http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1521/
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)
Kontext: I that have not your faith, how shall I know
That in the blinding light beyond the grave
We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost?
The hourly kindness, the day’s common speech,
The habitual content of each with each
When neither soul nor body has been crossed.

“Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue's a stone.”

W.B. Yeats buch The Winding Stair and Other Poems

I, st. 4
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), A Dialogue of Self and Soul http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1397/
Kontext: My Soul. Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
Is from the Ought, or knower from the Known —
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue's a stone.

“Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.”

W.B. Yeats buch The Tower

Among School Children http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1437/, st. 8
The Tower (1928)
Kontext: Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

“Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win.”

Parnell's Funeral and Other Poems http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/ytpafu.htm (1935). Supernatural Songs http://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/ytpafu.htm#1_0_7
Kontext: p>Then he struggled with the mind;
His proud heart he left behind. Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win.</p

“Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?”

W.B. Yeats buch The Winding Stair and Other Poems

I, st. 3
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), A Dialogue of Self and Soul http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1397/
Kontext: My Soul. Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect is wandering
To this and that and t'other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.

“The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.”

Letter to Katharine Tynan (30 August 1888)
Kontext: I hate journalists. There is nothing in them but tittering jeering emptiness. They have all made what Dante calls the Great Refusal, — that is they have ceased to be self-centered, have given up their individuality.... The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.

“All that sternness amid charm,
All that sweetness amid strength?”

Peace http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1564/
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)
Kontext: Ah, that Time could touch a form
That could show what Homer's age
Bred to be a hero's wage.
'Were not all her life but a storm,
Would not painters pain a form
Of such noble lines,' I said,
'Such a delicate high head,
All that sternness amid charm,
All that sweetness amid strength?
Ah, but peace that comes at length,
Came when Time had touched her form.

“Speech after long silence; it is right”

W.B. Yeats buch The Winding Stair and Other Poems

After Long Silence http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1432/
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
Kontext: Speech after long silence; it is right,
All other lovers being estranged or dead,
Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade,
The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night,
That we descant and yet again descant
Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song:
Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young
We loved each other and were ignorant.

“We are but critics, or but half create,
Timid, entangled, empty and abashed,
Lacking the countenance of our friends.”

Ego Dominus Tuus http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1478/, st. 4
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Kontext: We have lit upon the gentle, sensitive mind
And lost the old nonchalance of the hand;
Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush,
We are but critics, or but half create,
Timid, entangled, empty and abashed,
Lacking the countenance of our friends.

“What matter that no cannon had been turned
Into a ploughshare?”

W.B. Yeats buch The Tower

I, st. 3
The Tower (1928), Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1547/
Kontext: All teeth were drawn, all ancient tricks unlearned,
And a great army but a showy thing;
What matter that no cannon had been turned
Into a ploughshare?

“Come near; I would, before my time to go,
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.”

To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time
The Rose (1893)
Kontext: Come near, come near, come near — Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
Lest I no more hear common things that crave;
The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,
The field-mouse running by me in the grass,
And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;
But seek alone to hear the strange things said
By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,
And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know.
Come near; I would, before my time to go,
Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.

“I am content to live it all again
And yet again,”

W.B. Yeats buch The Winding Stair and Other Poems

II, st. 3
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), A Dialogue of Self and Soul http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1397/
Kontext: I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man's ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.

“I loved long and long,
And grew to be out of fashion
Like an old song.”

O Do Not Love Too Long http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1549/
In The Seven Woods (1904)
Kontext: Sweetheart, do not love too long:
I loved long and long,
And grew to be out of fashion
Like an old song.
All through the years of our youth
Neither could have known
Their own thought from the other's
We were so much at one.
But O, in a minute she changed--
O do not love too long,
Or you will grow out of fashion
Like an old song.

“He that sings a lasting song
Thinks in a marrow-bone.”

A Prayer For Old Age http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1423/, st. 1.
A Full Moon in March (1935)
Kontext: God guard me from those thoughts men think
In the mind alone;
He that sings a lasting song
Thinks in a marrow-bone.

“A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love”

The Pity Of Love http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1670/; in recent years a statement which might have originated as a misquotation of the first lines of this has been attributed to Oscar Wilde: "To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love." — no occurrence prior to 1999 has yet been located.
The Rose (1893)
Kontext: A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love:
The folk who are buying and selling,
The clouds on their journey above,
The cold wet winds ever blowing,
And the shadowy hazel grove
Where mouse-grey waters are flowing,
Threaten the head that I love.

“All the wild witches, those most noble ladies,
For all their broom-sticks and their tears,
Their angry tears, are gone.”

Lines Written In Dejection http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1524/, st. 1
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Kontext: When have I last looked on
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
All the wild witches, those most noble ladies,
For all their broom-sticks and their tears,
Their angry tears, are gone.

“We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.”

Per Amica Silentia Lunae (1918): Anima Hominis, part v

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