A Favorite Poet: W.B. Yeats

Happy Friday and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The Irish poet W. B. Yeats is one of the greats and I take any excuse like this to share his poetry. In college I spent a semester studying Yeats — I read his entire collected works, five books of literary criticism about him, at least one biography, and dozens of articles about him.

If you’re looking to get into poetry, here are a few of his poems that I highly recommend:

— The Lake Isle of Innisfree: read here

— When You Are Old: read here

— Easter, 1916: read here

— The Second Coming: read here

— No Second Troy: read here

— Lapis Lazuli: read here

— Adam’s Curse: read here

— A Prayer for My Daughter: read here

— Sailing to Byzantium: read here

— The Circus Animals’ Desertion: read here