W. B. Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

Anne Markey (Dublin City University)

Ed. by Ian Campbell Ross, Trinity College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication Sep 1888

Places

England (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)
Fairy Tale
Folk Literature

Resources

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Acknowledged as one of the greatest creative writers of the twentieth century, W. B. Yeats published his first full-length work,

Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

(1888), when he was just twenty-three years old. This anthology of mainly traditional material includes stories previously published by early collectors of, and commentators on, Irish folklore, including Thomas Crofton Croker, William Carleton, Patrick Kennedy, Samuel Lover, Lady Jane Wilde and Douglas Hyde. With the exception of Douglas Hyde, these collectors manipulated traditional Irish-language oral material to enhance its appeal to English-speaking readers. Yeats’s anthology, therefore, cannot be regarded as giving an objectively authentic account of Irish folk traditions. It does, however, give a genuine…

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1017 words

Citation: Markey, Anne. "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 November 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5219, accessed 25 November 2024.]

W. B. Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

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